Table Of ContentFIRESIDE
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Copyright © 1999 by Matthew Kelly
Revised copyright © 2004 by Beacon Publishing
All rights reserved,
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.
First Fireside Edition 2004
FIRESIDE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Jan Pisciotta
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kelly, Matthew.
The rhythm of life : living every day with passion and purpose / Matthew Kelly.
p. cm.
1. Christian life—Catholic authors. I. Title.
BX2350.3.K453 2004
158.1—dc22 2004050068
ISBN-10: 0-7432-7351-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-7351-0
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Contents
Part One
What Do You Want From Life?
Everything is a Choice
Do You Really Know What You Want?
The Happiness Paradox
Too Busy Doing What?
Quiet Desperation
The Five Questions
The Meaning of Life
Seven Dreams
A New Perspective
Live Passionately
Part Two
Finding Your Genius
The Gentle Voice Within
Understanding Our Legitimate Needs
Beyond Our Wants
Harnessing the Power of Our Needs and Desires
Everybody Is a Genius
Part Three
The-Best-Version-of-Yourself
Overwhelmed by Experts
Choosing Happiness
The Enemy of Excellence: Minimalism
Are You Free?
Follow Your Star
Celebrating Your Unique Self
Part Four
Discovering The Rhythm of Life
Why Are We All So Busy?
What Can Creation Teach Us About Ourselves?
Priorities
Timing
Part Five
It’s All About Energy
Our Most Valuable Resource
Creating the Rhythm
The Three Instruments
Sleep: The Foundation of Energy
The First Instrument
The Sacred Hour
The Second Instrument
The Seventh Day
The Third Instrument
The Art of Slowing Down
Part Six
The Way of Excellence
A Childhood Lesson
What Is Success to You?
Why Are They Successful at Everything?
1. The Knowledge Principle
2. The Dream Principle
3. The Vision Principle
4. The Life Principle
5. The Thought Principle
6. The Dedication Principle
7. The Belief Principle
8. The People Principle
9. The Communication Principle
10. The Final Principle
The Ten Principles of Excellence
Part Seven
Living the Life You Were Born to Live
Enjoy the Journey
Be the Difference That Makes the Difference
Leaders, Critics, Dreamers, and the Future
How Do You Perceive the World?
Can You Hear the Music?
The Measure of Your Life Will Be the Measure of Your Courage
Let Your Light Shine!
DO NOT LET YOUR LIFE BE LIKE A SHOOTING STAR,
WHICH LIGHTS UP THE SKY FOR ONLY A BRIEF MOMENT.
LET YOUR LIFE BE LIKE THE SUN,
WHICH ALWAYS BURNS BRIGHTLY IN THE HEAVENS,
BRINGING LIGHT AND WARMTH TO ALL THOSE ON EARTH.
LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!
Part One
What
Do You Want
From Life?
Everything is a Choice
Everything is a choice.
This is life’s greatest truth and its hardest lesson. It is a great truth because it
reminds us of our power. Not power over others, but the often untapped power to
be ourselves and to live the life we have imagined.
It is a hard lesson, because it causes us to realize that we have chosen the life
we are living right now. It is perhaps frightening for us to think that we have
chosen to live our life exactly as it is today. Frightening because we may not like
what we find when we look at our lives today. But it is also liberating, because
we can now begin to choose what we will find when we look at our life in the
tomorrows that lie unlived before us.
What will you see when you look at your life ten years from now? What will
you choose?
Life is choices.
You have chosen to live this day. You have chosen to read this book. You have
chosen to live in a certain city. You have chosen to believe certain ideas. You
have chosen the people you call friends.
You choose the food you eat, the clothes you wear, and the thoughts you think.
You choose to be calm or restless, you choose to feel appreciative or ungrateful.
Love is a choice. Anger is a choice. Fear is a choice. Courage is a choice.
You choose.
Sometimes we choose the-best-version-of-ourselves,
and sometimes we choose a-second-rate-version-
of-ourselves.
Everything is a choice, and our choices echo throughout our lives…and into
history…and on and on into eternity.
Most people never fully accept this truth. They spend their lives arguing for
their weaknesses, complaining about their lot in life, or blaming other people for
their weaknesses and their lot in life.
You may argue that you are forced to live in a certain city or drive a certain
car, but it is not true. And if it is, it is true only temporarily and because of a
choice you have made in the past.
We choose, and in doing so, we design our lives.
Some may say that we do not choose our circumstances. You’d be surprised.
We have much more power over the circumstances of our lives than most men
and women would ever admit. And even if circumstances are thrust upon us, we
choose how we respond to those circumstances.
Others may argue that they did not choose the country they were born in or the
parents they were born to. How do we know we didn’t choose these things? We
are all endowed with free will. Did we not have this free will before we were
born? Perhaps one day we will realize that we have chosen much more than we
have even imagined.
I hope that day is today.
For the day we accept that we have chosen to choose our choices is the day we
cast off the shackles of victimhood and are set free to pursue the lives we were
born to live.
Learn to master the moment of decision and you will live a life uncommon.
Do You Really Know
What You Want?
