My Philosophy on Life

Above picture: artist unknown

Advice on Life

1. Strive to know yourself.

2. Talk to all walks of life from an early age.

3. Ask yourself, when young, what it is you want to do. Identify your strengths and vulnerabilities.

4. You will have many teachers, not just one. As such, don't put all your faith in a single individual.

5. Trust yourself.

6. Pain and sorrow cleanse the soul.

7. You can be efficient without rushing. It is called being deliberate.

8. Everything is for the first and last time.

9. Patience is important. Tact and diplomacy are brothers. Nonetheless, don't wait to say what is critical and pressing on the mind. A second chance is never guaranteed. Make amends even if you did nothing wrong. Initiate on behalf of the other person's fear and/or weakness.

10. Imagine dying within the week. Now you see what matters most to you. Do it. Say it. Give it.

11. Spend at least one day a month (for a complete 24 hours if not more), without speaking. You'll discover how liberating it is to be silent. This means quietude in the mind as well.

12. It seems rudimentary, but we often forget: with the exception of genuine affection, nothing is permanent. Pain, contentment, misery, ecstasy, certainty, doubt--each comes in cycles and never again in its original form. Upon return, it is always a richer pain or a new form of excitement. Emotions evolve and dissolve. Some are more powerful than others.

13. Depression requires too much energy. Don't waste your life sitting on the fence. If you aim to kill yourself, understand your reasons and accept the repercussions. Otherwise, jump over the fence and stop straddling misery. The longer you ride that horse, life becomes a living hell. Just get off or fall off.

Remember, death is a given. Spend your time wisely.

14. Lest you are on the brink of homicidal rage, do not put restrictions on what you feel. You have a right to be angry, sad, disappointed, happy.

15. What you do to another is truly what you do to yourself.

16. Reality is an illusion.

17. Life is damn hard work. No one is exempt. No one.

-The Whestonian Institute