I am past the half way point in life... give or take a few years. (My birthday snuck past Facebook which I am truly happy about!) Some I want to give and some I want to take! I have been living in top ten's in my head so here goes the top ten things I know from the last year(s).
1) Make sure you are pursuing your dream and not someone else's. Define your success by your happiness not someone elses desires for you or how the world wants you to be. Pursuing your life based on others desires for you causes you to behave and do things that are not natural for you, doesn't make you happy, and in the end doesn't allow you to live up to your potential.
2) You must first identify the challenges of prejudice to combat and discard them from your life. We all want to be color blind, believe we are innocent of prejudice and treat everyone the same. But, reality is that you have to identify your inner prejudices to actually overcome them. People who say they are the most tolerant and are not at all prejudiced, tend to not have lived in an open world of diversity, or are not being truthful to themselves. Just watch and you will see their behavior doesn't match their words.
3) Those that turn up to be the most prejudiced and against others that are different than themselves tend to be hiding something from the world. So, the reverse is also interesting. How many more homophobes need to get exposed as being Gay for this to be shown to be a reality. People who harshly judge others are trying to camouflage their own lives so people don't see their own truth.
4) An intolerant atheist is more aggravating that an intolerant person of faith. It sounds like they have replaced the dogma of faith and religion with a dogma of atheism and they lack tolerance for others who believe differently from them.
5) People who say never quit, have not fought for something beyond their own reach. Sometimes you have to give up on a project and change course otherwise you will continue to invest time and energy in something not worthy of you. I am not suggesting quitting be a regular part of any one's lives but it takes courage and maturity to realize when something you are pursuing will not work.
6) Those who suggest don't focus on perfection because it can't be achieved must settle for mediocrity. If you don't pursue the best you can do then you are settling. This may sound contradictory to number 5 but it is not to me. Trying to achieve my best at something and the focus of perfection means I will do my very best with the goal to to get as close to it as I can. There are times as in, number 5, when you can see reality is that your energies are better served by focusing elsewhere and drive toward perfection of something with higher value.
7) Stepping outside can be an amazing cure to stress and day to day life pressures. There is true beauty in every sunrise, sunset and moment of nature. Even when the weather is at its worse a rainbow shows up and reminds us how lucky we really are. We have been blessed to live on a miracle planet that has fresh water, and life and to forget the wonderment of the world around us can let us slip into a malaise of unhappiness.
8) Listen to others whose opinions are different from your own, and you might learn from them and their perspective. It is our differences that makes us interesting, if we were all alike the world would be really boring. There is a tendency when you hear someone, and their view is totally against your own, to dismiss them outright. People, in my opinion, don't start life looking to be difficult, hateful or wrong so understanding them and where their opinion comes from is important. Doesn't mean you change your position, you might, doesn't mean you don't share your own perspective and try to share your opinion. However, you may discover their truth has some merit or value. Or, they may help you solidify your own view and opinion.
9) Anger for me comes from inside when I know I allowed something or someone to put me in a place or moment that I could have prevented. It is never the things I dread that bring me the most angst. It is those things that I don't see clearly for what they are, or don't pay attention to give them my best that do. So, I get angry at me because I should be wiser especially at this stage of my life and very rarely at others.
10) End of the day, for my happiness, life comes from a few simple things. Love of a partner and family. Good friends that put up with me and my myriad of ideas and changes as I grow, keep learning and exploring life to keep it interesting. Finally, the love of a good pet to remind me to take naps, walk occasionally, and be glad I don't have to go to the bathroom in the rain!
1) Make sure you are pursuing your dream and not someone else's. Define your success by your happiness not someone elses desires for you or how the world wants you to be. Pursuing your life based on others desires for you causes you to behave and do things that are not natural for you, doesn't make you happy, and in the end doesn't allow you to live up to your potential.
2) You must first identify the challenges of prejudice to combat and discard them from your life. We all want to be color blind, believe we are innocent of prejudice and treat everyone the same. But, reality is that you have to identify your inner prejudices to actually overcome them. People who say they are the most tolerant and are not at all prejudiced, tend to not have lived in an open world of diversity, or are not being truthful to themselves. Just watch and you will see their behavior doesn't match their words.
3) Those that turn up to be the most prejudiced and against others that are different than themselves tend to be hiding something from the world. So, the reverse is also interesting. How many more homophobes need to get exposed as being Gay for this to be shown to be a reality. People who harshly judge others are trying to camouflage their own lives so people don't see their own truth.
4) An intolerant atheist is more aggravating that an intolerant person of faith. It sounds like they have replaced the dogma of faith and religion with a dogma of atheism and they lack tolerance for others who believe differently from them.
5) People who say never quit, have not fought for something beyond their own reach. Sometimes you have to give up on a project and change course otherwise you will continue to invest time and energy in something not worthy of you. I am not suggesting quitting be a regular part of any one's lives but it takes courage and maturity to realize when something you are pursuing will not work.
6) Those who suggest don't focus on perfection because it can't be achieved must settle for mediocrity. If you don't pursue the best you can do then you are settling. This may sound contradictory to number 5 but it is not to me. Trying to achieve my best at something and the focus of perfection means I will do my very best with the goal to to get as close to it as I can. There are times as in, number 5, when you can see reality is that your energies are better served by focusing elsewhere and drive toward perfection of something with higher value.
7) Stepping outside can be an amazing cure to stress and day to day life pressures. There is true beauty in every sunrise, sunset and moment of nature. Even when the weather is at its worse a rainbow shows up and reminds us how lucky we really are. We have been blessed to live on a miracle planet that has fresh water, and life and to forget the wonderment of the world around us can let us slip into a malaise of unhappiness.
8) Listen to others whose opinions are different from your own, and you might learn from them and their perspective. It is our differences that makes us interesting, if we were all alike the world would be really boring. There is a tendency when you hear someone, and their view is totally against your own, to dismiss them outright. People, in my opinion, don't start life looking to be difficult, hateful or wrong so understanding them and where their opinion comes from is important. Doesn't mean you change your position, you might, doesn't mean you don't share your own perspective and try to share your opinion. However, you may discover their truth has some merit or value. Or, they may help you solidify your own view and opinion.
9) Anger for me comes from inside when I know I allowed something or someone to put me in a place or moment that I could have prevented. It is never the things I dread that bring me the most angst. It is those things that I don't see clearly for what they are, or don't pay attention to give them my best that do. So, I get angry at me because I should be wiser especially at this stage of my life and very rarely at others.
10) End of the day, for my happiness, life comes from a few simple things. Love of a partner and family. Good friends that put up with me and my myriad of ideas and changes as I grow, keep learning and exploring life to keep it interesting. Finally, the love of a good pet to remind me to take naps, walk occasionally, and be glad I don't have to go to the bathroom in the rain!
Hope you all have a very Happy Holiday Season!
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