How to Ride the Waves of Life and Succeed

I have come to believe that we are living this life on Earth for a reason. It is meant to be a learning experience, a training ground. It is an opportunity to learn, especially from difficulties and our mistakes, and to continuously mature, develop, and grow. 

Why do I think that life is a training ground? Let us examine the mandatory experiences that naturally come along with this life on Earth for almost everyone. That might give us a hint as to this life’s purpose.

Family Values

The vast majority of people grow up having parents and siblings, and they have to learn to love and accept their siblings, despite the fact that they may be very different from one another. Each has their own attitudes towards life and living, and their own values. Sibling rivalry and conflict are the norm, not the exception. But they are family, and humans have an inborn genetic affinity for family for good reason.

From our parents we learn the most fundamental things, such as love, security, and happiness. My mother loved me with a wonderfully pure love. That is the love with which I love my children and my grandchildren. I am so thankful for that. They, and their children and grandchildren, will pass on that love forever.

As with siblings, children also have their own thoughts, desires and goals, and as their parent, you cannot impose yours upon them. You can teach them patience and wisdom through your actions, and you can give them knowledge. But your greatest gift to them is your love, which will live through them into life everlasting.

My attitude toward the spiritual was passed on to me by my father. He taught me that God is wherever we are, not confined to some tabernacle somewhere. He also taught me to think for myself. He often said,” Nothing is impossible.” What a wonderful lesson. 

Seeing the Beauty Within Your Path and the Paths of Others

Hopefully, through this teaching you will find The Path that facilitates your journey toward The One. 

You must not let your path be a means of separation from other paths or other people, but focusing on the differences between your path and the path of others will cause you to become sidelined from your journey to The One within you. 

You must first recognize when you have deviated from your true path and veer back to the commonality, the Oneness. This requires that you do not look with disdain at people who practice things that seem mundane. Listen to them, and seek to learn about the things of value they get from those practices. Remember that different people are at different places along their journey to awakening, and they connect with their spirit in different ways.

People of all circumstances can feel and love. They have life purposes. If those purposes involve loving and/or helping others, how can you denigrate them? Look at yourself in the mirror and truthfully judge how well you have done at those fundamental and important life challenges. Don’t spend your time and effort denouncing other people’s faults. Spend your time and effort correcting your own!

Relish in the beauty of the different paths that others have taken. Make sure to share your experiences with others, and seek to learn of the common aspects of your paths. Also, recognize that the common aspect of all paths is where you will find the infinite One within yourself and others. Seek to discover the commonness of the different paths. That is The Path to God, spiritual enlightenment, and pure awareness.

Revel in the beauty within the paths of others because by appreciating their beauty you will better appreciate your own beauty. Touch the common denominator of humanity and you will feel that connection. It is the love through which you appreciate the universe, the Oneness that is God.

Identification with a separate group by race, creed, nation, or gender to the rejection or denigration of another is the cause of discord and unhappiness. The love of, and fascination with the beautiful differences among people is what will make you individually happy and respected, and make you sow peace and happiness in general. Seeing life through the eyes of many people will make it more three-dimensional for you and thus easier for you to conceptualize.

Rethink Harm

The harm that comes from other people can only harm you if you let it. If you see that it comes from pain within them, then you can only pity them and not be hurt. If you let your kindness–your empathy–come forth, you will try to help them in a caring and loving manner. If they are so steeped in their misery that they still refuse your help, what can you do? Just go on with your life uninjured.

What if they harm your reputation with others? You will find that if you maintain and exhibit your kind loving kind attitude toward your aggressor, other people will respect you and give you the benefit of the doubt. If you react with anger or desperation, they will not really know who to believe. Will they see a manifestly negative person versus a holy person or two people who are wrapped up in revenge and anger?

Always speak with truth, appropriateness, and kindness, and remember that silence is sometimes the most appropriate form of speech. Harsh speech sends a ripple of hurt through the universe, whereas kind speech can change hurt into healing.

Life is a Flow

There cannot be charity without need, nor can there be success without trial.

Do not feel that it is somehow unholy or hypocritical to receive. By receiving you bless the giver. Do not be so proud or selfish as to deprive the giver of your blessing. Life is a flow, and if you perpetually give without receiving, you dam the flow. As you receive, give, and as you give, receive. 

Be happy with what you have. Consider the journey of people who have lost their limbs, sight, or movement. See how they have modified their life to become as happy and fulfilled as before their misfortune. As a matter of fact, see how many of them have actually had their lives improved as a result of the misfortune.

Make the most of your life no matter its condition. What else do you have? You need look no further than the life of Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist who wrote A BriefHistoryofTime. Who could live a fuller and more meaningful life than that man who was in a wheelchair and who could not speak, or even gesture?

Don’t be a victim of events. Be above all that. You are in control of your own life, your own destiny. Live your life’s purpose. Whatever is thrown at you, make the most of your life. What else can you do?

Do not succumb to the inevitable misfortunes of life. Overcome them. Rise above them. That happens naturally and easily when you have come to understand the nature of life.

How you live your life will be the legacy that follows you. That will be your immortality. Do not fail it.

Living in Oneness

You are One with all there is. You are not a leaf to be battered about by the wind. The wind and the leaf are a part of you. You are beyond all of those minuscule, unstoppable events of life on Earth. You can look down upon them with interest and empathy, just as you would look upon the interactions of toddlers at play. You have risen above being controlled by the innumerable events of the world. You have gained the wisdom to see the inner nature of all through understanding it all.