The Four Doors

The Four Doors by Richard Paul Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


One of my favorite authors is Richard Paul Evans. In this book The Four Doors he shares his thoughts from talks he has given around the world mostly to school aged children. The book is divided into five parts: the first part is the foundation and the over four are the doors. I have labeled them such in the quotes below. He has included quotes from several of the books he has written. I trust the quotes below will challenge you!

Foundations
The most important story we will ever write in life is our own – not with ink, but with our choices. ~Richard Paul Evans (from The Gift)

Everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ~Dr. Viktor E. Frankl, Holocaust survivor.

We are not an accident of God or nature. The universe is demonstrably purposeful, and there’s a purpose for our being here on earth. The experiences we have have come to us for our spiritual growth and evolution. Simply stated, earth is a school – a divine educational process custom-fit to each of us. ~Richard Paul Evans

We are all in motion. Always. Those who are not climbing toward something are descending toward nothing. ~Richard Paul Evans (from Miles to Go)

We grow or diminish spiritually as we move closer to light or darkness, love or hate, forgiveness or resentment, peace or anguish. The fact that we are changing is a given. How we change is in direct correlation to our choices and the power and exercise of our free will. ~Richard Paul Evans

Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes


Door One: Believe There’s A Reason You Were Born
Almost without exception, history’s greatest achievers held a highly developed sense of personal mission. Nearly every one of them believed that their life had a purpose – that they had something of importance to share with the world. ~Richard Paul Evans

There are specific moments in each life given us to influence our life paths – a cosmic pull of a lever that switches the tracks beneath us. History abounds in such “accidents.” If such providence is evident in the lives of the great, then why not the rest of us? ~Richard Paul Evans

If you figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose. ~ T.D. Jakes

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper, which is heard by him alone. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for. ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky


Door Two: Free Yourself From Limitation
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. ~Albert Einstein

The success of our lives is more determined by our imagination than our circumstances. ~ Richard Paul Evans (from The Road to Grace)

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better. ~J.K. Rowling

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world … We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. ~Marianne Williamson

Fame and greatness are not the same thing. There are great people in this world – people of great accomplishment and service to humanity – who are not famous. There are scores of famous people who are not great. In most cases, true greatness is a silent and lonely affair, unaccompanied by the trumpeted fanfare of acclaim. ~ Richard Paul Evans

To be of value to others is a far greater ambition than the vain hope for the world’s fleeting applause and fickle admiration. ~ Richard Paul Evans

We can spend our days bemoaning our losses, or we can grow from them. Ultimately, the choice is ours. We can be victims of circumstances or masters of our own fate, but make no mistake … we cannot be both. ~ Richard Paul Evans (from The Walk)

Life’s greatest gifts often come wrapped in adversity. ~ Richard Paul Evans (from Finding Noel)

In many cases, we do not succeed in spite of our challenges and difficulties, but precisely because of them. ~ Richard Paul Evans

During our time in Italy, I became friends with a local winemaker. On one occasion, I said to him, “Chianti must have very fertile soil to produce such famous grapes.” His reply surprised me. “No,” he said. “We have terrible soil. Good grapes do not grow in good soil.”

I did some research on this. It turns out that grapes are lazy. If the soil they grow in is too fertile, the grapes do not need to extend their roots deeply, which results in mediocre grapes that are used to make cheap table wine.

Because the soil in Chianti is poor, the grapevines develop large, intricate root systems that stretch deep into the ground, extracting not only what they need to survive but many other nutrients and minerals as well. The result is a sweet, delicious grape.

The metaphor is obvious and thought-provoking. A biologist once said to me, “I have noticed that in nature things with easy lives tend to die young.” ~ Richard Paul Evans

“We (Richard Paul Evans’s physician and other doctors) have been conducting a rather interesting study. We’ve surveyed more than a thousand people struggling with different handicaps. We asked them this question, ‘If I had a pill that could take away your handicap, but will make you lose everything you have gained from your adversity, would you take the pill?’” He looked me in the eyes. “Guess how many people would have taken the pill?”

I was thinking of a number in the ninety percent range but answered, “Seventy-five percent?” He shook his head. “Let me ask you this: Would you take the pill?” [Richard has Tourette’s]

I thought a moment, then said, “No.”

He smiled. “Neither would anyone else. No one has taken the pill.” ~Richard Paul Evans

Always, always remember that adversity is not a detour. It is part of the path.

You will encounter obstacles. You will make mistakes. Be grateful for both. Your obstacles and mistakes will be your greatest teachers. And the only way to not make mistakes in this life is to do nothing, which is the biggest mistake of all.

Your challenges, if you let them, will become your greatest allies. Mountains can crush or raise you, depending on which side of the mountain you choose to stand on. All history bears out that the great, those who have changed the world, have all suffered great challenges. And, more times than not, it’s precisely those challenges that, in God’s time, lead to triumph.

Abhor victimhood. Denounce entitlement. Neither are gifts, rather cages to damn the soul. Everyone who has walked this earth is a victim of injustice. Everyone.

Most of all, do not be too quick to denounce your sufferings. The difficult road you are called to walk may, in fact, be your only path to success. ~Richard Paul Evans (from A Winter Dream)

Everyone has problems. It’s how we choose to deal with our problems that matters. Some people choose to be whiners – some choose to be winners. Some choose to be victims – some choose to be victors. ~Richard Paul Evans

The greatest shackles we wear in this life are those forged of our own fears. ~Richard Paul Evans (from The Looking Glass)

When the media criticized him for his failure to create the incandescent lightbulb by the deadline he had publicly announced, Edison responded, “I have no failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” ~Richard Paul Evans

Thomas J. Watson, the chairman and CEO of IBM, said, “Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really, Double your rate of failure.” ~Richard Paul Evans

Scottish author Samuel Smiles said, “It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done.” ~Richard Paul Evans


Door Three: Magnify Your Life
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. ~Helen Keller

You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. ~Wayne Gretzky

We rarely regret our failed attempts, but we nearly always regret the ones we don’t take. ~Richard Paul Evans

To work hard is to work with directed passion toward accomplishing an objective, not just punching a clock. It means to give and do more than is expected of you. ~Richard Paul Evans

Thomas Jefferson said, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” ~Richard Paul Evans

I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it. ~Ray Bradbury

Without passion we are doomed to mediocrity. ~Richard Paul Evans (from The Locket)


Door Four: Develop a Love-Centered Map
Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. ~Viktor E. Frankl

Without love, infants die. Emotionally, so do adults. With love, our health improves, both physically and emotionally. ~Richard Paul Evans

I will greet this day with love in my heart. For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. ~Og Mandino

Service is love made visible. ~Stephen Colbert

Love is what love does. ~Richard Paul Evans

We love those whom we serve. ~Richard Paul Evans

Love, for the sake of love, will always be enough. And if our lives are but a single flash in the dark hollow of eternity, then, if, but for the briefest of moments, we shine – then how brilliantly our light has burned. And as the starlight knows no boundary of space or time, so, too, our illumination will shine forth throughout all eternity, for darkness has no power to quell such light. And this is a lesson we must all learn and take to heart – that all light is eternal and all love is light. And it must forever be so. ~Richard Paul Evans (from The Letter)

I recommend this book to everyone who like to be motivated to do their best!

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