Copied from the following blog:
http://meanttobehappy.com/6-obsessions-that-will-make-you-a-better-person-in-2012/
6 Recommended Obsessions for a Better Life
1. Be Obsessed with your Family
Those who obsess over their families are those who uncontrollably and
unconditionally love them. They spend lots of time together, play
together, laugh together and bond with each other.
They also develop strange little practices like regular date nights
and family nights. They prioritize family time high on their to-do
lists. They care about how they’re doing as dads and moms and husbands
and wives and make regular adjustments to improve.
But Beware the Counterfeit
Jealousy is not love or devotion. It is a fraudulent emotional
replica of love. It is insecurity, plain and simple. It’s an emotional
infection that can spread and corrupt the organism of relationship,
marriage and family.
Root it out, cure it, disinfect the emotional wound before it
destroys the real love that still exists. Obsession with family really
has no relationship to jealousy. Jealousy is self-obsession, a form of
self-absorption, a selfishness that lashes out when threatened. The
family suffers at the hand of that emotional disease.
2. Be Obsessed with your Values
Do you have a clear set of values? Do you live your life by them? Do
they influence your choices as a reflection of how you choose to live?
Or are they things that sit on a shelf you pick up and put down at will?
Those who are obsessed with their values are willing to sacrifice
much to maintain them –this sometimes includes their “lives, fortunes
and sacred honor.” They yearn to live by their values and exercise
integrity to them.
They are very clear about what matters most to them and can
articulate their values very clearly when asked to. They seldom, if
ever, compromise on their moral standards and hold them as near and dear
to their hearts. An obsession with your values is a way to live more
perfectly by them.
But Beware the Counterfeit
It is wonderful to passionately advocate a set of beliefs. I do that
here. But never allow yourself to even dream of imposing them on others.
If your values have led you to degrade or belittle or hurt or threaten
others for holding a different set than yours, you have devalued the
quality of what you believe. Pull back far away from that ledge!
3. Be Obsessed with your Health
A peek in your refrigerator or behind the doors of your pantry will
tell a pretty accurate story of your obsession (or a lack thereof) with
health. Those obsessed with improving their health reflect that
obsession in the food they choose to bring into their homes.
For those obsessed with health, flavor ceases to be the primary goal
when creating a meal. They care deeply about the long-term impact of
what they put in their mouths and make a part of their cellular
structure.
They believe in the literalness of the truism that we are, in fact,
what we eat. They make exercise an integral part of their life
experience as well. As a matter of fact, they have a comprehensive
approach to living healthy.
They care how they feel and how they live and how long they’ll be
around to pursue their life’s work. Quality and longevity of life are
important to them.
At its highest form, an obsession with health is an altruistic
obsession. It cares more for loved ones and their happiness than any
particular flavor you put in your mouth or a preference for sitting
around the house with a bag of potato chips in hand.
But Beware the Counterfeit
An obsession with appearance or weight or body fat or build is an
unhealthy obsession and should be avoided at all costs. I am advocating a
mild obsession with HEALTH. And anorexia and bulimia are certainly NOT
healthy.
A preoccupation with the mirror or the scale is not what I’m talking
about either. Nose jobs and other cosmetic surgical procedures are
largely the result of a devotion to the wrong kind of obsession.
4. Be Obsessed with Learning
Don’t let a day go by that you don’t learn something new. Be obsessed
with developing your intellect and ability to use your God-given mind
closer to its full potential.
Some people claim they’re just not readers. But that is such a
cop-out. The world’s great ideas are not floating through the atmosphere
waiting to be plucked out of the sky. They are recorded in books,
waiting to be absorbed into fertile minds. And ideas matter. They alter
courses and change civilizations.
So read and study, whether or not you like reading or studying.
Stimulate your mind and creativity, challenge yourself, tackle difficult
subjects, build your vocabulary, your ability to communicate the
growing knowledge you obsessively acquire.
Develop a passion for knowing, for discovering. Yearn to learn and
understand. Create a passionate love affair with the words “why” and
“how” and “why not?” and “what if.” Turn off the reality shows and watch
the Learning channel or something equivalent to it. Feed the hunger of
your mind. Listen to books on tape, listen to talk programs in the car.
Those obsessed with learning are passionate about learning from their
own mistakes and from others mistakes as well. They welcome challenges
as a way to discover new insight and meaning about themselves or life or
humanity.
But Beware the Counterfeit
It is important to employ wisdom in your pursuit of knowledge. To
pursue knowledge and its application without the moderating voice of
wisdom is to walk blindly through a minefield. Eventually someone is
going to get blown up!
5. Be Obsessed with Making a Difference
Do you yearn to leave an impact on world (or your community)? Do you
ache to leave the world a better place than when you found it? Do you
look for ways to add meaning and value to people’s lives, to reach out
and touch someone, to lift the downtrodden? If so, you may be suffering
from this obsession. My recommendation? Give in to it!
Those obsessed with making a difference are not satisfied in a
cubicle. They can’t add numbers in columns for hours on end or shuffle
papers or attend mindless meeting after mindless meeting.
They may do those things as part of a larger mission, but they can’t
simply bring home a paycheck without something deeply moving about the
work they do, the difference they make.
They have to touch lives, inspire something more in those who are
living under their potentials. They almost instinctively lift and build
and encourage and motivate and teach and elevate and reach and comfort
and love others.
Their hearts beat differently than most. They thump to the tune of
other hearts. They dream of being able to reach more people, impact more
people and inspire change and growth in more people. Is this your
obsession?
But Beware the Counterfeit
There are, however, some who care only for others. They are the
martyrs and victims, the ones who wonder why no one cares for them like
they care for others. They pity themselves for always serving and never
being served.
And so they resent the service they give even while giving it. And
they miss the point of service altogether, receiving few, if any, of its
benefits.
6. Be Obsessed with Balance
Obsessions are intense things. They are focused like a laser beam on the object of the obsession.
As such, they can easily take control and throw our lives out of
whack. But with an underlying obsession with balance, other obsessions
don’t overtake the rest of life. There is equanimity, a sort of life
equilibrium.
Obsessive compulsions are moderated so that an obsession to ones work
is prevented from pushing family and friends to the back of life’s bus.
An obsession with balance can tame success in any given area of life,
it’s true. But it is the only way to achieve the highest kind of
success … the success of a life lived well.
But Beware the Counterfeit
The only counterfeit to balance is thinking all things must be
perfectly balanced at all times. When you’re working on your Masters
Thesis, you will be off balance for a time. You should be or you’ll do a
sub par job or never even finish it.
When a project is due, it’s okay to come home late from work every
day for a week or two. On family vacation, you will neglect your work
and indulge your family.
But never use the need for balance as the excuse for never working
hard enough in an area of life to ever become particularly good at
anything.
Afterthoughts
Successful living is living with passion. It is being obsessed with
living the right kind of life in the right way. It is an obsession with
making the most out of the life you were given.
An obsession with life is an obsession with living it to its fullest, loving it even for all its dirty messiness.
