Lose Yourself & Find Yourself
“Until we lose ourselves there can be no hope of finding ourselves. We are of the world, and to enter fully into the world we must first lose ourselves in it.” ~Henry Miller~
Living
Never Too Old
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
– Clive Staples Lewis
Happiness
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley
Attitude & Outlook
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”
John Homer Miller
Live Well
“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”
Voltaire
The Life We Lead
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – Nelson Mandela
Patience, Patience
“Patience child, patience. Remember, life is a journey. If you got everything you wanted all at once there’d be no point to living. Enjoy the ride & in the end you’ll see these ‘setbacks’ as giant leaps forward, only you couldn’t see the bigger picture in the moment. Remain calm, all is within reach; all you have to do is show up every day, stay true to your path & you will surely find the treasure you seek.” – Jackson Kiddard
Top 5 Regrets People Make On Their Deathbed
The other day I was thinking about life, and what people expect from you, how people tell you should be or doing this & that. I hear it all the time, you should have a book, you should be a writer, you should be a photographer, you’re in the wrong profession, etc. You start to think that while you’re happy with your life, your job, the places you’ve been, the things you’ve done & people you’ve touched & been inspired by, that somehow that isn’t enough… you should be doing more. You should work harder. You could have more money to buy more things & go more places, a bigger audience & more attention. But, I don’t care for those things & it’s not what motivates me. I began thinking perhaps I’m not passionate enough? But that’s not true, I’m one of the most passionate people I know & aren’t I already living that life? Inspiring, creating, sharing? So then I have to stop questioning myself and imposing other people’s opinions on me. I know who I am & I know the purpose I serve. I feel successful in many ways & feel as long as you’re happy with who & where you are & what you have, that’s all that’s needed. Life is a lot simpler than we make it.
But, that’s what’s honored in our society, you’re supposed to go to school for years on end to learn false history & things you never end up using, to work hard, make that money to buy those things, be who your parents want you to be & don’t stop at anything for success, even if it means running people over or time away from your friends & family. That’s called sacrifice, right? But, it’s not until you’re about to die that you realize it’s not what everyone wants you to do or who they expect you to be, it’s not about working your life away, suppressing your feelings & no time for loved ones… all that leads to unhappiness. Why wait till you’re about to die to contemplate these things? Why should we be made to think we are not enough, and we don’t have enough, that you shouldn’t be happy where you are and that more = good? It’s all an illusion.
Today, a friend shared a link regarding people’s regrets on their deathbeds. I thought to share as well.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again & again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
SAMSARA
SAMSARA – A mixture of life, love, struggles and world issues. A mixed feeling at the end, not sure if you should clap or sit in awe of just how it really is around the earth, and how grateful we should be. How the desserts look like the sea, how mountains rise like majesties, how cultures practice their rituals, and how keeping humans behind bars makes them/us look like animals. You feel wonder & pain. You’re taken from India, to China, Dubai, Jerusalem, Japan, the US, and around again. You have respect for all religions, and everyone.
You’re mesmerized by the intense & penetrating eyes of the people, and you only need see inside, deep inside, to know how hard it is & how easy we got it. The mass production of products, chickens, guns and bullets, and how they harm us. Violence. Service. From the rich to the poor living behind borders or across the street, the clear divide between what’s yours & mine, theirs and ours. From the nature to the artificial, how we’re robots, following patterns and mannequins, plastic, surgeries, fake people acting as humans.
SAMSARA took me places and showed me things I may have seen on the History Channel, Animal Planet or Discovery, but not exactly, it’s a mix of so many perspectives, with no narrative. There are no words, the movie is voiceless, aside from meditative music, not one person ever speaks. It’s all beyond aesthetically pleasing, showing how the earth dims & shines in some of the best & worst ways, naturally. You’re forced to sense things differently, the bad & the good. The camera piercing through the prison bars with 5 ladies in China looking back so hard speaks louder than their testimonials ever could. You’re taken for an exclusive look of mother & nature, and the precious, fragile balance between where we live & who we are. You are immersed into other worlds, completely visually, intensely, and all the while silently.
A must see for our time & age.
Official Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCzqfULAQjY&feature=player_embedded
FORWARD
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.” ~Soren Kierkegaard~
CJ's InSight 