The life you are living today…
is the feedback from yesterday’s choices.
And tomorrow awaits your input
to what you choose right now for that sets it up.
YOUR LIFE FEEDS BACK TO YOU
Go back in thought twenty years, more or less, and you will see quite a bit about yourself.
You will see what you thought.
What you believed.
What you pursued.
What you feared.
You will see choices that led to other choices, all eventually arriving at the place you now stand.
Go look in the mirror.
The results are looking back at you.
Many people immediately turn toward regret at this point.
But perhaps that is not the lesson at all.
REGRETS?
Instead of looking backward, look around in the NOW.
Assess where you are.
Consider your next step.
Think about what you want to do and where you want to go.
Then begin moving toward it.
Notice something important.
Your choice is powering the movement.
You are directing your life without pressure and often without even thinking about how remarkable that is.
This is as it should be.
This is how life was intended to work.
SAME THING APPLIED THEN TOO
The same principle was operating twenty years ago.
The choice made was the choice made.
Life is not meant to be lived like a chess match where every move is analyzed endlessly before action is taken.
That is not living.
That is existing.
There is a difference.
Life invites participation.
Not paralysis.
LET’S GO!
Human beings are designed to think while moving.
We can adapt during the journey.
Adjust while in transit.
Improve the original plan.
Or abandon it altogether and choose a better one.
That is an extraordinary ability.
None of us arrived here with prior experience at being ourselves.
We are all learning as we go.
That is raw power placed into human hands.
LEARNING CURVES
Perhaps that is one reason we live in an imperfect world.
Everyone you meet is on a learning curve.
Some lessons are new and startling.
Others are repetitive and familiar.
Experience gradually refines our choices.
And with that refinement comes something wonderful:
Better outcomes.
Greater satisfaction.
More meaningful living.
HERE’S A PLEASANT PONDER
It has often been said that life should be lived in reverse.
That we should arrive knowing everything and leave in innocence.
Yet the opposite appears true.
We arrive innocent.
And spend a lifetime gathering understanding.
Just when we finally begin to see clearly…
it is nearly time to leave.
Perhaps there is wisdom hidden in that arrangement.
FREE FOR THE ASKING
This is why the wisdom of elders is so valuable.
Life experience is one of the greatest inheritances a person can receive.
It costs nothing to share.
Yet it is priceless to obtain.
Unfortunately, what sounds wonderful in theory often struggles in practice.
Why?
YOUTHFUL FIRE
Youth is eager.
Ready to move.
Ready to explore.
Ready to experience.
Few young people wake up hoping to be told what to do.
They want to start the engines and discover life firsthand.
And honestly…
they should.
I certainly did.
Still, it would have been helpful to direct some of that energy with greater purpose and wisdom.
ELDER INPUT
Many cultures throughout history understood this principle well.
Several generations often lived together under one roof.
The young received something invaluable:
Immediate access to living experience.
The elders became a feedback system.
A living library.
A source of wisdom available in real time.
SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW
Every person possesses stories.
Experiences.
Victories.
Failures.
Discoveries.
Lessons that cannot always be taught from books.
These experiences become a type of wealth.
Remarkably, they remain preserved within us until our final day.
Perhaps for the purpose of being shared.
YOU ARE THAT PERSON
When we read history, scripture or biographies of great men and women, we often separate ourselves from them.
Yet they were people just like us.
Faced with choices.
Temptations.
Opportunities.
Fears.
Challenges.
In many of the same circumstances, we would likely have done exactly what they did.
The human story is more familiar than we realize.
You are that person if you choose to understand it.
LIFE IN GENERAL
Life itself is predictable.
People make it unique.
That is why poets, philosophers and sages continually encourage us to live rather than merely exist.
To seize the day.
To waste less.
To participate fully.
To bring ourselves to the experience while we still can.
Why?
Because they know something.
SUBTLE BREVITY AT WORK
Those who have lived many decades understand this without hesitation.
Life is short.
It appears slow while we are inside it.
Yet when viewed from a distance, it feels like a vapor.
A morning fog.
Here for a little while.
Then gone.
Appearances can be deceiving.
Life often feels long while being surprisingly brief.
MEANING
Elders understand this reality.
Youth often cannot.
Not because they are wrong.
Because they are busy living.
They have places to go.
People to meet.
Dreams to chase.
Their vapor is still rising.
And that is exactly as it should be.
The challenge is not merely to live.
The challenge is to make the living mean something.
THE FEEDBACK LOOP
Your life is constantly feeding back to you.
Your choices.
Your habits.
Your priorities.
Your relationships.
Your character.
They all return with a report.
Listen carefully.
Life is speaking.
And if you pay attention…
it will help you become who you were meant to be.
As one of the Pearls reminds us:
“Once you really know about something, you stop judging it.” The journey itself becomes the teacher.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you