The Greatest Truth

It seems like divine serendipity to me that we chose this week to talk about the greatest truth in the world, and this week the entire world seems to be reevaluating their own truths. In a sense, the whole world has transitioned from self-interest and going about its own business to reevaluated our priorities. I can’t count how many people over the last two months have contacted me personally to share how the trials of the last few months have pushed them to reevaluate their priorities in life, often with wonderful results! One of those priorities, as president Kennedy put it is that "We all inhabit the same earth, we all breathe the same air, we all want the best for our children."

In other words, we all really want not just to fulfill our own self-interest, but also the best interests of others. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the basic definition of love, it’s baked into our subconscious, and you can only reach love through truth, lies always point the way to fear. That’s all the greatest truth is, really. Your best life comes from living in love with the best interests of others at heart rather than only your own.

But I’ll give you some practical steps you can take to set yourself right and to catch yourself if you start to go wrong. There's a simple diagram I use for putting all this into practice that I call “Win/Win/Win.” Think of it like this: if you’re only trying to win for yourself, then that’s one “win.” I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Win/Win.” It just means that I’m trying to come to an agreement with you where we can both be happy. The third win is for everybody else. Everything that you do affects everyone around you, after all. Now, I’m not saying that some decisions shouldn’t be mostly concerned with just you and someone else, my point is that if you go in valuing doing the other person, and doing right by yourself and everyone else more than you value a particular outcome, you’ll find yourself nearly always at peace with the results.

My final piece of advice is simpler. It’s a way to tell if you are not living this way, and spoiler alert, most of us aren’t. If you’re not living this way right now, don’t worry! It’s never too late to start. So here’s the test. Ask yourself, “Am I experiencing anything in the anger family? Any feelings of frustration, irritation, or of being overwhelmed? When something doesn’t go my way, am I upset by it for more than a few moments?” Anger comes from frustrated expectations, and you can’t have expectations without self-interest. Of course, there is such a thing as healthy desires. We’re not meant to be uninterested in our own success! The difference is between natural desires and expectation-oriented goals. If you can’t be okay without something, you probably won’t be okay even with it.

Have a blessed, wonderful day!

Alex Loyd