
“Life is a bridge, cross over it, but do not build a house on it.” ~Indian proverb
1.) Focus on what you can control, let go of what you cannot:
“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” ~Steve Jobs
The only thing that never changes is change itself. But that doesn’t mean there are not things you cannot change. You can’t change where you were born, how you were raised, or who you were raised by. But you can change how those things affect your worldview. You can make the best of what you get despite not getting what you would have liked.
Stop worrying about what you cannot control. Start focusing on what you can control. Let go of your need for things to be a certain way. Crucify your expectations. You cannot be fucked with if you’re consistently staying out of your own way.
2.) Use fear as fuel for the fire of doing what you love:
Leave something of sweetness and substance in the mouth of the world.” ~Anna Bella Kaufman
Fear is real. Fear is necessary. Repress it at your own great peril. Own it at your own great triumph. Transform it into passionate courage. Use it as fuel for the vehicle of discovering what you love. As Joseph Campbell said, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
Fear is not an obstacle; it is a doorway. Have the courage to open the door. Have the nerve of a gambler. Have the audacity to challenge any and all threshold guardians. The treasure you seek is on the other side of your fear. It is the thing that makes you come most alive in this world.
3.) Discover what makes you come alive and build a world out of it:
“The thought that we must die, is the reason we must live well.” ~Pico Iyer
Whatever it is that makes you come alive, do it with gusto. Do it with your whole heart. Do it with uncommon fierceness. Be unapologetic. This is your life to live. This is your world to build. Build it into an unconquerable dream.
You won’t live forever, but you are alive today. Spend it doing what you love. Spend it doing more of what makes you come alive. Make that your bedrock, your lodestone, your existential compass. Let it guide you into a new way of being human in the world.
4.) Stay as close to the edge as you can without going over:
“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.” ~Kurt Vonnegut
Take risks. Turn tables. Flip scripts. Push envelopes. Do it despite the tiny-hearted. Do it despite authority. Live dangerously. Live fleetfooted and free. Challenge the gods. Disobey the Powers That Be. Push your comfort zone over the edge. Push it until it hurts. Then come back and heal.
Choose to live life to the fullest, knowing mistakes will happen; rather than merely existing, fearful of making any mistakes. Make more mistakes if need be. Make bigger and better mistakes that you can use as building blocks for something greater than anyone could have possibly imagined.
5.) Fall in love with life by being Love itself:
“To love is to suffer and there can be no love otherwise.” ~Fyodor Dostoevsky
Choose unconditional love over conditional love. The only way to do this is to fall in love with all of life. The ups and the downs. The twitterpations and the tribulations. The summit and the abyss. Dive into tragedy and triumph, disaster and laughter, calamity and comedy. It’s all yours for the taking.
Go all in on experiencing life to the nth degree. Feel the pain and the pleasure, the hunger and the sate, the lust and the loss. It’s all one giant shitshow of absurd destiny anyway. Embrace it. Amor fati!
6.) Stay ahead of the curve by keeping curiosity ahead of certainty:
“All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it. You think the only seeds are the ones that make plants or children? Go deeper.” ~Marcus Aurelius
Certainty is a tripwire, an intellectual brambles, an existential briar patch. Rise above it. Remain curious despite your urge to be certain. There is always a way to di