I am just embarking on my 26th year as a human, here’s 25 things I’ve learnt in 25 years inspired by gurus and teachers such as Alan Watts, Terrance Mckenna, and Joseph Campbell. Hopefully, others will relate to these and find them helpful, let me know your thought’s in the comments!
1. Truly take responsibility for every single thing in your life, from big life decisions to inner thoughts. Trust yourself fully, follow your intuition or fall victim of endless overthinking.
2. True wisdom is knowledge in action, show the world who you are through actions, not through talking.
3. Gratitude is essential, from the warm bed you just awoke from to the sunset you are enjoying and the people you share the experience with, love fully and try not to take things for granted.
4. Smiling is one of the most powerful tools we have as humans, use it often.
5. Be present as much as possible, focus on your immediate experience, past and future are illusions. Surrender to the moment.
6. Meditation (although I don’t do enough!) can be one of the most productive uses of your time, being mindful of your thoughts is invaluable, they don’t define you as a person.
7. Breathe deeply and consciously, it’s the simplest metaphor for the continuous motion of life and the conscious control you can wield over it when you choose to.
8. Be aware of when your ‘ego’ is acting on your behalf versus your true self, it’s easy to believe your acting on best intentions of others but often is for yourself.
9. Comparing yourself to others is futile, the brief insight you get into other lives doesn’t represent the vastly complex human beneath the lightly scratched surface.
10. Treat everyone and everything as you would like to be treated. In life, we’re all just walking each other home, so be kind.
11. Travel as often as possible, whether it’s the next town or the opposite side of the planet, new experiences that enrich your life lie just outside your comfort zone.
12. Explore nature when you can, you’ll find a far deeper connection than the always-on wifi.
13. Embrace failure, the quickest way to find out your calling is to fail often and fail well. This will help you find out what you excel at.
14. As long as you wake up and make 1 small step towards your life purpose, you are a success.
15. Exercise will reward you far more mentally than physically, same for nutrition, it’s a win-win.
16. Fear can be the greatest teacher, nature loves courage, throw yourself into the abyss and realise it’s a feather bed.
17. Make decisions and move forward, everything could’ve been anything else and it would have just as much meaning, so why regret?
18. When in the company of others, offer your complete presence and they will thank you for it.
19. You are made of starstuff but so is everything else, from the human eye to the garage door. Remain humble in your relationship with the external world.
20. Emotions are on a spectrum and will fluctuate at times without external stimulus, ride the waves without judgment.
21. Time is the true currency, share it well with others.
22. Life is inherently meaningless, you bring your own meaning to it. No one has it ‘figured out’.
23. See life as play, be creative and create your own culture, you can shape the world you live in. “This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” ― Alan W. Watts
24. Follow your bliss “If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” ― Joseph Campbell
25. Oh, and… Live. Learn. Evolve!
