THE UNITY CENTER

Seven Habits

February and April

Seven Habits Intro: Inside Out

February 12, 2023

Readings: “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they art too heavy to be broken.” Warren Buffet “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” Jim Rohn “Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” Brian Tracy “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Helen Keller “A person’s ethics and character are not tested in good times. It is only in bad times that a person shows how steadfast he is to his dharma.” Amish Tripathi “Maturity comes not with age but with the acceptance of responsibility. You are only young once but immaturity can last a lifetime!” Edwin Louis Cole “You don’t have a problem except the one that is in your own mind, and you put it there!” Myrtle Fillmore

Seven Habits #1: Be Proactive

February 19, 2023

Readings “I fairly sizzle with zeal, energy, and enthusiasm; eager to do that which ought to be done be me today.” Charles Fillmore “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” Brain Tracy “When you can’t control what’s happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what’s happening. That’s where your power is.” Keith A Turner Sr “The victim mindset dilutes the human potential. By not accepting personal responsibility for our circumstances, we greatly reduce our power to change them.” Steve Maraboli “Whenever we try to avoid responsibility for our behavior, we give that responsibility to another person along with powers.” Scott Peck “The choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.” Eleanor Roosevelt “It’s only when you take responsibility for your life, that you discover how powerful you truly are!” Allanah Hunt

Seven Habits #2: Begin With The End In Mind

February 26, 2023

Readings: “Would you tell me please which way you walk from here?” Alice “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where-“ said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way to walk,” said the Cat “Every man who accomplishes things sees first in his mind what he wishes to do. He puts away all doubt. It makes no difference how small or how large the thing you want to do may be; if you have an unlimited confidence in your ability to do it, you will do.” Charles Fillmore “Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” Samuel Johnson “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” Ralph Waldo Emerson “To lose patience is to lose the battle.” Mahatma Gandhi

Seven Habits #3: Put First Things First

March 5, 2023

Readings: “Put first things first and second things are thrown in. Put second things first and you lose both first and second things.” C.S. Lewis “You always have the time for the things you put first.” Kushdiz Dom “The key is not prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Stephen Covey “Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.” Goethe “A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first.” Wendell Berry “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Mat 6:33. Jesus

Seven Habits #4: Think Win/Win

March 12, 2023 • Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell

Readings: “Cooperation for mutual benefit, a survival stategy very common in natural systems, is one that humanity needs to emulate.” Eugene Odom “Cooperation is always more powerful than competition.” Bob Proctor “We must reprogram ourselves to understand that cooperation is a higher principle than competition.” Bryant H. McGill “Competition is the law of the jungle, but cooperation is the law of civilization.” Peter Kropotkin “Win-win is a belief in the Third Alternative. It’s not your way or my way; it’s a better way, a higher way.” Stephen Covey “Competition makes us faster. Collaboration makes us better.” Unknown

Seven Habits #5: Seek First to Understand

March 19, 2023

Readings: "We're all so desperate to be understood, we forget to be understanding." Beau Taplin "Listening is a magical force." Karl A. Menninger "The biggest communication problems is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply." Stephen Covey "Most of the successful people I know are the ones who do more listening than talking." Bernard Baruch "One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say." Bryant McGill "Words are also seeds, and when dropped into the invisible spiritual substance, they grow and bring forth after their kind." Charles Fillmore

Seven Habits #6: Synergy

March 26, 2023 • Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell

Readings: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Hellen Keller “Together we are stronger, our voices louder, and the synergy of our actions more powerful.” Pierce Bronsnan “Only by binding together as a single force will we remain strong and unconquerable.” Chris Bradford “Synergy does not mean giving up what we want. It means joining to co-create so each is able to receive ever more of what attracts us through joining rather than opposing.” Barbara Marx Hubbard “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Henry Ford “When mutual understanding and respect are present, the spirit of synergy; inevitably starts to develop.” Stephen R. Covey

Seven Habits #7: Sharpen the Saw

April 2, 2023

Readings: "Change is supremely inconvenient, uncomfortable and naturally scary. Yet we only move through life through the process of change, reinvention and renewal, and so bravery is our quintessential rebel for pushing us past our own limiting beliefs and behaviors. Bravery is feeling the fear, immersing yourself into it and through it so you can come out the other side." Christine Evangelou “Self-care is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.” Audre Lorde “This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life — investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute. We are the instruments of our own performance, and to be effective, we need to recognize the importance of taking time regularly to sharpen the saw in all four ways.” Stephen Covey “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes including you.” Anne Lamott