Inspirational life lessons I'd like to pass on to my daughter
- This starts deep :) It is my humble opinion that there is no ultimate meaning to life that is consistent for everyone and everything - and while I'm at it - don't believe anything anyone tells you unless they can give examples or evidence to support what they say.
- But I have found my life to be better if life does have meaning for me. So your life may be better if your life has meaning for you. I like these 2 viewpoints: "Life is what you make of it" & "Your life is only as good as you make it".
- It took me years and years to arrive at a simple meaning to my life - and the meaning I came up with, was obvious - "to live", but more importantly "to live well" and the aim in my life is now to 'live better' with a focus around improved well-being.
- By having goals in life it gives your life purpose and gives you drive and a reason to live. If you have no goals you are just aimlessly meandering through life and you might not get anywhere worth going! No body stumbled on Mount Everest, the top of the world, by accident.
- Choose your goals wisely! Choose goals that are true to you and who you are. Really clarify what you want to do with your life, what your interests are and what your values are (this may take time to figure out). Don't choose goals because you think you should - just goals that work for you - its your life after all. Don't ask what the world needs - ask what makes you come alive - because what the world needs is more people who have come alive!
- I really hope you succeed in what you want to do and are successful in pursuing the life you wish to lead - and remember this - success is achieved only through hard work. All those who are successful in life are there because of hard work and commitment - there are no short-cuts!
- For most people, we have to work in order to earn a living. Some people hate work - but know they must do it to earn money. This is such a shame as people spend most of their waking lives at work - and if you are doing a job you hate - you are going to hate a lot of your life - not good if you want to enjoy life! So when your young - work hard at school, and try to set out on a career path that involves working in an area that you are passionate about. If you choose a job that you love - you'll never have to work a day in your life :)
- Remember that the most important things in life are not material - and value what makes you truly happy. In my experience this is good health, a positive state of mind, great relationships with people and passions.
- When your young the material things are seductive, but when you are older - you realise the people in your life are very important - so take the time to build really good relationships with family & friends, don't neglect these people, make the time to catch up and let them know how much they mean to you - because one day they won't be here. Only when my dad died did I fully understand how much he meant to me - and I wish I spent more quality time with him.
- You will learn more from bad experiences & so-called mistakes or failures than you will from positive experiences. If you live & learn - every experience (including the bad at the time) can be considered useful to your becoming a stronger, wiser & ultimately more happier person in the long run. Remember this when life is tough - keep going and don't give up. So when your going through tough times - don't get to down about it all - for one day you will look back and see their value in ultimately making you stronger and your life better.
- My parents never really enforced their views on me, they just let me be whoever I wanted to be. It meant learning a lot for myself..One thing my dad always said was "you can't beat experience". I never fully understood what he meant as the time - until I got older and realised I learned a lot and enjoyed life the most when I was experiencing as much as I can.
- So I would say to you "experience as much as you can" especially when you are young, and in your twenties when you have a bit more freedom to do and go where you want. Don't worry too much about settling down and getting a steady job & mortgage & kids in your youth - just experience as much as you can, go to new places, travel, meet people from lots of walks of life - just experience! You'll grow as a person and you will know more about yourself because of all this experience - letting you make better life choices!
- When a change or opportunity comes up, and their is a big decision to make, just ask yourself - “which of these things fills me with most energy and enthusiasm?” Then choose to do that thing, whatever it is. And remember - it's better to try something and know, than to not try and always wonder, what if...
- One of the best investments you can ever make is in your own health. I had experiences with bad health in my youth - and it made me appreciate my health so much more. So look after yourself! A healthy body will let you enjoy life a lot longer than an unhealthy one!
- Don't get too bogged down in life, don't worry too much about the future, don't get too stressed and worked up, don't let life get so busy and frantic that it stops you from just being in the moment and enjoying the moment - because if you fail to live fully in the moment - you'll find most of your life just passes you away and before you know it, months, years, decades and intact pretty much your full life will have whizzed by in a flash. Savour the moment, savour the day and everything and everyone in it.
- This world can be labelled good, bad, beautiful, ugly, boring, exciting, crazy, messed up and many, many other things by many, many people - but surely we can't argue against the fact this planet of ours is amazingly diverse and wonder-full - there is probably nowhere exactly like it - so I always try to have in the back of my mind this sense of wonder & awe at our planet - it just makes me feel more alive :)
- So I'd recommend trying to look at the world with a sense of awe and just being thankful for this opportunity you have on this special planet and try to live with this appreciation, zest and energy for life!
- In terms of morals, I only really have one general principle, respect. I have respect for others, and respect for the planet we live on. The golden rule sums up how I treat people: "treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves".
- Finally, just enjoy the roller coaster of life - live it with enthusiasm, live it with energy, when you get knocked down - just get back up and don't have any regrets!
- One life. Live it!
I'm someone who I guess is pretty "deep", a bit of a thinker! As you can see from above I'm interested in living-well and improving my well-being. I'm always looking to improve and learn and I love reading about other peoples thoughts, opinions and even research on the subject of well-being and happiness.
Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this post - if so please comment and tell me your life lessons - and please share this page! Cheers, Stuart
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Stuart Hodgson is a freelance graphic designer with a passion & interest in health & well-being. His life's purpose is to simply try and Live Better
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