In life, there are moments we like, and others that we don’t.

Whenever you have the chance to grasp a moment that you like, remember to do it fully and deeply. Live the moment and don’t only spend it; it will soon be over and might not be back. Focus on the present, and isolate yourself from whatever can ruin your mood. Thinking of the end would only detach you from the moment, and reduce your timely pleasure.

Whenever you are obliged to face a moment that you don’t like, do the best you can to – at least – neutralize it. Don’t hate it; perhaps it’s good for you. Embrace the facts; fighting them would only make it harder and longer. Don’t count the seconds, but let each one of them count. Do the most if you must, and invest in your time; doing a little is better than doing nothing. If you find it boring, get involved, and if you find it irritating, scratch where it itches. Things will run smoother, and time will go faster. How can we forget what Winston Churchill once said: “if you’re going through hell, keep going”.

Teotihuacán (Mexico)

Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in his Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference”. In the opposite order of ideas, three keys are required: the wisdom to differentiate what can be changed from what can’t be changed, the courage to face the former, and the serenity to accept the latter. However, and unfortunately, these keys can be lost or simply unfound. Assuming that wisdom is reached and differentiation done, courage and serenity will still be sought.

If we’re sometimes unaware that we can change something and remain blindly idle, there are times when we’re aware of the possibility but need the courage to act. Seek the possibility in every difficulty, and don’t be blinded by the difficulty in every opportunity. Get rid of the glum, and think positive. Nourish determination, and foster courage. And if there is a remedy to your trouble, find it.

While we’re sometimes unaware that we can’t change something by continuing futile fights, there are times when we refuse to be aware of the impossibility and lack the serenity to accept it. When the cards of life are dealt against your hopes or expectations, do not waste the game on despair and disappointment. In the impossibility of moving backwards, move forward or change direction. A continuous state of dejection would lock you in an irremediable past, and deteriorate your forces. And as Marcus Tullius Cicero once said: "it is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness."

Conquer life; don’t let it conquer you. Resist despair with reason, and give place for hope. Aim at boosting the outcome of whatever you have been offered, and optimize what you can’t – or can no longer – change. Set the path you like, and be the change you want.

Some people believe with simple syllogism that if maturity comes from experience, and experience from age, maturity would inevitably be the fruit of age. This unsurprisingly logical sequence might seem – and even be – true, but it is clearly not immune to exceptions. The deviation from this rule can be either passive, or active. While the former appears in the case of an immature old age, the latter shows up in the case of a mature young age.

Pebble Beach Golf Course, Carmel-By-The-Sea (CA, USA

Time provides us with a vital key to maturity: the opportunity to gain experience. Unfortunately, some people waste it by fearing and avoiding opportunities they do not see or understand. Consequently, they end up losing the chance of gaining experience and reaching gradual maturity. All other things being equal, there are those who in the contrary, seize early opportunities in life and absorb a significant amount of experience before their peers. Hence, age and time would be breaking the above-mentioned sequence, and altering its dynamics. That being said, maturity is not necessarily a guaranteed product of age, and age is not the sole gateway to maturity. 

In this order of ideas, Ibn Yamin – a Persian poet of the thirteenth century – used to differentiate four types of men according to the consciousness of their knowledge. His reasoning was somehow behind the philosophical distinction between “the known-known, unknown-known, known-unknown, and unknown-unknown”. In other words, there are things we know that we know, things we don’t know that we know, things we know that we don’t know, and things we don’t know that we don’t know. 

With time, the ability to see and the capacity to understand improve tremendously by  magnifying facts and focalizing perspectives. People get to detect what they could not perceive, and acknowledge what they once ignored. Along with this enlightenment, two main evolutions occur. On the one hand, the unknown-known unites with the known-known, and they both appear in the same basket of awareness. On the other, the unknown-unknown connects with the known-unknown, and joins the process of “knowledge acquisition”. As a result, consciousness would progressively evolve and recognize the facts we were unaware of, and target the ones we used to overlook.  

Henri Estienne once said: “If youth knew; if [old] age could” (in French: si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait). While the young normally can but do not know, the old usually know but can no longer do. What if the capable knew, and the knowledgeable could? It is very important for the young to seek knowledge, and for the aged to sustain capacities.

Furthermore, being aged is different from being old. While the aged desire and plan for future accomplishments, the old rest and sleep in nostalgia. While the aged look forward to making the best out of whatever is left for them to do, the old suffer from looking back in time. While the aged seek to make a difference every day, the old remember the past and try to revive it. How can we forget what Ovid once wrote in Metamorphoses: “I grabbed a pile of dust, and holding it up, foolishly asked for as many birthdays as the grains of dust. I forgot to ask that they be years of youth". In fact, youth is not merely an image of low numbers; it is also the reflection of passion and potency, vigor and vitality, dynamism and drive. 

Few are those who know how to be old, and fewer are those who master the art of staying young. Ironically, when Picasso felt how good it is to rejuvenate at the age of sixty, he sadly realized it was too late. The clock is ticking, but time is running; you can neither standstill, nor move back. Days will seem longer, but years will go faster. Live, and do not simply exist. You have passions to fulfill and dreams to realize; don’t let the envious block your way, and fearful slow you down. Feed your ambitions with enthusiasm, and look up for growth. The future awaits: seize the present, and explore the unknown.

If life comes with infinite choices, unfiltered selections should preferably be avoided. Whenever decisions come across as complex and confusing, narrow down and filter your options. And if the process seems unrealistic, relax and adjust your approach. Otherwise, it would be unsurprisingly understandable to see new victims of this disconcerting indecision.

For those who are lost trying to discover their path, proceed by elimination. The process might sound mathematically complicated, but it is as simple as follows: eliminate the options you do not want, and concentrate on whatever is left - and about to emerge. In practical words, make a list of whatever can come to mind, erase the excluded possibilities, and focus eventually on the surviving lines. In this order of ideas, three consecutive steps are clearly required.

Teotihuacán (Mexico)

The first is to exhaustively enumerate every imaginable option in an open way. This initial list has to be general and non-exclusive because the opposite would easily limit perception and restrict future creativity. That being the case, jot down actual ideas and keep the door open for new ones. 

The second is to get rid of whatever is personally rejected, and come out with a filtered list. This rejection has to be necessarily based on individual criteria in order to prevent regrets, and give space for a personalized choice. Therefore, the deforming impact of outside influence must be strictly avoided. While guidance is beneficial, pressure is irritating.

And the third is to select whatever is desired among the remaining alternatives. Normally, the decision at this phase has to be securely directed by both, passion and reason. While the former exfoliates what fills the heart, the latter underlines what the brain contains. Nevertheless, and contrarily to this classic tandem, some neglect reason and get driven by their mere passion. Regardless of the higher risk this reclusive path may contain, it can be a survivable and feasible one. But the opposite is not true; reason without passion is heavy and short-lived. And as Khalil Gibran once said: ”rest in reason, move in passion”.

Finally, whenever you face a troubled mind or an uncertain heart, remember to confront yourself and to never give up. Look inside and re-discover who and what you are, for it is only by returning to the inner self that you can clearly see the path.