Life Lessons

1. Keep trying

It is important not to give up on the first try when attempting something new. You may have to try something more than three or four maybe five times before you get it right. The 10,000 hour rule states that if you want to be expert in anything, you have to practice it/perform it do it for 10,000 hours. At the beginning of the journey to be an expert, you will most likely get it wrong. Persistence and creativity by trying different approaches work even with the most difficult things.  If you keep trying, you’ll eventually get where you’re going.

2. You know the answer to the question if you look deep inside yourself.

As a teacher I found students rarely asked me direct questions. I learned that it was easier for me to teach the student how to ask the questions rather than give them the answer. Usually I found that the answer was known to the student. A Chinese proverb said, “Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.”

There is an old Taoist saying, “In making a four corner table, the teacher shows the student how to make one corner. It’s the student’s job to figure out how to make the other three.”

In life, the world doesn’t give us all the answers. The greatest teacher is inside of us.

3. Real wisdom in life comes from doing something, failing and learning from the failure.

I am leaning to meditate and I am running into several problems. One of which is staying focused for more than a few minutes, so rather than giving up; I am staying focused for a few minute and then adding time each day. When we struggle, we learn about ourselves and what we need to do to become stronger. In the words of Thomas Edison “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

 4. Recognize the egotistical mindset is dangerous to your health

Everything in the ego’s world is the result of comparing. When we are consistently making these comparisons we may get dejected and we give up. Separate from the part of yourselves that dwells on comparisons, and start learning to live a life that isn’t driven by egos.

5. We must be both compassionate and resilient.

When students ask me to do something, that they tell me is important to them, I usually don’t do it the first time or I will give them a task to do that shows me they are truly interested in achieving a result. If the student asks again or completes the task then I will consider working to help them achieve their goal. Many people want you to take responsibility when they should be taking the first steps. There’s a Taoist proverb that says, “Cotton on the outside, steel on the inside.” It reminds us to be compassionate, but not weak.

6. Patience is a virtue. Patience is the gift of inner calm. I need not know the entire journey in order to take one step

7. Understand your ego

It’s the enemy within that causes most of our fears, worries, and insecurities. If you come to terms with this enemy within, it will impact every area of your life. It’s the identification with the insecurity and fears that we refuse to acknowledge that causes some of our  problems.

How many times do we not go for something because of fear? Think about all the fears that we have conjured up in our minds that stop us from being truly happy. If you can conquer the enemy within yourself, you won’t have an enemy outside yourself.

8. Happiness come from within, and also comes from outside.

If we cultivate happiness from within, and work to spread it around to everyone we interact with we will be happier I believe that  everyone has a purpose or a mission in life. We have to find happiness within, so we can find our purpose for being.