tba, rough draft
CONTENTS
Determines the quality of your life
What does it mean "to take a stand"?
Start with a list of what you might stand for
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"People who don't stand for anything will fall for everything. And, often what you will fall for are cultural and family 'shoulds' which you should reexamine for their value of lack thereof."
"What will you refuse to tolerate in your life? What will you decide and commit to having be in your life? The answers to these questions, plus taking action, are what will create your life and your experience of life. Make it a masterpiece; use this gift of life to the maximum. This, indeed, is your very life!"
The BuddhaKahuna
DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF YOUR LIFE
What you "take a stand for" in your life determines the quality of your life.
In life, one needs to take a stand, to stand firmly and strongly for what one truly wants. And to do that, one must first decide (and define) and then commit and then build the stand and put it into place.
It is based on a decision as to what you value so strongly that you are unwilling to tolerate anything that harms it and are totally committed to making the value a reality in the living of your life
What costs are you unwilling to incur? Examples: Am I willing to do x if this has me feel bad about myself? My stand is that I am not willing to incur the cost of feeling bad about myself. I realize the immense value of feeling good about myself and I stand for creating a strong foundation for that and to modify my habits. (Implemented at the "good enough, plus" level: The 80% Rule - see Perfection - The Path To Hell.)
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO "TAKE A STAND"
Strict definition: to support a definite position (or viewpoint), almost always meant to mean a strongly held position. To commit to supporting something of value to oneself. It is usually, to the extent feasible, without compromise.
Part of taking a stand is to decide what is of value and then to decide unequivocally what you will do about it. Completely making a decision, and following through, saves an enormous amount of emotionally energy that would ordinarily be taken up in equivocating back and forth and/or making a new decision each time something comes up. Deciding (cutting off all exits, choosing, concluding) once and for all is a form of "taking a firm stand". It's "antonyms" are defer, delay, hesitate, postpone
Additional definitional references are provided after the end of this piece. "insist, assert, require, vow"" versus "tolerate". A part of this is "defining" clearly what your position is and what you value.
The idea is to be firmly grounded, as in a person taking a physical stance that is strong and centered and holding powerfully against all forces (karate, the martial arts, and, metaphorically, the mental arts).
YOU CAN TAKE A STAND "FOR" OR "AGAINST"
For:
What you value
What you will accept or put up with (against what harms you)
An issue
Against: (Best to restate it to a “for” statement, as the “good end product” is what you can actually stand for, without the negativity attached to it.)
What harms you (that you will seek ways to effectively avoid that); what you will not tolerate in your life
What you abhor (anything from restriction of freedoms to abortion to mistreatment of people, etc.)
EXAMPLES
Tony Blair has vowed to fight the "new menace" of terror in a speech to his party "under the shadow" of bomb attacks in Madrid. To defeat terrorism "we will do what is necessary to defend our way of life," he said.
Despite my illness and given my illness, I will live life to the maximum. And what that means for me is ...
Not dissipating my energy on having to please people (just being at choice about what I do and if I value giving to that person I will do it, but it is my choice not something I am a victim of).
I will take a stand for what will happen this year, what I’ll create...
I stand strongly and resolutely for my peace of mind above all else, allowing nothing to disturb that (and expeditiously handling what needs to be handled)...
I will not tolerate harmful people or things in my life, period! Life is too short for that. (Then listing what you will not tolerate: a life changing exercise!!!)
I will not tolerate not acting where action is clearly need to correct an injustice or to restrict a harmful person.
START WITH A LIST OF WHAT YOU MIGHT STAND STRONGLY FOR
Start with what strikes you as valuable in life, what "feels right and good", what "feels wrong and bad", what you care about, your values [see Values] and concerns, what you value.
You must, must, must prioritize, or you'll end up standing for so many things that you'll dilute your effectiveness.
As in Stephen Covey's "The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People", you must not waste your energy on things in the outer circle of what affects you and you must concentrate your energy where the greatest return is: (from the inner circles outward toward the outer circles)
On your personal effectiveness,
On your family,
On your closest friends (don't disperse your energy to have many, many important friends, for there is little extra return for that and too much cost),
And so on, not wasting your energy marching for a cause where you are likely to have no effect.
Just start with a quick, unedited, no thinking initial response listing of what you care about in your life that you want to have occur in your life.
Then go back and add more to it.
Then prioritize it as to what has the most impact, taking the top few that make 80% of the value difference in your life, as in The 80/20 Principle, where generally the top 20% generate 80% of the value (I suggest also that you live that way, as it'll produce a much greater life full of much more value in total!!!)
Then take and "flesh out" those prioritized items to indicate:
What it means to me to stand for this
Why I must and will stand for this
How will this show up in my life and what will I commit to
What I will do
What I will not tolerate (and the relative reward for that compared to the
inevitable costs/price that is to be figuratively paid for such a good purchase
See the interactions you have related to this in your life, seeing the benefits,
what this will do for you where it really matters.
Write out what your plan is, the steps, the ultimate result and how you'll feel
about it
(You could simply make up a form with those headings.)
BUT THIS WILL TAKE TIME AND EFFORT
Yes, certainly. However, you can do a one to two hour exercise here and get enormous benefits. Then, as you go deeper into the stands that have greater value, you will reap further and further, in huge rewards.
There is no magical shortcut, no way around this. The only way to the other side is to go through what is in the middle, what is in the way - and to create that bridge that will take your life to the higher and higher levels!
Take even a day or two. It will be one of the most worthwhile things you'll ever do.
(Also, it helps to "leverage" yourself by consulting with an objective, knowledgeable resource. See reasoning behind Life Coaching. )
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FURTHER DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES
Adopt a firm position about an issue, as in She was more than willing to take a stand on abortion rights . This idiom alludes to the military sense of stand , "hold one's ground against an enemy." Hold firm against something or someone, as in The government was determined to make a stand against all forms of terrorism.
ARTICLES
We sometimes think of taking a stand as.......making a declaration for or against something, forming a resolution or perhaps choosing a side.
Werner Erhard distinguishes taking a stand from all of these.
He defines taking a stand as:
“A powerful way of being that can enable an individual to have an impact in the course of humanity.”
With sustainability, more of us are integrating personal values into business, or should I say are not fearful of "taking a stand" for future generations-"taking a stand" is also more effective when utilized in
EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO TAKE STRONG STANDS
Whether you agree or not, examples of people who take a stand are:
Martin Luther King
Mohatma Gandhi
Glenn Beck (strong on values, will not accept compromise)
Donald Trump
Obama (initially, though he wavers under strong political pressure now)
Colin Powell
Abraham Lincoln
(I do recommend, however, that one first commit to what really matters for your personal happiness, for what is the value of something noble if we sacrifice our happiness for it?)
