Recently, I had an experience when I entered a bank to change a bank card. The concept of efficiency is not something that most bureaucracies understand. I thought, however, that simply replacing a piece of plastic with another slice of polymer would be a relatively straightforward matter. This was not to be the case, unfortunately. In these matters, I am always prepared with sundry and important documents that attest to your nationality and legal status, etc. For this particular situation, however, I carry a rare piece of identification that most foreigners in Taiwan do not have.
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Contentment
Those moments of peace and contentment in a person’s life are few and far between. This is a very common belief and the Buddha tells us that this view is actually true; at least this is how his words could be approximated. (1) You would think, however, that since we are no longer covered in lice and ticks and sores and boils, and we live relatively long lives, that happiness would, at the very least, be on the ascendant. We should be happier today than we were, say, 100 years ago. The opposite is true, unfortunately. (2)
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Goals
The concept of a life goal is an essential element to a healthy and long-lived existence. Many years ago when I lived in rural Canada, I overheard a man admonishing his young charge about the boy’s future. The father was telling his offspring to forget leaving his village and going to university. What would be the benefit? Here, he could get a union job, (1) make a good living; find a nice girl to marry and raise a family. What else was life about?
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Regrets
I am always perplexed by the people who suffer over what has already passed, over what has been temporally “laid to rest,” so to speak — no matter how horrible! They often claim that they experience regret, an example would be the story of the man who lost his wife and continues to mentally burden his life long after her death – thereby darkening his relationship with his children. (1) What is regret? At its most succinct, it is an event or an occurrence that happened prior to the present moment: a chance experience in time that can never be exactly duplicated due to the fact that it has passed into the annals of history — usually personal history.
Learn to focus
In an extremely busy and confusing world, it is very difficult to find the time or the wherewithal to locate your purpose — the central mission of your life. This is especially true for adolescents. How do we focus on life itself and its meaning? What is my quest in life? It is to be noted that this has always been the case. Since time immemorial, we have been searching for the Holy Grail (1) of consciousness. Reality, invariably, has been puzzling and quixotic for the thinking person. However, this is magnified in our present digital age. Young adults in contemporary society are beset with an overabundance of perplexing imagery that clouds their perception.
Trivialities
It is so very easy to get caught up in the unimportant and inconsequential in life — in its trivialities – isn’t it? As young people, we are often filled with a sense of foreboding around exam time. This apprehension is further fueled by our parents, our teachers, and even our classmates. We seemingly are all focused on some mythical goal, the perfect test score. Herein lies nirvana, the passage to a higher more celestial plane. Many a young person is driven to distraction, some even to suicide, (1) by something of virtually no value at all.
My personal brand
Every unforgettable person that “stays with you” in your life has a personal brand, a unique signature. To be iconic, the label must be consistent and enduring. If there is some flaw in the line, it is easily identified. We often notice “up and coming” movie stars, for example. When we watch their films, we are usually struck by their sensitivity and erudition. What a shock at a later date, when they are interviewed, to see that they are of shallow intellect. There is truly nothing there. It was quite literally, all an act. The individuals represented in their films do in no way embody the real person. But, to be fair, they are uneducated artists after all.
Friends
We all want and need friends. It is a given that if you have a dearth of friendships in your lifetime, you suffer from ill health and an early death. (1) Technology and its applications have certainly increased the number of contacts that we receive on a daily basis. Why then are we lonelier, as a society, than we have ever been? You would think that a medium such as the Internet would make us awash with friends and companions. It hasn’t, in spite of this; it has divided and isolated us even more. (2) The term friend has even been twisted into something silly and shallow. “How many friends do you have?” Why?
The working man
When I go into any convenience store or establishment that requires a rote activity, I am always in awe of the person undertaking this task: the working man. Again and again: – once, twice, thrice – this pursuit is repeated, be it at a check-out till or on the shop floor. Without additional stimulus, it is a soul-crushing and mentally debilitating occupation. I have the utmost respect for people who do this work for a lifetime. I highly recommend that young people become exposed to this activity at an early age. It gives wonderful impetus to one’s studies and the desire to find your true mission in life.
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My mission
What is my mission in life? This is a question that is posed from my first awakening at 16 or 17 until I physically leave this earthly paradise. It is a query that only the self can answer, though many will attempt to answer this question for us. Many times their opinions, though misplaced, are predicated on love. So, patience and understanding are called for.