Every life has highs and lows. I’ve had more than my fair share of mountaintop experiences, but like everyone else, I live in the valleys and on the plains.
There have been storms in my life and I know there will be more. Here are six truths that put things in perspective:
1. You cannot live a meaningful life by filling your life with meaningless things and activities.
2. Everyone is going to hurt you. Find the ones that are worth the suffering and heartache, don’t let anyone harden your heart, and remember, that even with your best efforts to avoid it, you are going to hurt people too.
3. Don’t complain. It’s not attractive or productive.
4. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Life is difficult and messy, and everyone is carrying a heavy burden.
5. Death comes to us all. When death approaches, the person you have become meets the person you could have been. This is a humbling encounter. Don’t wait for it. Meet with the person you are capable of becoming for a few minutes each day, then use your thoughts, words, choices, and actions, to close the gap between who you are today and who you are capable of being. This is the path that leads to a deeply fulfilling life.
6. Ignore your critics. Everyone has them. They will tear down in an hour what they couldn’t build in a lifetime. But life eventually puts all critics in their place. With time critics become remote and unimportant. The people who love you don’t care about what your critics care about; they care about you as a human being. Your critics, they don’t see you as a human being. They have dehumanized you. They see something in you that unsettles something in them. So, they have to decide: attack you or investigate their own dark mystery. Most people don’t know you well enough to compliment you or criticize you, and it is the unseen moments of our lives that define us.
Allow these six principals to guide your life and you will live an uncommon life of fulfillment and satisfaction.
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