The Pentagon of Wisdom

For part two of our discussion, we will be expanding on wisdom.

Wisdom is something, as often heard for many things, is not to be taught, but caught. In other words, it should come naturally. No one told Benjamin Franklin to say 'Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.' He said those words based on his knowledge, his experience, his wisdom.

Wisdom

Knowledge - To give wise advice, it is necessary to have the knowledge. It doesn't necessarily have to be intellectual knowledge, but just the simple knowledge, as in common sense. Look at Benjamin Franklin's quote above. Isn't it common sense that you would be healthier if you sleep and awake earlier? If you stay up late, you drain your body out, causing it to sleep even more; and sleeping more causes you to wake up later. And if you wake up later, you would most likely skip a meal or have meals at unusual hours of the day - causing your body distress.  Everything is a chain reaction.

What would happen if we thought about the chain reaction of the things we say everyday?

Justice - Wisdom should always be fair. Imagine your life if a person was biased and praised one side and not the other! In the same way, imagine if someone was giving advice to one side, and not the other! This would be classified as unjust wisdom. True wisdom is for everyone's gain, not just a few people.

What would happen if we were fair to everyone we come across?

Truth - Wisdom should always be the truth. If someone gave incorrect advice, society would have a huge loss. People would follow the advice, but eventually find out that it was incorrect. This is one of the reasons why sometimes, you should be independent and trust yourself. There's a different feeling in accomplishing things without the help of others, but there's always a good feeling knowing that they're there. 

What would happen if we tried doing things on our own?

Prudence - A person with wisdom is always prudence because they use their governing abilities to critique themselves. This helps them lead to simple truths about life, giving birth to their wisdom for the world.  

What would happen if we possessed this quality?

Perseverance - Wisdom is gained with perseverance. Whenever you persevere towards a certain goal, you always learn something about courage, determination and never giving up. This new information becomes something you share with the world, your wisdom. 

What knowledge would you gain if you persevered?

So, persevere towards your short-term goals, but never forget the long-term one. Work on that the most. 

That, was just a piece of wisdom.

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The Pentagon of Love

For the next three blog posts, including this one, we will be discussing the three pentagons:

Today, we will begin with Love and its components.

When that feeling of Love truly comes into play, there are a few things that come automatically - mercy, selflessness, perseverance, joy, and freedom. Here is the role of each one and how they come into play:

Love
While reading these descriptions, you may notice that these traits are expressed for the same reason. That is because love is based on one thing - love. 

Mercy - When you love someone, and they make a mistake, a tiny bit of frustration may occur, if not any at all. Despite that fact, you set aside the mistake, and console the person that everything is alright. All you care about is the happiness of the one you love. You are willing to take all the pain, sacrifice all you have, for that one person. You become an entirely different person, and you become merciful.


What would happen if you treated everyone with the same respect?


Selflessness - When you love someone, that's the only person you care about. When you love someone, thoughts about 'Me' turn into thoughts about 'You'. Ego is replaced with humility and 'Me' merges with 'You'. You become an entirely different person, and you become, selfless.


What would happen if you treated everyone with a caring attitude?


Perseverance - When you love someone, you have the confidence that they will be with you through thick and thin, and that you can always feel comfortable to turn to them in need of help. And, when you have that support, you are determined - determined to persevere; because you know that now, anything is possible. You become an entirely different person, and you become persevering.


What would happen if you put that amount of effort in tasks every day of your life?


Joy - When you love someone, you only wish to be with them forever, and for them to be with you forever. Anything that relates to the person makes you happy. You feel the joy in every part of your being, spilling through unconditionally, just like the love. You know that nothing will ever go wrong, between you, and them. You become an entirely different person, and you become joyful. 


What would happen if you had the same perspective to everything in life?


Freedom - When you love someone, you have the comfort level in which you know that whatever you do, will always be accepted. Your little habits someone else might call 'out of the ordinary', the person you love will get a kick out of in a friendly way, and confess a habit of their own that will ease the tensity. You become an entirely different person, and you have the freedom.


What would happen if you weren't afraid being your own person to the world?

Love - it's something that the best writers can't define, the pain doctor's can't heal, the blueprint architects can't create, and a situation the most well-known lawyers can't fight. 

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One Needs the Other

Sometimes, during the daily commotion of life, we tend to overlook the things that seem so little, yet so large - so unimportant, yet important. For example, let's take a pencil and eraser. Being a student, and even an adult, we use these utensils almost everyday (well, everyday if you're someone like me!). Have you ever noticed how important the eraser is to the pencil and the pencil to the eraser? Without the eraser, the pencil wouldn't be the right pencil for the job because it has no one to fix its mistakes. Without the pencil, the eraser would have nothing to do and would be jobless. Here is the little skit that goes along with this illustration:

Pencil: I'm sorry
Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.
Pencil: I'm sorry because you get hurt because of me. Whenever I make a mistake, you're always there to erase it.
But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong.
Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad.


Let's take a painter and a canvas as another example. Without the canvas, the painter would have nothing to create his masterpiece on, no tool to accomplish his job. Without the painter, the canvas, would be blank and colorless, unable to do his job as well.

Evidently, one needs the other; it isn't called a pair unless there's two.

If you think about it, our parents are like this as well. They help us with the littlest things in life, to the largest. From helping us make our signature appear more professional; to helping us organize our room - they're always there. But when they fix these little mistakes for us, sometimes, they make sacrifices. They take something that belonged to them and gave it up just so we could have a better life. That's why, you should help your parents everyday, even if they are upset with you. Just like your parents do, try to keep them happy. But keep one thing in mind - the littlest things make them happy. There is no need to purchase anything - a love-filled hug will do!

Just show them that you need them, and that you are always by their side.

What happens next is not history, but a memory.

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Here's a quote that may ring a bell to many of you...

"If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably does not lead anywhere."

This quote may be familiar to many because it might be something you remember your parents saying, in some way shape or form, as you grew up. They explained that there is no success without failure. It would surely be pleasant, but otherwise, humans would not be humane. Everyone has faced some hardship throughout the course of their life and most likely still will. But remember - each failure brings you closer to success. 

When Thomas Edison failed thousands of times, they were not merely failures; they were successful failures.  To many, at first, this sounds like an oxymoron - even to me. However, after thinking about it, I realized it was completely common sense! Each failure is more successful because you've eliminated yet one more possible way to find your solution! So, each time Thomas Edison failed, he failed better, because he knew that the wiring he just attempted was not correct. 

Without failure, a human would not be humane. To be human, one needs to have qualities such as generosity, kindness, and forgiveness. This does not mean that that a human is perfect at all times. They can absolutely be angry, frustrated and sad. These qualities all add up to humanity. If everyone had everything they desired, the world would be catastrophic. That's why when situations don't turn out as you want, people say 'You know what? It's actually better that it didn't happen your way because it happened God's way.'

So, without obstacles on your road, you will end up at a dead end. We all know that there are potholes, speed humps, toll booths, police cars, and whatnot on our road to success. However, after overcoming those obstacles and reaching the ultimate destination, the feeling will be indescribable. That is why the perfect path or "...the path with no obstacles..." does not lead anywhere.

You choose - 

The Destination or The Dead End
It's all based on one turn...

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As stated by an Italian Proverb:

"After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box,"

The goal of many in life is to have the most wealth, the most fame, etc. However, what we need to keep in mind is that when it is time for us to go, people remember us by our character - not what we had. At the end, we will all leave in the same way, so why does it matter who has the worldly riches or who is the most well-known? 


The person who is genuinely rich is the one who respects his values and carries them out with full sincerity. The person who respects everyone no matter how the other person behaves is the genuinely rich person. The richest person may be the pawn in worldly eyes, but inside, he is truly The King. Take a few moments, and think whether the outside king or the inside king will eventually hold the most importance. 


We all know that on a gravestone, only a little 'dash' represents our entire life. That is why what we do during that 'dash' is very important, for it is the last people will  remember of you. 


That little 'dash' represents the biggest thing - LIFE.

People are reminded of the way you manage when you have nothing in hand and the way you manage when you have everything in hand.

The Performance of The Night

As she sat in the passenger seat of her mom's car, Kate couldn't have been more excited. Her lips continuously curved in an ear-to-ear smile, her legs bounced from foot to foot, and her heart beat as fast as the cars passing by her window. The past month, Kate had practiced her act for the talent show audition and made sure that it was something unique, something never before seen. Kate was going to recreate Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. She was aware that there were a few other Van Gogh lovers in her school trying out for the audition, so she couldn't have been more confident about her performance. Day after day, with unfailing diligence, Kate painted and painted the 'Starry Night' because Kate believes that there is always room for improvement. For three weeks, Kate's recreations were done on white cardboard - but for the last week, Kate convinced her mom to purchase a few professional canvases, so that she would get the feel of it.

Kate rolled down the tinted window, let the breeze blow her fears away, and closed her eyes in complete silence. The vehicle steadied to a stop as Kate's mom approached a parking space and slowly drove in. Kate opened the door, and looked down as to watch her step, and admired the sparkle in the pavement as the streetlight above shown on the area. Adoring the radiant glitter, she imagined the spotlights in the auditorium shining upon her in the same way, making her the center of attention. Reaching out for the door handle to the entrance, Kate spotted the talent show banner across the top of the auditorium doorway and felt another rush of excitement, enthusiasm, and energy flow to her very soul. The organizers who had volunteered to make all the arrangements guided Kate behind the stage, where she spotted all the others, practicing their acts one last time, before the big game. She noticed a student, unaware of who, towards the back of the room. Step by step, as Kate became closer, she noticed a canvas, paint bottles, and a paint brush pallet set. Drawing back from tapping the shoulder of the student, Kate pondered over how she missed one person who was practically performing the same act as hers, but instinctively tapped the shoulder. He turned around, and Kate was shocked at the face in front of her.

The sullen, silent face of Albert greeted her with an unenthusiastic 'Hello'. Albert was the typical, quiet student who never interacted with anyone, except on occasions like group projects. Kate broke the silence, saying, "I had no idea you were trying out, forget painting. You just never seemed the type to paint."Oh," Albert mumbled and looked at Kate's painting supplies every now and then. "It was a last minute decision. Um, it looks like you're painting too. If you don't mind me asking, what are you painting?" Kate wished to remove that look of nausea and nervousness across his face, so in the most polite, friendly, yet normal manner, she replied, "I'm painting Vincent Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. What about you?" Albert slowly raised his head and met eye-to-eye with Kate. His eyes widened. Kate thought it impossible. They now both had the same act. There was only one thing that could have been done, but it was all worth it.

Kate explained her plan to the head organizer, and she nodded her head. Stepping onto the stage, with the spotlights shining on her exactly as she imagined, she introduced herself, and her partner - Albert. "Together, we will be painting 'Starry Night' by Vincent Van Gogh. I will start off." And with that, Kate began with the delicate swirls of the moon and the sky, handing it over to Albert, who finished off with the city of the night. That night, as Albert and Kate bowed down to the audience of the night, they knew inside of them, that they were...

The Performance of The Night. 

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What Teamwork Really Is

Many a times, we feel as if the only way a task can be completed properly is by doing it ourselves -  sometimes, I feel that way myself! We feel that it needs to be done with full potential - our potential. However, during the past week, Nature has taught me something of which I was either unaware of, or had no idea that it would actually be effective. Sometimes, what we don't realize is that we can achieve much more and reach places beyond our expectations - with an even greater speed...

I sat in the car, on that rainy day, and in silence, I observed the wind as it shook the trees. I heard it whistling, and that's when I noticed the drops of condensation on the windows of the car. The force of the wind and the speed of the car traveling in opposite directions caused the water droplets to join together - and when they did, something remarkable happened. They moved faster. They moved faster than they did when they were by themselves, but when they joined, they took off, going somewhere beyond the vision of the eye.

Here are the characters:

• Wind=Conscious
• Water Droplets=Us

In the same way, the wind is our conscious - sometimes, it's a soft breeze and may not speak up, but other times, it howls and you are compelled to listen to it. We are the water droplets and when we join together, we combine into an even greater force that can take us beyond what we see.

Remember, the sky is NOT the limit.

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Life is Like Photography

Even though we all know the answer to "Why does life bring so many troubles?", we still ask that question. Nobody escapes from life's sorrows - because if one did, they wouldn't even be in this world. Sometimes, we take a few glances at a person, hear a little about them, and think that their life is perfect and their life has no place for hardships - but deep down, they might be suffering a great loss.

As an unknown author stated,

"Life is like photography, you develop from the negatives,"

Now, if there were no negatives, or situations we dislike in our lives, how would be become mentally strong? The reality is that this world is filled with difficulties and we have to be prepared for them. So, to prepare for them, we need to endure hardships, and become capable of handling the tough times.

This is the process:

1. We face interminable hardships and our faith feels broken
2. Finally, the harsh times have ended and happy times seem to germinate once again
3. Our film roll of the harsh times is ready to be developed
4. We make our way to the photo department and develop the negatives
5. The negatives are transformed into a more clear image and we have everlasting memories!

Now, it's up to you whether you will make your way to the photo department and develop those negatives into everlasting positive memories.

Will you?


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