The will to believe in honorable principles (#980)

It does not come easy to believe in things that are ideals. Mostly we are creatures of the right now and whatever is in front of us, regardless of the overall implications, we act on the immediate instead of the the most honorable. I had always thought myself above lesser ideals until I caught myself compromising on those same lesser ideals. It seems that thinking that I have only the best of intentions is not the same as me acting on those same best intentions. What I have learned is that I must choose to not only formulate a list of honorable ideals but I must incorporate them into my instinctual actions. I can only do this through repetition. That is how I assimilate good behavior, practice, practice and more practice. The key to all of this for me is to recognize I need to have a method for thinking about things. The first thought that should come out of my head is do I have an understanding of what is going on. Once I know I understand, it is only then that I get to form an ideal as to best relate to what is going on. This is not easy to do since it does require me to be in the present moment at most every moment with a focus. I am prone to thinking of the past and future while not focusing on the present and this is an area I am working on. There are times and places for all things and getting my mind organized to that, will only benefit my overall effectiveness in reality. I have to disassociate myself from the circumstance or situation and look at the big picture with all the pieces. This is why I must make sure I understand what is going on before I do anything else. Sometimes things are easily identified and other times things will never be clear to me. But in knowing where I am with things helps give me the necessary judgment as to action or inaction. It all starts with me having the will to live an honorable life and then everything else follows from that will.