BY SOFO ARCHON
Below is a list of some of the most important spiritual lessons that I’ve learned during the course of my life. I hope they’ll assist you in your spiritual journey to discovering peace, joy and contentment.
1. Never let anyone tell you what to do. Think for yourself and take responsibility for your actions.
2. We are all connected. If you help someone, you’re helping yourself. If you hurt someone, you’re hurting yourself.
3. Don’t be afraid of painful experiences. Pain is neither good nor bad in itself, but we can deal with it in good and bad ways.
4. When you drop all desires and expectations about how people should be, you won’t be easily deceived or emotionally hurt by them again.
5. All fear ultimately comes down to the fear of death. Unless you become familiar with the idea of death, you will not be able to live fully and care-free.
6. You cannot know more about another person than you can know about yourself. And the more you understand yourself, the better you will understand others.
7. True love can never be hurt, because it gives without asking anything in return. So even if love is unseen or rejected by those at whom it is directed, it keeps on being what it is.
8. Pleasure and pain are two aspects of the same coin. You can never have one without the other.
9. By treating the symptom, you won’t cure the disease. Instead, try to get rid of the root-cause.
10. There is no God higher than Love.
11. Don’t focus your attention on what people say or do. Rather, seek to find out their motives behind their actions.
12. Speak the truth, no matter what. Being honest is the only way to be at peace with yourself and others.
13. Possessions can possess you. Be mindful of your consumption habits.
14. Solitude is medicine for the soul. Don’t be afraid to experience aloneness, because only in this way will you be able to make friends with yourself.
15. Never submit yourself to an abusive partner. True love can flower only under the sun of mutual respect.
16. Don’t fear failure. Every time you fall down, be sure to pick yourself up and try once again.
17. When you lose a friend, don’t hurry to replace him with another. Instead, give yourself the time and space to process your heartache.
18. Don’t mistake desire for love. Desire is a passionate fire, love is a calm breeze.
19. Sometimes your enemies can help you more than your friends. Enemies are more willing to point out the negative aspects of yourself.
20. Gratification does not mean contentment. Gratification comes and goes; contentment stays with you always.
21. Seek to change yourself before you seek to change the world. Unless you embody the change that you want to see in the world, your efforts to change it will be futile.
22. Don’t try to escape from unpleasant experiences with others. See them as an opportunity to better understand people, instead of projecting your own images on them.
23. Love builds bridges between people’s hearts, and only when there is love, can a true heart-to-heart communication take place.
24. Your beliefs shape your perception, just like sunglasses color what you see.
25. Don’t imitate others. Create your own path and walk on it.