No Regrets

Regrets are a huge waste of energy. They don't add any positive factor to your life because all they do is make you complain. Constantly remembering the past only conditions your present actions, because it makes you forget that today's situations are not the same as yesterday's. Furthermore, when you keep making reference to the past, citing "the good old days", you minimize today's experience, you overlook all that is worthwhile in your life, "now". Looking back can be beneficial if it makes you aware of the obstacles you have overcome so far, thus encouraging you to go on with the self-assurance you gained from the lessons you learned. Therefore, avoid regrets and addiction to old memories because they neutralize the excitement for the present as well as the joyful expectation of the future.

  

Alluring Parking Spots

When you start on a journey, you begin driving with the greatest enthusiasm and, as you are eager to arrive, you decide not to make any stops. The desire to reach your destination fills you with energy and will-power. After a little while, though, you see a beautiful glade and decide to stop just for a moment to lay under a tree and get some fresh air. "I still have plenty of time", you think while drifting off into slumber. Later, you resume driving till you feel you need a cup of coffee, then some dinner, eventually go online to check a few things. When you decide to stay at the motel for the night, your destination gets further and further away. Do you have the same initial enthusiasm when you work on a new project, when you make a plan? Starting enthusiasm, slowing down after some time, inertia towards the end? It seems that the road to success is scattered with alluring parking spots. Beware!

Of Branches And Birds

A Chinese proverb says, "If I keep a green branch in my heart, a singing bird will sit on it." It perhaps means that life can be truly beautiful, if you only decide to make it so. The green branch may be interpreted as good will and perseverance. If you allow them to grow inside yourself, the "bird" of serenity will land on it and may even make its nest there while singing a lovely song. The bird represents the realization of your wishes - in every aspects of your life. If the green branch symbolizes a relationship, for example, in order to prevent it from withering, you must give it all the elements necessary to its survival: air (understanding), sun (caring), water (sharing). Without them the singing bird (love) neither will stay long not will it sing its song. It will fly away, looking for another tree, for another branch.

Quickly, Now

According to Nature, everything takes place slowly, at the right time. Modern life, however, seems to follow the opposite principle. Everything must be done 'quick'y, 'now'. Everybody seems to always be in a hurry: people speak fast - continuously - to avoid silence, drive anywhere rather than walk, eat fast food standing not to waste time. It's a lifestyle based on speed and efficiency in order to reach a greater productivity. The rule is, "Do more things in a shorter time". But... what things? What kind of goals are they that need to be achieved in such hurry?

Summer

Today is officially the first day of summer. We can say that nature has reached its full potential. After bare branches and soil in winter, flowers and tiny leaves in spring, now all is verdant and trees are covered with luscious foliage and bear fruit. Doesn't this natural cycle seem similar to human life? First, a latent kind of existence; second, the beginning and blooming of possibilities, then the maturity with full expression of potentiality and manifestation of results. Eventually, a fourth stage will follow: the preparation for a new cycle. And so... Life goes on.

Progress

If you think about how things were in the past, you can't help feeling extremely amazed at how everything has changed. Technology has transformed the world we live in as well as the actual way we live our lives. Means of communication, of transportation, electrical appliances, entertainment, special effects, digital ... whatever: all this has revolutionized mankind's existence. Only on a physical/material level, though. On an emotional/spiritual plane not much seems to have changed. Greed, yearning for power, selfishness, aggressiveness are all still here (maybe even more than before, thanks to the many abundantly provided stimuli). So? How thankful should we be for this kind of progress? Life is certainly easier. But... are we happier?

Life Can Be Good

Life can be good if you decide to accept it as it is. Fighting what you don't like, refusing to acknowledge what happens, ignoring, despising, resenting etc. are attitudes that make you feel bad, unlucky, deprived, treated unfairly, overwhelmed. In a word, "unhappy". Think for a moment: how beneficial are they? They aren't. They only deprive you of serenity. How useful are they? They aren't. On the contrary. They make you waste your energy in a lost cause because nothing changes. So? How smart is it to fight, refuse, regret, resent, ignore, despise etc.? Not at all.