Photo by Lens N See By Lindsay
I live a more fulfilled life because of the clues it gives me. You want to know where the clues to a more fulfilled life lay? They’re sayings we don’t pay mind to yet always seem to hear. That’s right. Cliches. For some reason, no one knows exactly where they all derive from yet they are nonstop being said throughout life and continue to be. I want to give you 10 things you’ve heard before but never really listened to.
Let me give you my perspective on each to better help you understand how simple life can be and is… if you just let it be. These are all summarized at the end of this post.
1. “It’s the little things in life”
I have a small wooden sign of this up in my office. It didn’t ‘hit different’ until it did. It hit my heart when I saw the sweetest little smile my son gave to me just a few hours of being alive. It hit when the shortest (aka little) moments imbedded themselves into my soul during wonderful times with my family. I seriously now know that the little things in life are the reasons we keep going. I want little hugs for no reason from my son because they’re so warm. I want to hold my husband’s hand while he drives because those little intimate moments are so pure and true reflections of how I feel. By true, I mean they just are… it’s so easy to be and doing the smallest of things, make life so worth it. Even the little moments of anger or chaos, those deep moments although painful and ugly; Wake you up, wanting to be happier and a better version of yourself. Again, it’s the little things in life that make everyday so great. So worth being alive. I am so grateful to be able to experience little moments of serenity in my day to day, and I hope you do too.
2. “What goes around comes around”
This one coincides with the Golden Rule (yes I will continue to re-teach and bring up the GR because I really feel we have forgotten such a true statement). What exactly is going around, you ask? Everything. Every feeling, every thought, every action that leads to consequence, everything you can think up to happen, goes around. And what does it do? It comes back around, no matter ‘good or bad’. So what does one do with that type of knowing? You need to become aware of your own actions and thoughts throughout your living, breathing self at all hours of the day. “That sounds exhausting AF” you say. I know. I literally know. But choosing to try is really all you need to feel that your efforts are worth all you go through. Please read the last sentence with an empty mind so you can grasp truly how easy it is to care about what you say or do, to then know what will come back to you.
3. “Ignorance is bliss”
This is the most complicated one only because this doesn’t mean it’s good, but it is true. And sometimes, the truth is just the truth, nothing described as good nor bad, just is. Ignorance means to lack knowledge. Do people mean to be ignorant? Sometimes but not always. We all can’t possibly know everything in this world, but we can try to know what we choose to discuss. Does that make sense? You can’t know everything there is to know about everything, but you can choose to learn what you believe you need to know in order to move forward in conversations but also in life in general. Bliss means perfect happiness or great joy. Does knowing you’ll never actually know everything in life bring you perfect happiness? Or great joy? Maybe to some or many . Personally, in certain aspects of life, I want to try and know what life is about. Or even, what my purpose in life is. To purposefully not care to know why you’re on this Earth living a human life, isn’t bliss it’s misery. People all over the world are depressed and miserable. Why is that? Because there comes a point in our life where we question all that we do. Existential crisis? Yes and no. People aren’t depressed because they’re sad, they’re depressed because they’re confused about what life is and what they’re supposed to be doing. They’re wondering why they feel different all of a sudden when they’ve been ‘fine’ this whole time. Well, they weren’t fine, they were just going with the flow of what life gave them and then started to actually think for themselves. Think about their life, their day-to-day, their feelings, their interactions with people, everything. They just started to think, and when a human starts to think it’s a wonderful yet dangerous crossroads. Humans are meant to think and continue thinking and thinking for the rest of their days. Stimulating their minds at all times. Ignorance is bliss makes me believe that someone is purposefully choosing to be ignorant of something they’d like to know or don’t want to know yet have a speculating idea in their mind but no effort in figuring out if it’s real or not. I don’t like that because curiosity is what makes us think and to choose not to be curious about your own life or things that interest you is neglecting your true desires. So basically, don’t choose to be ignorant if that’s not what you actually want to be in whatever it is you’re interested in knowing and/or doing.
4. “You can’t judge a book by its cover”
We’ve all heard it. We know what it means. But have we cared to understand why? Why ‘can’t’ we? It’s not so much can/can’t because we see and know people who do it all the time. I believe we shouldn’t only because we won’t know what’s inside, metaphorically and literally, until we look into it ourselves. Why bother having made preconnotated assumptions about people, situations or experiences until we actually know? It goes for all things. People judge people over tattoos, the cars they drive, the words they use, the clothes that they wear, where one lives… Judgment is everywhere and it’s toxic, toxic to our environment and most importantly toxic to ourselves. You shouldn’t judge anything at all because it’s useless to do so. Don’t judge before something or someone does and is, nor judge after any fact. The most incredible experiences, people and situations that arise through serendipity are usually the most amazing happenings to happen!!! Seriously. Just think about it. Remember, think of the times you’ve been judged and the feelings that arise from the unfairness… And stop it with you when it comes.
5. “All for one and one for all”
This is definitely one of the corniest but also the cutest if you really REALLY think about it. All for one and one for all. When I hear this I think to myself “So what I’m doing is for the greater good and not just myself.. How interesting?!” Those that want to deny that any of their own personal actions have no effect on humanity, don’t know their full potential (just yet;)). We do not know the great power we, a human, can hold and give to others. I’ll save that for a separate blog post. Point is: We’re all connected and a chain reaction unfolds each and every moment we interact with each other, whether IRL or the internet, and that’s so wonderful and resourceful to know when you’re living your life. Continue the cycle of good vibes and being a good time around others, not the opposite.
6. “Laughter is the best medicine”
Is it not? Like c’mon. Laughter is so easy and really our most beautiful state to be in. Laughing. Laughing is so fun and THE BEST EVER! I see the toxicity of apps like TikTok but… BUT when your algorithm isn’t dumb s%$* but actual FUNNY content, what it was intended for from the beginning, is sooooo fulfilling. I have made it a point to laugh every day. I just find something funny that lives in my mind and start chuckling to myself until I legit can’t help but continue laughing at how funny it was the first time! Laughing is so addicting and it’s the best addiction. Especially those belly laughs?! Man… those are seriously so fun and mostly contagious!!! Like yawning haha… It’s awesome. I honestly laugh SO loud with my mouth wide open and throw my head back AF. Would it be considered obnoxious to others? F&%^ yeah. Do I care? Absolutely not. Because I’m enjoying my time to laugh and trying to share it with others or at least feed the energy so it continues on. The energy of fun vibes and good times *insert hang loose hand sign here*! So, yes, laughter is the best medicine. It’s a great short-term remedy for those with heartache, mourning, sadness and loneliness.
7. “Time heals all wounds”
This one is controversial only because people make it to be. Wounds in this saying could mean… anything. And that’s what conflicts people. Wounds are death, heartache and life’s consequences to their choices. I don’t believe it rids any of the pain and suffering we accumulate in this lifetime but I do believe it helps alleviate the hurt little by little. Time is our best friend and worst enemy wrapped into one single concept. It’s how we are able to experience nostalgia. Time makes things flourish or diminish, goes for childhood, projects and opportunities. This one connects to our next one:
8. “Only time will tell”
Time shows us what our actions have done and made. One action today will create an outcome next week, next month and so on. We’ve been taught time is linear but the different time zones and people around the world doing things simultaneously at “different time zones” but technically the SAME TIME is just a mindf#^$ to me LOL. Anyways, time continues and doesn’t wait on us, we either are controlled by it or work with it. There is no in between yet we have the same outcomes at the end of each day: go to bed. It’s what we do with our time that allows us to know what will happen today, the next day, week and year. There’s significant words missing from this short cliche which are: Only what you do with your time, will it tell you where you’re going. Right? That feels more appropriate for us to better understand what it means.
9. “All that glitters isn’t gold”
I only realized this after reading The Alchemist. I wept. I wept and I wept because the story was SO profound, SO beautiful, SO accurate… It changed my life. Seriously. Glitter is to shine with a bright, shimmering reflected light. You know what glitters too? Our skin. Our skin literally glitters when we’re in the sun. Don’t believe me? Go outside and let the sun hit you and stare at your exposed skin and TELL ME IT DOESN’T glitter. Because it does! Especially with sunscreen but even without it, we seriously shine from the reflection of the sunlight. I believe we’re all worth more gold. I know it. Once you know it too, the value you possess through your own personal worth, game over! You win. You win the game of life. I’ll get deeper into this throughout the next few months, but just keep this in the back of your mind for now.
10. “It’s better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved at all”
This is the hardest cliche of them all. Loss of love, precious memories, meaningful items… hurt like hell. I don’t want to be annoying and just focus on the good…Actually I do. What if there was a time machine that could take you back to have NEVER experienced what you had experienced that now you can’t anymore? You never knew what it was that brought such light to your life as it had in this reality but there was a version of you out there that doesn’t knwo what you know or has felt what you felt and won’t get the opportunity to? You’d be grateful right? You’d be like “damn that sucks… they really don’t have the privilege I had…” You’d feel different right? You’d even be grateful for what you do have after your loss. It’s that simple. You can honor what was dear to your heart by acknowledging how wonderful the feeling was and to have known it. My wording isn’t supposed to make you confused so please read it slowly… to really really grasp even the tiniest of understanding… So you’re not as miserable as you are right now in the time of having lost a loved one, love, a possession, an opportunity, an idea, etc.
So the 10 ways to be more fulfilled are:
- Enjoy the small things life has to offer. They truly make up most of your life.
- Give to the universe what you want in return (i.e. be kind so the universe is kind back)
- Put effort into what you care about, not what you don’t care for.
- Find beauty in all things and people so you live a beautiful life.
- Realize we’re all connected and make that a good thing is, not a bad one.
- Always find reasons to laugh, at random or on purpose.
- Don’t worry about what’s going to happen or what has happened, focus on what’s happening now.
- You don’t have control over anything in life, only yourself. It’s either a chore or a privilege. You choose.
- You lose something that is within you. You glisten every moment of everyday life just find the light that reflects onto you.
- Love is the greatest gift to ever have the privilege of experiencing.
