What I've learned in the last year....

What I’ve learned in the last year


The last year has been a challenge for me, in so many ways. Following the maxim that "Whatever does not kill me, makes me stronger", I learned several valuable lessons. Here's to your learning too.

1) Be thankful for all things. Everything. Your clothes, your meals, the soap you wash your hair with. I found that when everything was taken away from me, I naturally became thankful for the smallest thing. When I thanked God for a meal I was about to eat, the feeling of gratitude replaced any gloomy misgivings. The mind can hold but one thought and emotion at a time, so when I consciously made the effort to feel and be thankful, the worries left me.

2) It can always get worse--and it very well may. Just when you think you've hit rock-bottom, there's probably more room for you to fall. And again. And again. But in that is the corridor to the next lesson...

3) Pear your desires instead of increasing them. We can never fulfill all our desires. In fact, the more our desires are fed, the more ravenous they become. It's always more, more, more. There are basic needs all humans intrinsically require, and we should be greatful when those needs are met. Just like Mom said when you wouldn't eat your spinach, "There are kids starving in Africa". Paradoxically, my satisfaction is inversely proportional to the number and girth of my desires.

4) Helping others helps you. There's nothing like helping other people. It makes you feel good, accomplished, and takes your thoughts off yourself.

5) Don't waste talent. When you find something that you're good at and enjoy, pursue it with everything you have. To me, there are two things that a person should want: A happy family, and job they enjoy or can at least see themselves doing for the rest of their lives. Chase both of these, and when you find them--don't let them go.

6) Life is hard. No amount of money or stuff will make life what we thought it would be when we were kids. That being said, every man should pursue the best life he can for he and his family. But life is rough; horrible events can happen to us, shock us to our core. Nonetheless, perhaps our role here on earth, is to go on, no matter what. So, laugh at the absurdity of life, laugh at it, but acknowledge it, don't try to deny it, because that will make it all the more painful when one is stomped by the undeniably dark universe.

In work--meaning. In sleep--rejuvenation. In family--joy. In God--all.