Never ask advice from someone who has something at stake or something to lose from your decision. The more objective the person is the greater value you should place on the input.

How people see the world is often a reflection of how they see themselves. If they think that the world is just a cesspool of lies and deceit, then they themselves may be full of lies and deceit. Watch out for those people who are always telling you just how corrupt the rest of the world is. As the saying goes, 'It takes one to know one.'

If you know how much reality is getting in, then you know a great deal about what a person sees to be true.

Whenever you are dealing with someone or something of unknown value the first one who places a value on it establishes its worth.

Consider, for example, lust versus love. When we lust after someone or something, we think in terms of what they (or it) can do for us. When we love, however, our thoughts are immersed in what we can give to someone else. Giving makes us feel good, so we do it happily. But when we lust, we only want to take. When someone we love is in pain, we feel pain. When someone whom we lust is in pain, we only think in terms of what that loss or inconvenience means to us.

Whenever you are questioning a person's desire for something, consider what he does, not necessarily what he says.

When we rise above our temptations and resist them, we exercise self-control. And that's when we experience true freedom and emotional health.