LMOG ’83

What Life Teaches Us December 3, 2006

Well hello there all you happy people. Ujji helped me get this stuff going online. Thought I would share a little philosophy about what life has taught me in this last year- and I am gung-ho now that I have learned these .
1. If you have been toying with a decision for a long time… wanting to take the plunge but scared if it wont work, TAKE THE CHANCE.
2.It’s not decisions that fail. It’s people who do.
3. If your decision looks like the wrong one, keep working to make it a success.
4. More often than not, you KNOW your own mind. Lots of well meaning people may discourage you because the choice you make may not be easy or conventional. But, if you want it badly enough and if its not a snap decision, its probably the right one for you.
5. Don’t accumulate posessions. Nothing is worse than having to clean stuff all the time. Life is for 70 or 80 years. The only thing you really carry with you all around is your mind. Store lots of stuff in your mind. Like happy memories. Even if some of them cost a bomb ( a trip to Tibet? )… its worth the memories.
6. Photograph everything and take prints of the ones you like. Digital cameras are nice because you can pick and choose the ones you want to print. But for goodness sakes, PRINT them. They are the only things that are precious to me apart from my memories
7. I know you have heard that ‘ family’ is everything, and this is true. But sometimes, we pick up ‘family’ who isnt related by blood. This is the family of choice. Care for them as you would your own. Take their help when you must. I am ever grateful to Linda ( Thomas ) my dearest and closest friend, without whom I would never be where I am today. I can never do for her or give her what she has given me, but she inspires me to help others and hopefully, this is what is meant by the circle of giving.
8. You are dispensible at your work place. Your employer will survive, and thrive without you. But you are Mother, Daughter, Wife and Friend to very few people. To them you are irreplaceable in that role. Take THAT job very seriously.
9. No one is intrinsically bad. We just allow them to do hurtful things to us and by doing that we teach them that unacceptable behavior is OK . When we repeatedly allow them to behave in that way, it becomes a habit with them and character is quickly formed. I truly believe ‘evil happens when good men do nothing’. If someone repeats the cycle, then distance your self, physically. If that is not possible, distancing yourself mentally is always possible.
10. Take up an activity which does not rely on anyone else. It will be your mainstay when you are alone – never lonely. And as we grow in years, we will be by ourselves at least some of the time. I have sewing, exercise ( running on the beach these days!), reading and music which keep me going – all solitary pursuits and all give me a high.

Peace and Contentment to all of you.

Essie

PS: have gone vegetarian . Thanks to my new employer, a wonderful group called IHHR – lots of very kind, helpful, principled people. I work in their property in Mauritius. It’s spearheaded by Mr. Ashok Khanna who ( as all his employees would agree ) is a truly enlightened soul ! He has taught me a lot by example. www.shantiananda.com