Curious about Reality: What Is It for You? And, Do You Accept It?

Definition of Reality: (1) The state or quality of being real; actual being or existence of anything, in distinction from mere appearance; fact. (2) That which is real; an actual existence; that which is not imagination, fiction, or pretense; that which has objective existence, and is not merely an idea.

I do realize that the above definitions from a reliable dictionary are literal and true. However, after searching for relevant quotations - of all of the themes I have pursued in my blogs and e-newsletters have never had so many to choose from - I have discovered that reality means a lot more than “being real.”

I am writing about reality, because, even though I don’t have or watch TV, I hear and read all the time about the so-called “Reality Shows.” Do they depict “Reality?” The snippets I have seen while traveling and have heard from those who watch them, don’t seem like reality to me. But, that’s another story.

I read a huge number of books and magazines that deal with business. Recently the book, 9 Lies That Are Holding Your Business Back ... and the Truth That Will Set It Free, was suggested as reading for a new marketing program I’ve signed up for, given by Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing.

I am excited, because the authors, Steve Chandler and Sam Beckford, tell it like it is - the reality of owning and running a small business. Interesting, however, are the number of stories about those business owners who don’t accept the reality of the “Lies” and eventually go out of business because they believe the lies and keep on doing what they have always done.

So, I ask you, what is your reality? How important is it to you? Will you accept a different reality?

Let me share some of the huge number of interesting quotations I found:

• “Everything you need you already have. You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else. Your completeness must be understood by you and experienced in your thoughts as your own personal reality.” - Beverly Sills
• “Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality.” - Les Brown
• “If you don't change, reality in the end forces that change upon you.” - Stuart Wilde
• “Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.” - Anais Nin
• “Don't Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.” - Don Miguel Ruiz
• “Few people have the imagination for reality.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Some quotations from artists, writers and poets:

• “Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” - C. S. Lewis
• “The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.” - Tom Clancy
• “Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.” - George Bernard Shaw
• “In reality art is always for everyone and for no one.” - Eugenio Montale
• “I accept reality and dare not question it.” - Walt Whitman
• “The space within becomes the reality of the building.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

And, here are some quotations that refer to work and business:

• “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” - Walt Disney
• “We must start with the reality that corporations cannot guarantee anyone a lifetime job any more than corporations have a guarantee of immortality.” - John W. Snow
• “We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we're in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There's no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.” - Steve Ballmer

Of course, I want to leave you with some quotations to think about this coming week:

• “Through some strange and powerful principle of ‘mental chemistry’ which she has never divulged, nature wraps up in the impulse of strong desire, ‘that something’ which recognizes no such word as ‘impossible,’ and accepts no such reality as failure.” - Napoleon Hill
• “If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.” - William James
• “Life's experiences are intended to make you eventually face yourself. Face reality!” - Harold Sherman

Do have an incredible week! And, remember, I would love to hear from your.