“The most extensive knowledge does not necessarily know it; reasoning will not make men wise in it. The sages have decided against both these methods … By non-action everything can be done.” (Tzu, 1968)

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick of pretending to be excited every time it’s somebody’s birthday, you know what I mean? What is the big deal? How many times do we have to celebrate that someone was born?

Every year, over and over… All you did was not die for twelve months!

How did I get to this point, this age between being young and elderly? You would think that when reaching my 49th milestone of existence I’d know a little something about life. But I feel naive to the world and its workings. Still got a lot to learn. Old enough to know better, but not old enough to be considered wise.  Young enough to be silly, but not young enough to be considered adorable! All I know is that I have a young brain in an ever aging, always ticking body.

If I live to be 98, this birthday represents the halfway mark. And yet, I feel like I’ve just begun. Birthday celebration? More like life reflection.

• Where do I want to be ten years from now? Twenty?
• What do I hope to accomplish?
• What mark on the world will I leave? Good, bad, ugly, or nonexistent.
• Will I be any wiser or will I still feel like the amateur that I am?
• Will I will accomplish great things or die trying?

The story is told about two men who encountered a giant bear. One of them took off his boots and put on his rubber shoes. His companion said: “What are you doing? We cannot outrun that bear even with our jogging shoes!” Whereupon the first man said: “Who cares about the bear? All I have to worry about is outrunning you!”

Sadly we often look for beauty and brains in people. But there is one more thing that we should not overlook: Character! So to people out there looking for a future partner in life, go for BBC, i.e., Beauty, Brains, Character.

Human as we are, we are often preoccupied with outrunning each other, and comparing ourselves with each other. We often are quite good in leveling people. In other words, we make sure nobody goes too high, and nobody becomes too good. So instead of rejoicing over other peoples’ accomplishments, instead of encouraging them for the good they are doing, we often find ourselves resentful or envious. Why? Because we make ourselves the standard.

The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves. You don’t have to try to beat other – you have to do better than yourself! Because what’s the point if you can out do somebody if you can’t outdo yourself.  Just keep up with your self and you will be successful!

Don’t try to be better than others, but do try to be better than yourself. Always do better today than what you did yesterday. In any contest, the champion stands out. Do we call that success? Instead, I wish to ask of the runner up, the second runner up or even the last contestants may be called a failure? I have no ready answer to that.

In Star Wars, when Luke is asked to raise his sunken Starfighter from the Dagobah swamps using the power of his mind, he says he’ll try. Jedi master Yoda responds without using any pronouns: “No. Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

If you “try” for the sake of outdoing others or for ego gratification, then the “try” originates from our Pride. It is self-fulfilling and empty, as it has no real existence of its own. An empty and unsubstantiated source can never bring true happiness and contentment, as it is ever-changing.

“Just as a seed needs no effort or force to grow into a tree, since the tree, potentially, is in the seed. Therefore, each of us has our own tree in our birth-seed. And with natural, unconditioned effort, we allow it to spring forth and grow. Sometimes it is difficult to see the tree in the seed…”

“…For even as water flows between rocks in a stream, it flows with more force due to the natural pressure created by the rocks. The water reacts naturally to the obstacles in its path. The stream does not need a pump topush the water downstream, and all the water will eventually end up in the same place.”