How Do You Measure A Lifetime

How do you measure a lifetime? How do you reach inner peace and harmony within yourself? How do you get to the point where you feel that you have done all the good things, all the right things, that you could have done, and then did them?

How do you reconcile yourself with all the things you could have done or should have done but didn’t and be OK with that too? We are all only human. It’s all inside each of us, the good, the bad, the potential to be the best person we can be, the fight to avoid giving in to the negative, hurtful impulses we all have sometimes. You must follow the light.

I am not a member of any organized religion, traditional Western or Eastern religions, because I feel they all have a dogma that you must accept.

I choose not to accept any other person’s view of the world, be it traditional Christian or Jewish religions or Eastern religions like Hinduism or Buddhism, although I completely respect those that follow these religions, and find solace and comfort in them.

I am definitely a very spiritual person, though, so I have decided to try and live my life according to my own concepts of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil, and what is the best thing for me and those around me.

You cannot possibly measure a life by material success, this is a mistake that most people in America blindly follow. The all-mighty religion of consumerism and working and striving to get to the top corporate echelons to receive the fattest salaries and to be able to purchase the most possessions.

All these material things are meaningless in the end. As was wryly said about Steve Jobs, the Apple magnate, at the end of his relatively short life, “Steve Jobs is the richest man in the graveyard.” It says in the Christian bible and I am sure many other holy books that you truly cannot take it with you.

You cannot measure a life by how tough you are, how many people you beat up, how many people are scared of you, fear you, loathe, and hate you. Or how many people you may have killed or injured in gang rivalries or street crimes. Violence is ultimately self-destructive behavior.

Violence is the personification, the essence of negativity, and it is amazing to me how many people believe in this dead-end negative philosophy.

You cannot measure a life by how slick and cutthroat you are in the corporate world, how you cleverly and ruthlessly climbed the ladder of “success. ” Or how many potential rivals you have backstabbed, outmaneuvered, and downright lied about to advance yourself within the company.

You may end up on the board of directors, you may end up with a golden parachute to ease your financial condition when you leave the company, but this is by no means the “Stairway to Heaven” that Led Zeppelin so eloquently sang about. You can’t buy spiritual salvation. It is not for sale.

You cannot measure a life by how many romantic conquests you have made, how many notches in your personal belt, how many people you have hurt that loved you and trusted you and believed in you while you were playing your preconceived cold-blooded game of betrayals, lies, and deceit. Or by breaking hearts and swashbuckling through your romantic, personal life like some deranged Romeo, (men or women.)

In the end, players only play themselves.

No, none of these lifestyles will ever be truly satisfying, they are all based on negative thinking and are all devoid of any moral value. Instead, you must follow the light.

The light is within you, within each of us, you may visualize it as your conscience, that little voice that always is whispering in your ear and strive to do the right thing in all situations, as best as you can.

A truly moral person will always try to do the right thing, no matter what the situation or consequences. A truly moral person will not cheat on their wives or husbands or girlfriends or boyfriends, or any of their significant others.

And if they have children they will put the sanctity of the family as their number one priority. The family should always be the #1 priority of the moral person who wants to lead a good life and set a meaningful and positive example for their children. How else will they learn?

Follow the light, follow your conscience, follow that little inner voice that is present in each of us, urging us to do the right thing. Don’t muffle it with drugs or alcohol, don’t distort it by visions of revenge or advancing yourself materially at the expense of others.

Every day in every way we are confronted by a multitude of choices, by a thousand different branchings of the road. Which fork in the road do we follow? How do we get to our destination without hurting or injuring anybody else, either physically or emotionally? You know the answer, it is within each of us. Just follow the light.

Be kind to animals, be more responsive to your children’s needs, because both animals and children look up to you as the main force of good in their lives, as the primary caregiver and the one who sets an example.

Make an effort to get along with your neighbors, your co-workers without being the bad guy who literally sells his soul for material advancement. Be faithful to your wives, your husbands, your boyfriends, your girlfriends, all of your significant others.

Life is not perfect, as we all know. Sometimes in romantic situations, things just don’t work out, but you need to be most honest in these situations within yourself, to be true to yourself, to be the one to have the inner courage and moral fiber to do the right thing.

Sometimes relationships just outlast themselves, and you don’t do anybody any favors by clinging to dead-end memories of what once was. In these cases, you need to look to the future, but not in a hurtful or spiteful way.

Sometimes you meet or are confronted by people with a totally different agenda, who may try to hurt you just to advance themselves, or actually try to rob you or mug you. In these cases, you certainly have the right to defend yourself to the best of your ability, and you have a moral imperative to do just that.

Self-defense is a right that we each have within us, and it must be exercised and utilized when necessary, but it should be used only when absolutely necessary. Sometimes it is best, if possible, just to walk away from a potentially hazardous situation before it degenerates into a violent encounter.

So how do you measure a lifetime? You measure a lifetime by the sum of all the good things that you do, by the right moral choices that you make on a daily basis, by the stability of your affection for your family, by always trying to do the right thing.

I know it is not easy, and I am certainly no saint, but at least I have the inner peace that comes from knowing that I at least always try to do the right thing.

Follow the light. It is there to guide you on your path through life.