Climb. Reach. Achieve

Thanksgiving is celebrated as a time for family, a time to get together and reunite with those loved ones, relations, and friends you haven't seen in a while. It's an opportunity to eat turkey and copious amounts of other food without feeling guilty - a holiday!

This Thanksgiving, as you welcome your friends, family, guests and other acquaintances into your home, be grateful and thankful for everyone and everything you have accomplished in life. Take a moment to reflect on all this. As you sit down to eat, don't forget to also take time to mention the true history of America. Acknowledge the joy at coming together, and the rich tapestry that makes up this American culture. It is the richness of the people that makes us a strong and resolute people. At the same time, we must be cognizant that not everyone may share in the values and mores of this day. We must not shun them. We must, in the richness of our history, enlighten them on the greatness of this country and its people. Although at times disagreeing, but we do so in the spirit of not only learning to forgive, but yet remembering to give thanks even for those that we disagree with.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This is a spin-off from the previous post entitled "Does Introspection Satisfy Ambivalence?"

I had the privilege of critiquing a friend's term paper the other day, and she made some surprising yet concrete points. Her paper was entitled " In Choosing a career, what prevails?"

In the paper, she sought to answer the question of whether it is important to consider the relative worth of ones chosen profession in terms of salary or job opportunities, or whether it is wiser to look at ones own desires and passion to excel in that profession. In answering this question, my friend went on to say that, in keeping with today's realities, such as the current recession et al, pursuing a job which you love (sometimes with little reward) is "trying to sound morally correct and proves one is out of touch with today's happenings. Hmmmmmm......

I respect my friends' point of view and I have to agree she has some sound points. However, my personal opinion on the matter is quite the opposite. I believe that one should position them self in a profession that will compound ones area of interest. The psychologist will argue that it has been seen that it is better to follow one's passion to take up the line of work that really and instinctively appeals to them. The reason for this is simple. The passion for doing the kind of work you like would come easily to you and you would not mind devoting the time and energy required to excel in the profession. When this happens, your work becomes labor of love and you look forward positively to work everyday. You will arrive at work energized and leave work feeling refreshed and accomplished. The quality of work you put forth will show and be recognized by your superiors and hence, you will be rewarded.

It has been proven over and over that passion and interest for ones chosen profession is one of the most important factors dictating one's success or failure . If you have passion, the money will follow. That's my belief. What's yours?

Isn't this the same with most if not all of us? If we're in school we tend to always say, "one day this will all pay off, then I can finally live my life;" or if we come across a rough patch in our lives we tend to say, " Everything will be alright soon, then I can start living life and being happy."  It's time for us to shift our thoughts and ideas about "living life." We go to bed at nights and wake up the following day (Thank God) living our lives! So why not make the most of each day? Why is everyone just waiting around for that or those special days or moments to come when you can finally "live life." Wake up people! You are living your lives everyday. So, it does not  matter what your situation is, always try to live each day to the fullest; for neither of us know what the next micro-second, minute, hour or day holds. Do yourselves a favor and live each day as if it were your last.

Think and reflect on this question: If tomorrow were to be your final day on earth, what would you do today to have made your life worth living? (feel free to post your answers below).

Are you doing something that you don't necessarily like doing? A job / profession, a course of study in school? If it makes you miserable, then perhaps you may want to rethink what you're doing. Remember the previous post about finding your purpose? what you're doing may not necessarily be your calling. If you're having this experience, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Do I see myself doing this for the rest of my life?
2. Am I happy doing this?
3. Am I eager to start my day knowing that this is what I have to do?

Stop and think for a moment. If you answered no to any of these questions, you may need to re-think what brings happiness to you, what will lead to you living a fulfilled and purposeful life. What do you need to do to make it a reality?
Remember, you have only one life to live. Enjoy it and be happy! Do the things you love doing because the answer resides in YOU.