Wisely

People don't give you things just because you are "smart". You have to give them what they want first.

Looking back it is easy to see the things you should have done differently. The career paths you should have chosen; the advice you should have sought; the opportunities you should have acknowledged. The limitations of the counsel you should have seen. The people you should have trusted. It is OK to grieve the loss of those missed opportunities. Because it is  loss. And it is necessary. I used to be amused at the TV trope where people get sad on reading that their favorite actors/ authors/ musicians  had died even before they first heard of them. I now see that it at least has some basis in reality. Life is a continuous process of learning. Of understanding yourself and the world around you. As your grasp improves it is easy to look back and blame yourself for the (obvious) situations you mis-assessed and the opportunities you over-looked. But to actually learn from the past you also have to acknowledge the deficiencies of your past self. Because life is a not a summit t...

कर्म करो, फल की इच्छा ना करो । -- श्री कृष्ण , भागवत गीता , वालमीकी । I really love this ancient Indian advice. Living life while trying to achieve hard goals.. the only way to remain happy in the face of failure is to focus on the process. But this succinct piece of advice really needs more elaboration. Here are my two cents : Note : If you find this post, too weird or abstract. Look at this reddit thread : here To focus on the process you need to make the process enjoyable. However hard, or difficult, or bad things may be it is possible to redirect your feelings to be able to enjoy  the process. In this case it is helpful to be reminded of Lori Gottleib's quote : "It's impossible to know and understand someone well, and not find something about them that you like." My strategy : Try to identify specifically things that you like and do not like. Focus on the things you like. Try to increase the complexity of the task/process so that the things yo...

It is the sign of a wise person to be able to see virtue amongst the evil, opportunity in a crisis, and allies amongst enemies.