At the most random times, “eureka” moments can happen when you realize some ridiculously simplistic ideas making you take a step back on life, and shifting your perception of things for the better. This changes you forever. As a direct consequence, you become so much more objective about everything, which in turn allows you to move forward.
These are 40 mini-life lessons that stuck with me on an ever-growing list:
Table of Contents
Dogs are the true zen masters.
They are always in the present moment. They don’t think about what they ate yesterday, or what they will tonight. They live without regrets, or fears, in the moment.
We know nothing.
Of the importance of being open-minded, we have to question everything. That’s why some of us are on Medium, no? Let’s be curious.
We are a drop of water in the infinite ocean-universe.
Ego does not exist in MACS0647-JD (furthest galaxy recorded from Earth). So be humble my friend.
There is one universal right way to do things
And it has to be in accordance with the Cosmic balance. The more we do what we do ( if we do it organically and truthfully), the more we realize what is that Way. In doubt about a decision? Ask yourself, is this the right thing to do. It is not as obvious as it sounds. There are moments in life where being selfish, cut someone off your inner circle, or eating ice cream is just the right thing.
There is no one way of doing things.
Enkamp sensei, a famous karate sensei often says in his blog posts and videos “there are many ways to mount Fuji, but once you are up there, everything looks the same”.
“There are many ways to mount Fuji, but once you are up there, everything looks the same” — Enkamp Sensei
The most important is to continuously move forward.
In the far-east, the philosophy is based on the idea that two opposite energies are ruling the universe: the yin and the yang. Every type of energy has a direction. Your blood flows your whole life. The cycle of day and night is continuous, and so is the inhale/exhale cycle. The only moment where energy does not have a direction is in death. So the most important is to move forward, in everything, even a little bit every day on specific tasks.
We are what we eat.
In our modern lives, we are all acidic. Today more than ever we really need to choose what we eat depending on what we ate in the last couple of meals. Check out the alkaline diet and live by it.
True Love is transparent.
Be with someone with who you can be like you would be by yourself.
The smallest and biggest things look alike.
This film made in the 70’s blew my mind, and still so relevant today.
The importance of mentoring
Mentoring someone and being mentored is essential. You learn things, you teach and pass along that knowledge. This is part of the cosmic balance.
Creating regularly
Creating regularly is a healthy practice as it is the true expression of the soul, and allows you to grow. It exercises and detoxifies your inner self. This is even more important for the non-creative type. So paint, write, play music, and dance!
Dogs don’t judge.
So paint, write, play music, and dance in front of your dog, he/she will most likely be entertained, and will break stage-fright and shyness from artist on the becoming!
True kindness
Occasionally doing something good without expecting something in return promotes positive energy through the entire world. If everyone did this once in a while, there would be a lot less hatred in the rest of the world. Crisis would be avoided. This is not about you.
Wear colours once in a while.
Colours affect you and your entourage.
Be spontaneous and experience new things.
One of my Taekwondo fellow coming to my class invited me to try her kung fu class. After practising Taekwondo, for over 20 years, and winning competitions, here I was again stepping in an new art being the beginner, with the beginner’s mind.
Observe and copy nature.
Nature shows us how we should behave. Be like the willow tree in the wind. Be like the water not stopped by the rock in the stream.
Breathe deep and slow, like the ocean tide.
#alkalizing. See #7.
About travelling
Living without travelling is like reading the cover of a book without reading the book.
Television tells lies to your vision.
The original trinity
Balanced body, balanced mind and balanced spirit are the original Trinity.
You turn into what you tune in to.
You cannot expect different results by doing the same thing.
Experimenting is good, even when you don’t really know what you’re doing.
Television is definitely dead.
You cannot save someone from oneself.
You can help someone all you want, but eventually, this person has to go through the door of change by his/herself.
You can always win money, but you can never get your time back.
So plan wisely, don’t waste time. But if you do, make it your choice.
There are no problems, only solutions.
Seeing a challenge from this perspective always opens doors.
If people cannot connect emotionally, your content/product/relationship will be dropped.
Be kind.
Kindness promotes kindness.
Be Selfish… sometimes…
See #4
Other people’s energy affects yours.
It is therefore primordial to surround yourself with non-toxic people, and once in a while do some inner-circle clean-up.
Music is food for the soul.
While TV, VR, Facebook, and other various techs will fall into oblivion over time, music is here forever. It already existed in prehistoric times, and will still be here long after our generation is gone.
About A432 tuning
Beethoven and the likes used to tune in A 432, because it is the vibration frequency of nature. I hope we get back to that standard soon. If you are intrigued, you can download an app that plays back your music to that frequency here.
Stop our evolution
We unknowingly stopped our evolutionary adaptive skillset by being too smart and creating tools.
We are the only animal race that built trust on gossip.
Don’t gossip.
Food and religion
Most of the food restriction in religions are actually healthy diet practice, whether you are part of the faith or not.
A picture is worth a thousand words…
But action is worth a million.
A master is someone who has failed a 1000 times.
Even a master continues to learn
On the lifelong journey, whether it is in arts or other disciplines, we must all continue to learn.
Surround yourself with people that pulls you up.
Everyone else needs to go. If they can’t go, they need to be politely avoided.
Everything is going to be ok in the end.
- Originally published in Millennial Meta.