Living life fully is an art, and sharing makes it more colorful. Today, as the new year 2023 begins, we share some wisdom collected from around the world, nuggets of inspiration to help us have a more meaningful, even if not perfect, lives.
A genius, Einstein, advises the ambitious aiming to lead their fields: We are most productive when we focus on a very small number of projects on which we can devote a large amount of attention.
For those falling in and out of love, Kathryn Bernardo’s movie “Hello Love Goodbye” in 2019 says, “May mga lugar na pangmatagalan, meron ding mga panandalian (There are places that are lasting, there are those that are fleeting)…”
In picking a partner for the long term, Mulan the movie suggests: The flower that blooms in adversity (or winter) is the rarest and most beautiful of all!
Of our hurts and angers, Pope Francis reminds us: There is no healthy marriage or healthy family without the exercise of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the medicine of family joy and happiness.
Author Lin Yutang on the beauty of autumn, old age: “I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too proud. So I like best of all autumn, because its leaves are a little yellow, its tone mellower,… its colors richer, and it is tinged a little with sorrow, … the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and is content.” (Contribution of Kyle of Diliman Book Club).
“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt!” … we offer to those who like to raise incomprehensible objections, gibberish or fake info against our articles. (Intelligent diversity of opinion is welcome though).
For those wanting change for our country, or families to happen: “If you really want a better life, you need to be part of the change,” opines architect William Ti, who applies innovative concepts from around the world to his modern urban designs.
For voters who vote based just on celebrity, fame as criteria: When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace (and country) become a circus (and we become the caged displays).
For those who lead their countries into war unnecessarily, or organizations into fights: 忍一时之氣，消百日之災 “One moment of breath held in patience, during a moment of anger, saves you from a hundred calamities.”
Concerned about spying and privacy? Regularly raised by some of our politicians, a legitimate concern for our Department of National Defense, Department of Foreign Affairs… but social media— Facebook, Google, Apple, YouTube already know you, everyone, better than your governments, friends, parents or children. Your travel routes, interests, pictures of your homes, health interests, age and personality profile, social networks, active hours, soon even your blood pressure and sugar levels… !
Another Chinese wisdom reminds: 一寸光陰一寸金, 寸金難買寸光陰 “A unit of time is a unit of gold, but units of gold will have difficulty buying you back a unit of time.”
For the young praying for their future, advice from martial arts icon Bruce Lee: Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to overcome a hard one (then loudly crack your knuckles, backbone and neck vertebrae!)
For the prideful of their accomplishments: There is always a greater mountain behind the one you see.
“Don’t forget the one who dug the well when you drink its water”… is for the entitled among the young today, whose lives are better due to sacrifices of earlier generations.
For those having some difficulties seeing a clear path ahead, Steve Jobs reminds: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”
To Vice President Sara Duterte, concurrent Secretary of Education … we suggest a basic course on “life management and happiness,” delivered in high school, will help millions of our single-parent-home children to direct their lives and level up our country. Now among the most popular courses in the Ivy Leagues, in different formats, one- or two-day subjects running quickly through on basic personal finance, health, entrepreneurship, practical decision-making, partner selection, raising a family, law, politics, etc.. covered in a single semester, would be life-changing for many. Some schools locally are creating their models of this. IDSI will be creating its own, watch out for it, collaborations of similar frameworks are welcome!
What to aim, pray for in life? Father Alex Clemente of RCJ prays: “May the love of my family and friends be my reward for all the struggles of my youth… Let wisdom flow from my mouth, let compassion flow from my heart.”
For all of us who want to do something for our fellow sojourners in life this year and into the future: “Rivers do not drink their own water. Trees do not eat their own fruit. The sun does not shine on itself. And flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other.”
A Happy New Year and blessings to everyone in 2023!
We welcome logical feedback and possibly working together with compatible frameworks (idsicenter@gmail.com). A similar version was also published in ManilaTimes.