dissect the elements…

“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.” – Anaïs Nin

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Human revolution is not something extraordinary or divorced from our daily lives. It begins with an individual identifying and challenging those things which inhibit the full expression of his or her positive potential and humanity, such as fear, laziness and arrogance. And it is a process that takes place amidst the particular challenges of an individual’s day-to-day reality. It is, however, about raising one’s awareness, “expanding your gaze beyond your restricted, ordinary, everyday world and striving for and dedicating yourself to achieving something more lofty, more profound, more all-embracing. This process can be described as a transformation from a self bound by self- concern and the ego to one characterized by altruism and the wisdom that accompanies genuine concern for others. – Daisaku Ikeda