As you get older, every now and then, you’re asked a question that really, in a sense, puzzles you. Because you have to go back and think upon your own life and draw from your own experience to be able to pro-offer any intelligent response.
So the question was, how do I find my path in life? How do I find the direction that I’m supposed to go? Me, not my father, not my mother, not my siblings, my friends, my teacher, my society, but me?
How do I find my direction? Because of course, every human being realizes that they are unique, and if they don’t realize they’re unique, they’re foolish. Because consciousness only comes to me, of course, in reality.
So, how do I find my way forward? And from my experience in life, the only way you can find this shaman, this path, if you will, is through trial and error. I do think you need a notebook, and I do think you need that relationship with yourself.
That’s a good start, for sure.
But then you have to say to yourself, What direction, superhighway, if you will, do I want to go down? And then I’ll be able to branch off eventually. Do I want, let’s say, money?
Do I want power? What exactly do I want? If I want money, I certainly need something more than just an ordinary job, don’t I?
I eventually will have to have my own business or a career that pays a tremendous amount of money. Football, player, rock superstar, these kinds of professions come to mind. Something even above a professional, like a dentist or a doctor.
If I want power, however, I obviously have to enter into politics, for sure. Or I have to be able to be the type of individual who writes books that are profoundly influential.
But, with everything, my major conclusion is that I must act. Because inaction is also an action, of course. It’s the action of inaction, and it gets you absolutely nowhere.
And so you are twenty, and then you’re thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, dead. Ha ha ha! Nothing achieved, but some, of course, bitterness along the way.
Action, curiously, suggests that, yes, you might be in the same spot, as if you haven’t acted. But at the very least, your psyche knows that you’ve done your absolute best to achieve something in your life. And perhaps you haven’t been successful.
I mean, that can happen too, because life is fickle. But you have tried. And the point is to try everything, absolutely everything you feel that you deserve to have a piece of.
So when I was young, for instance, your claim to fame, your freedom was based on being a rock and roll star. Led Zeppelin was all the rage, the bouncy hair, the epiphanies that they were obviously giving you with their music.
Wow, I want to be a rock and roll star. And so I tried, and I stopped, because I was not that good of a musician. A friend of mine tried but failed due to, unfortunately, drugs and alcohol, and he died.
But he did try for a period of time. But not enough, not enough, because eventually you have to also be smart, don’t you? For sure.
And then after this, I tried business. I had a business for quite a period of time. I would say we were successful, but it wasn’t enough.
And I got out of the business eventually and became a writer and a teacher. And I finally found my calling. But I wasn’t young at that point, for sure.
I was no longer young. But I never gave up. And I’m not at all unique in that sense.
You must never, ever, ever give up on you. Ever. I mean, and this is sometimes very easy to say at the beginning, but it becomes very hard after you fail the third and fourth time, doesn’t it?
But you know, you have to really sit back always and assess the situation you’re in.
So, if you are in a situation that you’re married, you have a family, you do have responsibilities. You can’t just up and quit and move to the other side of the country without considering your family and their well-being, of course.
And like I said earlier, what are your objectives? Do you want to be rich? Do you want to be powerful?
Whatever it is, and what kind of resources do you have? Have you been to school? Perhaps the profession you want requires more training.
That could be something. And then, of course, you need a plan. You must have a short-term and a long-term plan.
And you must, I think, in reality also have a daily plan. Because in that sense you’re able to document what’s going on. And, you know, you do have to be a little bit harsh with yourself.
For sure. Because along the way you’re going to have some real challenges. People are going to tell you that you’re crazy.
For attempting this, you’re foolish. You better stop. The people talking to you could be as close as your father, your wife.
Are you able to stay the course? Are you able to stay the course? And I think, you know, if you want to stay in a relationship with either your family or your spouse, I think you have to learn how to communicate.
It’s a big deal, isn’t it? And every now and then, you can join groups, business groups, and you can find friends that are somewhat like you to assist you along the way.
Because we do need mentors. I mean, this is for sure. I often say that you are your own teacher, and I certainly believe this.
But you do need mentors to present information to you, so you can take on to yourself, right? And then, don’t be afraid to learn. Never, never be afraid to learn, right?
Because no matter how much you think you know, you don’t know enough. Even people that are the richest people on earth continuously learn. I mean, what did Socrates say at his trial?
I know that I’m the wisest man in the world, because I know that I know. Nothing. And he didn’t, of course, mean that he knew.
Obviously, he knew a lot. But the point was, I can continuously keep learning. I mean, this is the point, isn’t it?
Keep learning. Because, you know, right from Asho, the philosopher Asho, he says that there are no heroes and there are no cowards. There is only action.
So, if we keep acting, we eventually will get somewhere, won’t we?
When we’re young, I think by definition we’re supposed to be confused, aren’t we? We’re supposed to be confused, because if we knew everything, what would be the purpose of life?
Someone was saying the other day, in fact, to me, that perhaps the purpose of life is to suffer, because by suffering, through suffering, rather, you learn to overcome the challenges.
And I guess the people that are broken are the people that somehow just couldn’t figure out how to act in the suffering, because if you go to people like Frankl, my gosh, he suffered a tremendous amount, and yet eventually he was able to be
successful in his chosen field. He wanted to promote logotherapy and the belief that our mission in life, our meaning is actually everything.
So I think the next time you think to yourself that I’m totally lost and I don’t know what to do, when you wake up, spend five or ten minutes with yourself. Just quiet time, right? Quiet time.
Make a note of your dreams if you’ve had any, right? Then I think be grateful from where you’ve already come from. Are you healthy?
Is the bed clean? Do you have a bit of money in the bank? Do you have a loving spouse?
Good family? And these are all wonderful things that a lot of people do not have, do they? And then, once you’ve done that, get your notebook out and document.
Document what you truly want. All of us, I am sure, want eventually to be happy, to be contented. But it is the journey along the way, and we’re never going to get anywhere if we don’t act.
And fail, of course. A young man who I was speaking with the other day said that he was afraid to fail. And I thought, gosh, don’t be afraid to fail, because, I mean, life is one big failure to a certain extent.
I often think of Colonel Saunders from KFC fame. He discovered the recipe for his finger-licking good chicken when he was 62 years old. And yet, 20 years later, he died a billionaire of all things.
So, it’s never too late. Never, ever give up on yourself, ever. And keep acting, and you know what they say.
You know what they say. Critical thinking is everything, especially when you want to act and move forward in your life. And critical thinking is great, truly great.
You take care. God bless. Bye-bye.