FOUR WORDS I FOLLOW

            There have been four words that I have always tried to live by: Live, Laugh, Learn and Love.  I believe that these actions are almost like a recipe.  You need just the right amount to be in a perfect equilibrium.  However, too much of one or too little of another can lead to problems.  Living is not just the action of being alive, but experiencing life.  Yes, it may sound strange but let me give you a few examples of what living is to me.  Living is driving late at night to see the world with your friends, it’s volunteering to teach others how to save lives, it’s doing something crazy like putting your head in a Jell-O mold at a Blue Man Group show and it’s seeing the world from the top of a mountain.  Life is about taking risk and finding the world, not being a passive observer. 

            Laughing releases the daily stresses of the world.  It allows us to extract humor from life and express it.  Laughing means that all of our worries have melted away and that sorrow has fled from us.  Laughter is the true measure of happiness.  I don’t think that I would ever be able to go a single day without laughing no matter how bad of a mood I am in.  It is extremely necessary to extract joy from life because sometimes our most trying times are the ones that we look back upon with lightheartedness.

            Learning is not just going to classes or getting a college degree; it is about how you interpret your experiences in living.  There are so many different ways to learn and my favorite is through talking to people.  There is so much to be learned from people of different backgrounds whether it is race, gender, sexual preference, economic status, interests and so many more.  These people have gained so much knowledge from their own lives, and when you talk to one another, all of your thoughts and ideas merge together; and that is true knowledge.  The ability to understanding another human being is one of the most important skills that one could learn in life.

            Loving is all about sharing emotion; it is about telling someone how important they are to you, the difference they have made on your life and showing how much you care for them.  Never live your life in hate because it is so much easier to love everyone, it will not only make you happy, but others as well.  Never go to bed angry at a person you love because who knows what could happen to them tomorrow…Let them know that you love them today.  So here’s my recipe: Live as if you’ll never see tomorrow, Laugh as long as you can before your gut bursts, Learn what life is all about through others and Love as if you’ll never be with that person again, and 50 years from now you will regret nothing!