The Four Pillars to Balance

O.D.s Four Pillars are based on the psychological principle of emotional intelligence.  They are Self-Awareness, an Outward Mindset, Ending Rationalization, and Finding Greater Purpose.  Anyone can use these Pillars to promote growth.  My sobriety, and the end to my insanity, began when I started implementing these tools subconsciously prior to writing them down. Two of the Pillars, Self-Awareness and Ending Rationalization, are internal or focused on the individual; while the other two, an Outward Mindset and Finding Greater Purpose, are external or focused on social interaction. Self-Awareness and an Outward Mindset focus on conscious thought while Ending Rationalization and Finding Greater Purpose focus on management.

The First Pillar to Balance: Self-Awareness

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
― Carl Jung

“It takes courage…to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.”
― Marianne Williamson

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
― Carl R. Rogers

The Second Pillar to Balance: An Outward Mindset

“When people see situations that need to change, the temptation is to immediately apply a behavioral solution. That seems like the fast approach. But if mindset is not addressed, it is usually the slow approach to change.”
― The Arbinger Institute

“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it.”
― Steve Maraboli

“Mind is a flexible mirror, adjust it, to see a better world.”
― Amit Ray

The Third Pillar to Balance: Ending Rationalization

“The human brain can protect us from seeing and feeling what it believes may be too uncomfortable for us to tolerate. It can lead us to deny, defend, minimize, or rationalize away something that doesn’t fit our worldview.”
― Bandy X Lee

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan

The Fourth Pillar to Balance: Greater Purpose

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
― Shannon Alder