100 year old me to my great granddaughter when she asks.. Great grandfather, what should I do with my life?
What a wonderful question to ask a silly old man, but where do I begin?… Live it free of worry what those that don’t matter in your life think/have to say, for lions don’t concern themselves with the opinions of sheep. Make as much of life as fun as you possibly can, and use these pillars to build your foundations upon…
Passion/purpose- Discover what you’re passionate about, and make this your purpose in life. You may be passionate about many things, as I am myself. You need to determine which of these are hobbies and things you don’t want to stop enjoying, and those that you can make a living from. Choose something that’s going to make the world a better place, or at least your world, and do so with love.
Lovers and friends- Choose your lovers and friends very wisely, these are 2 of the most important decisions you will make in life. Your friends from school will highly unlikely be your friends for life, albeit for perhaps a handful if you’re lucky. The most important things to seek out in both are trust, loyalty, honesty and shared values/interests. It is very likely that in your early life, that either or will betray you, and that’s okay. These betrayals add strength to your foundations, and you will grow sensors that will give you signals as to when it may be happening again and you will begin to learn how to avoid it, and when to walk away from these friends. However, it is also very important not to tar all with the same brush. It is very easy to notice similarities in behaviours that trigger the sensors into believing the same thing is happening again, which is rarely the case. With those being the hard parts, let’s talk about the best bits. The memories that you create are unique in the sense that, with the right ones, anything goes and you are consistently your truest self. You should be laughing until your eyes and insides feel like they’re going to burst, singing and dancing, deep, meaningful and honest conversations, being truthful with them when they’ve done wrong, not just to you but to whoever or whatever, you must be honest with them and not tell them what they want to hear, but what they need to hear, and sometimes those things are hard truths, but ultimately most of our lives are built on hard truths and uncomfortable conversations that lead to strength, courage and wisdom. Lastly, if/when you find the right ones (one in terms of lover) that tick all of the boxes above, then you must accept the fact they have flaws, as we all do, and accept those flaws as part of who they are.. Nobody, or nothing in this world is perfect, and neither are you. That’s what makes special people so special, accepting imperfection as perfection.
Family- Unlike everything else in life, the one thing you cannot choose is your family. I am so fortunate to have been born into the family I was born into, as are you. Your family will test you, you will learn so much from them, and it’s down to you to decide which of those values you deem to be positive or negative to live a fulfilled and happy life. You will disagree on so many things, you will have different opinions and outlooks on things you believe that your opinions and outlooks should align on, and that’s okay. You will get to points in life where you need to decide how much time spent with them is important, as well as how it affects your well being and vibrations. But one thing is for certain, if it wasn’t for them, there would be no you, so love them unconditionally because they won’t be here forever, and when they’re gone they will leave a hole in your heart that cannot be refilled.
Learning- Understand as early as you can that life isn’t fair, and the universe works in the most mysterious ways. What you truly desire will come to you if you visualise it consistently, and then work towards it.. However, most of the time it will come wrapped in disguise and often when you least expect it. It can, and will take everything that you love from you, the only choice you have to make when these things happen is to let it eat you alive, or to help you grow stronger. Use these hard times to mould you, let the darkness consume you before you release a light so bright within you, they’ll see it all the way from the andromeda galaxy. We grow through what we go through, carry that mantra with you into the darkness when it grows to guide you to the light, then share what you’ve learnt with others who are consumed by the darkness themselves, as the light that shines brightest is love, and love always wins.
Memories/moments- Choose memories and moments over materials. It’s very easy to be tempted by ‘the finer things in life’. One of my favourite quotes from the film Passengers, is ‘If you live an ordinary life, you’ll have only ordinary stories to tell. Life is for adventure’. Travel the world as young as you can, don’t chase material things and job titles. I don’t have many regrets in life, but one of them is not travelling the world at a young age. Use your teens and your 20s as your figuring it out years, use this time to find yourself, learn values and wisdom while travelling and immersing in different cultures. The world is what you make it, either a negative spinning rock where positivity is seen as a persona, or the most beautiful creation in the universe filled with wonder, untold stories, adventures, and the ability to learn, grow and teach through tribulation in the most magical manner.
Self care/love- Look after your mind, body and spirit. To optimise life, taking ultimate care of these 3 things is non negotiable. We are what we consume, that speaks truth to not only what we eat/drink, but to what we watch/listen to/read/accept as our truths/values. Avoid the news and its propaganda pushing, biased, fear mongering nonsense. Instead, read books, meditate, listen to podcasts, watch things that inspire and light a spark within you to guide you to your purpose and passion. Exercise is paramount to a healthy body and mind. Don’t underestimate the power of simply walking and listening to your thoughts, but ultimately you must find forms of exercise that you enjoy and will do consistently, they are different for everyone but the most important thing is just doing them. Those are the pillars for the mind and the body that I believe are paramount, which leads me to the final and most exciting pillar (to me at least).. The spirit.
Learn about the past/present/future of the universe. Why and how are we here? What was before us? What will be after us? How did the planets form and why are they all equally important? Is there life beyond our planet? Why is astrology so important? The odds of us being born are 1 in 400 trillion.. That number written out is 4,00000000000000. We are each, more than a living miracle, we are an incomprehensible phenomenon that we far too often take for granted. The fact that even being here, with the ability to write/read this itself is something we should be beyond grateful for. That word, grateful, switched from adjective to noun becomes gratitude, and gratitude is truly the key to the door of happy and fulfilled life.
