Everyone That Crosses Your Path in Life Serves A Certain Purpose

If you are one of those "minority" who are constantly seeking for ways to get away from what the majority view as the "appropriate" and typical way of living and attempt to live out what they could not, you must be prepared to undergo loneliness every once in a while and often, the many criticisms and judgments from them that come along with it.

You ought to treat these criticisms as some positive signals given to you. When someone voices an opinion of you, you should seek it as an avenue to understand yourself better. Our lives are set up to be a lifelong journey of learning from the moment we are born, and it is only through this process of learning that we are able to grow and refine ourselves as a living being.

We must never have the stereotype that learning can only be done by rote. Imagine your everyday surroundings and having the company of someone, perhaps a simple conversation with a friend, or that stranger you noticed on the street talking on the phone while buying a cup of coffee. No matter whether this person is someone close to you or just a passer-by, everyone and everything that crosses your path, exists to let you learn something about Life.

The people that we encounter at various points in Life are constantly giving us insights into the wisdom of Life; it is only that we may not realize the lesson to be learnt at that given moment and naturally, we would not be aware of what this person right in front of your eyes has taught you.

All of us may have to go through some time, and it may perhaps take over one night, a day, a month, or even years. When we get in touch with this person once again, we would then realize some of the lessons they were trying to impart onto us through their behaviors or our interaction last time round. This makes us reflect and understand the long-standing Confucius saying that goes: "When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves."

The search for meaning through introspection and self-awareness is all about looking inwards instead of comparing yourself from the outside. There are some, through some form of soul-searching, who may instead become critical of others and blame them for causing troubles and inconvenience to their lives. That is the irony of the state of the mind; most would like to think that they are right in any given situation and tend to be unforgiving toward others when opinions differ. How many of us would scrutinize ourselves and question the inconsistencies between our actions and inner thoughts at times like this?

No one in this world likes to be criticized, but you are the one who is offending people with your criticisms. You do not heed the forewarning of others and do not like to be ordered around, but you are the one who demand others to do as you please. You hope to obtain pardon from others for your straightforwardness; but you loathe others for being arrogant and vain when they are speaking their minds.

Everyone can make a good speech on mannerism and wisdom with no real actions to prove, but situation often seems to turn out otherwise whenever a much needed action is required. How much of the wisdom you have acquired till today will eventually reveal itself the moment you find yourself in a sticky situation.

Everyone will get agitated when provoked, myself included. However, there should always be one thing that you keep in your mind and ask yourself: "What is the lesson that can be learnt from this episode? What could be the factor(s) that I may be lacking that resulted in my grievances?"

When you face someone who has lower intellectual ability than an average normal people, what you may learn from this encounter is patience; when you face someone who flares up uncontrollably, what you may learn from this encounter is being calm and forgiving; when you face someone who is violent and unreasonable, what you may learn is respect and self-love; when you face someone who is low on confidence and has low self-esteem, what you may learn from this encounter is embracement and selflessness; when you face someone who is doubtful and full of deceit, you may learn to be discretional to avoid ethical issues; when you face someone who is stubborn and full of pride, you may learn from this encounter is flexibility and humility; when you face someone who may be helpless and exhibits high level of anxiety, you may learn the virtues of courage to confront.

Learning takes place at every waking moment of your Life and as long as you are diligent enough, it is abound. This argument may seem simple at face value, but does not imply that putting it into practice will be equally straightforward.

When you finally get the chance to see yourself in full view, muster up the courage to recognize all that you fear and embrace them. Even if what you recognize may be cowardice and a wretched self, you will begin to embrace others the moment when you have accepted and acknowledged yourself.

The first steps will always be the toughest, for you have to go against every beliefs and habits that you have always held dear to previously. Every step that you take, however small, will accumulate into a large movement in time to come. Allow yourself permission to cast a small stone into the vast oceans, and watch your ripples forming a large tsunami enough to shake the world. If you do not start to act on your own wishes, you are only stopping yourself in your tracks and all other efforts you put in shall eventually come to naught.

Growth is oftentimes invisible, so is the case of being reduced to plain ordinary.

The strength we all possess can be far beyond what we can imagine; the amount of control we have over our lives can also be far beyond what we can comprehend. All of us go through the process of learning and growing in every living moment of our lives, every single person we meet along the way is our life coach, regardless of our age or position in the family hierarchy, the stories and lessons shared can serve to reduce our heartache in the future, as well as shorten our time for exploration. Finally, we will then grow to be a mature and responsible person of the society.