4 quick life lessons I’ve learned during my 27 years~

Firstly, I’d like to take a moment to big up a local Toronto entity called HelloWriter writing club— this blog entry was inspired by one of their reflective writing assignments :)

Secondly, I’d like to talk about why my blog posts are all pretty short (I’ve received a couple comments about this): I intentionally write short posts because I like the idea of sharing something that can be read in 2 minutes, but may linger in your mind and you may reflect on for the next 2 days, rather than giving you a 20-minute post that you may think about only for the duration of time you spend reading it. As an analagy: I hope reading these posts would be similar to the concept of the body’s muscle response to weight training vs cardio training, if you will. (Not that I have anything against cardio workouts or long blog posts)….

Anyway, enough introduction—— let’s get to it!

Here are four quick lessons I’ve learned during my short stint on Planet Earth thus far:

• This life has taught me to never (NEVER) judge a book by its cover. This is a concept that has become so cliche that I think we still overlook it. I’ve learned that judgement of other people almost always subtly indicates subconscious judgement within and against one’s own self. I’ve been personally working on this a lot lately.

• This life has taught me that what’s unseen is much more important than what’s seen— that what’s done (an action) holds more weight than what’s said…and that the motive behind an action is more important and should be held under greater scrutiny than the action itself. This goes for both “positive” and “negative” actions. I think about this one a lot when I consider politics, celebrities, and other “mainstream” entities.

• This life has taught me that forgiveness, empathy, gratitude, and good listening skills are four of the least common but most necessary qualities in order to cultivate a healthy community. Life is not easy—dealing with others is not easy, whether it’s family members, coworkers, strangers, enemies, or friends. Being conscious and willing to develop these four qualities among the people we daily interact with is really important.

• This life has taught me that ups and downs, pain and struggle, and sharing in each other’s suffering is all part of the privilege of being alive. Although it may not feel like it most of the time: Being alive is meant to be a privilege, not a burden! I’ve learned that the more unexpected and treacherous the journey— the more opportunity we are given to experience the depth of peace, love, hope and joy that life has in store. Life as a human being is so rich in emotion and experience. All experiences, even the “negative” ones, are necessary and helpful, and play an essential part in each of our journeys!

What are some fundamental lessons you’ve learned over the years?

I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to drop a comment below, share on Facebook, hit me up on Instagram, or send me an email (staymellowblog@gmail.com).

Thanks for all the love and support thus far :)