Here's how to be the best at everything you do in life... and also how to get to Heaven

If you want to be a better person....

If you want to be the best person you can be.... Id you want to be seen by others in a positive light... If you want to give yourself the best chance of being observed by the bosses, and the best chance of moving up the latter... if you want to get to Heaven, there are basically 2 things you need to do:

1. Love God with all your mind, heart and soul
2. Love your neighbor with all your mind heart and soul.

Basically, you can take every self help book ever made and you can sum it down to these two things. You can even consider the 10 commandments, and they are all basically these two things. Don't kill, don't lie, don't covet thy neighbor's wife, don't covet thy neighbor's property, and the rest all tie into love thy neighbor.

So now we must define love. What is love?

Love is not an emotion or a feeling. Love is a choice. You have to choose to make sacrifices to put other people before yourself.

Examples of this include:

1. A doctor writes a stupid order.  Instead of complaining, you treat the doctor with love and respect.

2. So you and your wife go to a baseball game and it's 90 degrees. It's the best game you've ever watched, and you want to stay. Yet your wife wants to leave in the 5th inning. So you sacrifice the game to make your wife happy. You choose your wife over your game.

3. It's 90 degrees out and you want to sit inside in the air conditioning, yet in order to put food on the table you decide not to purchase air conditioning. You are frugal for love of your family. You choose your family over your own comfort.

4. It's 90 degrees out and you want to blog or gossip online, yet your son wants to play catch with you. Even though you're sweating your butt off, you play catch with a smile on your face.

Bottom line: It's important you keep your priorities in the right order, and God and other people are right up there at the top.

If you love God and other people before all else, you should have to make no further effort at improving your image, the way people view you historically (note to politicians), and your ability to view your own life as a success.

Theological Virtues

There are three theological virtues.  Unlike the Cardinal Virtues which can be practiced by anyone, theological virtues can only be practiced by those who receive them, and they are gifts of grace from God.

They are habits that become stronger as we practice them. Their immediate and proper object is God, and so they are infused in our soul. Like all virtues, they become a habit.  The include the following.

1.  Faith: It is showing our love for God through our action, such as practicing the cardinal virtues. It's a gift that allows us to reason that God exists, and that all knowledge extends from Him.  It is knowing that knowledge extends far beyond our intellect. So faith helps us grasp the truth of divine revelation. Faith is also knowing that man cannot fully grasp the true nature of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), which is why it's referred to as a mystery. Since humans have free will, we can reject the gift of faith.  When we revolt against God through sin, God may withdraw the gift of faith.

2.  Hope: It can only be practiced by those who believe in God, and has as it's ultimate object union with God in Heaven.  It is trusting that God will grant eternal life if we practice what He has taught us. It is knowing that we cannot achieve eternal life on our own, it's belief or confidence that God will show us how to obtain eternal life, and belief or confidence that He will actually grant it to us when the time comes.

3.  Charity:  It's loving God above all else, and loving others for God's sake.  The exercise of it increase our love for God and our fellow man. It depends on faith, because without faith in God we cannot love, nor can we love our fellow man for God's sake. It is considered by many to be the greatest of all the virtues.