You are your greatest investment. The more you store in that mind of yours, the more you enrich your experience, the more people you meet, the more books you read, the more places you visit, the greater is that investment in all that you are. Everything that you add to our peace of mind, and to your outlook upon life, is added capital that no one but yourself can dissipate - George Matthew Adams
After a yearlong, ten months bonanza of finding the right person, planning a future and family with him, I think I am finally back. Finally back from the thrill of numerous self-reflections, shopping lists, love notes and love stories. One of my most unique memories was vacationing in Dubai - walking on beaches, halal stakes and burgers and not a care in the world. I am back to turning in papers and reading extra hours, sacrificing sleep, exercise and moving forward with personal goals. Life is constantly moving and changing. To live is to experience new things, almost everyday. The key is to be able to learn and adjust.
At times life is like a dream, like living in an happy fairy tale. Then there are those times when things are not as effortless, we feel drained, overwhelmed, guilty or resentful. I believe that these are the greatest moments for learning and growth. We don't reflect upon life when our joys are accelerated Most of us do not feel forced to connect within unless things are not inadequate and frustrating. Writing makes life's learning and adjusting process deliberate and easy. It is empowering, an opportunity to keep the mind sharp and passions burning. Without becoming redundant, writing challenges us to open our mind to new ways of understanding and find strength in obstacles. Life is extraordinary if we work at it. The myriad of events in our lives is what makes us, a masterpiece. Writing conquers life instead of allowing one to be conquered by it.
Life becomes unbearable when we assume that there is nothing to learn. Receiving life as a lesson sustains hope. Emerson wrote, "In every man there is something wherein I may learn, and in that I am his pupil." This perceptive quote is a tribute and a celebration of life - life offers something to gain and take away. Even pain nurtures skill and injury teaches expertise.
Here is a test if you want to know if your learning in life is finished: if you are life, it hasn't. Learning is the name we give to our mistakes. She who dares to learn from life, takes the first step in the direction of acquiring wisdom.
We’re all writers, busy writing our own lives. Powerful stuff but sounds a bit cliché, doesn’t it?
The story that we choose should invoke change in the world, heal our woes, make our lives happier, more meaningful. But if you see the decisions we make everyday, our lives seem to be about aesthetics. And even if you throw money into the equation, design equate to filling our lives with good-looking, functional widgets.
The key is to divorce our story from any association with consumption.
Lets stop and think about our lives for a moment: life in essence is decision making - good story means good decisions - whether that manifests itself as a cool product, choosing to ride a bike to work, or deciding to go back to school - we are designing our life when we make any decision about what is right for us and for our lives. And this is not a cliche.
A hungry tiger started tracking the scent of a deer. As he followed the deer, he came across the scent of a rabbit. He turned aside and started after the rabbit. Then he was distracted by the scent of a mouse and started following that. He finally came to the hole into which the mouse had vanished. He ended the day hungrier than when he had started the day. This fable illustrates how many of us spend our lives distracted with this or that, and at the end of our lives – feeling even less accomplished.
I want to start a hundred things too. A dozen things I want to attempt. But where will that lead me in life. What will I gain from it other than just the experience and the knowledge of having done it.
What if the focus of my life was a spiritual focus. What if I made everything about my life about my Resurrection.
Regarding the Past - Forgiveness Needed
Regarding the Present - Progress Needed
Regarding the Future - Prize Needed
Many of us have entered our final year of university and found that 4 years went by like a flash. Now we have suddenly grown up into men and women. Its like daéjà vu, like time right after my high school graduation. What next? What are my plans? However, instead of thinking about our next move, financial responsibilities began to haunt us. The rising cost of living, insurance for the car, paying back OSAP and future marriage costs are constantly replayed in our mind. No doubt, things are catching up to us fast. We are tired and we may began to drown in the sea of just plain survival. To you I say ... Everyone goes through a phase or phases during their lives in which they can either find and establish themselves as or sacrifice their dreams for the conundrum of societal or cultural expectations. If you want to learn how to fly a plane then be yourself, become a pilot. If the curvy Absolute pentahouses don't appeal to you, rent a cozy studio apartment. Don't live for clothes or in hopes to be invited to the next cocktail party. Live for the Hereafter. You are educated... so you can earn your Hereafter first.
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