An impressive headline, right? What if you had the recipe for building the perfect life. Imagine the value of such a thing. The richest man in the world, at the time when his life was fading, said the following:
I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes my life is an epitome of success.
However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
The famous last words of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, who died a billionaire at the age of 56.
The esteemed Steve Jobs concluded that much of what he had accomplished in life, in the end, was of little value. It seems like great minds always manage to come up with a few elevated words, prior to their exit. When I, in my little corner of the universe, look back, I manage, with some effort, to think of myself as rich at several times. So far, that is; I wouldn’t want to put an end to the elevation of things. No worries though, if I would, I couldn’t. But, still..
It always had a monetary value, of course, and it was absolutely wonderful, for as long as it lasted. There were, however, many things that were lacking. Important things, such as the desired amount of joy and the fulfillment of knowing that it all was meaningful and worth something in the long run. Maybe not so many things after all, but very defining things – the meaning of things, the things that held true meaning.
Each time I made my riches, the whole journey was a little different, but every time it ended in the river of honey drying up and the riches fading away. Then came the time of trying to get the feet back under my body, gain control of the situation and start climbing out of the pit.
Every time I entered the pit, this was accompanied by the discovery of several truths, all of which had previously been hidden from me, as a clearvoyance. Thus, every time in the pit, I learned a bit more about how to get out of it, and how to eventually avoid it altogether.
This time, as I left the dreaded pit, something was different. Well, it’s always different, but this time another kind of different. The picture above is of my love, Yuleis, and me, and it’s taken by one of my new friends. I’m almost 50 years old, and I seriously didn’t expect I’d ever make new friends. I didn’t expect I’d experience real love either, and surely not at such an elevated level as this! Things change. Of course, there are those that I’ve failed as well … I’m never there. To be honest, as we always should be, I haven’t been there for the longest time. Who would want to continue such a friendship? I’ve even been in the media.. Ouch..
Well, of course, there was the usual phase of obscurity, when everything was unclear and uncertain. It was that, and more, but after a while, I got in touch with more and more of the previous me, the strenghts that I used to wield. I had weaknesses too, of course, and plenty of them, but there were strenghts as well, and now I could finally start to use some of them … again. Over time, more and more, and eventually, I also managed to look back, in order to rearrange a few things from the past, things that still affected me. My God, was this a new experience. History is written, yes, but you have editorial rights, or you may have, if you will it so..
If you know how, you can enter into your own history, adjust things, in order to create a better now, and then return. Powerful, that’s the word, the right word.
So, there we are, Yuleis and I, and we are with friends. That is a wonderful thing, spending time with friends. Lockdowns, fear, war and all the bad that comes with that, but friendship, that really solves it all. When you have a handful of friends at your side, the whole world can come against you, and you would pity it..
So, when it comes to creating the perfect life, I think it’s mostly an internal process. Not only does it start with you, it is mostly about you all the way. How you view things, how you respond to things, how you value things and so on. And of course, it has very much to do with your choices on the road ahead. If you view it as a path, your perfect life lies in making the right choices and following the right path on the journey ahead. It’s not easy, but when you make mistakes and wrong turns, you can find back, as long as you know what you’re looking for and how and where to look for it.
So, there you go, that’s my recipe for the perfect life. It will probably be edited many times as my journey continues, but as for now, there it is.