I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.~Douglas Adams
Don’t you sometimes wish you could hijack the DeLorean from ‘Back to the Future’ and go back in time to give the younger you some meaningful and helpful lessons in life (never mind a sharp upper cuff)?
Well, you’re here now — older and wiser with experience under your belt — and the pipeline dream of procuring time machines probably just isn’t going to happen.
The brighter side is that we can enlighten future generations of the deeper meanings behind some really profound truths.
Here’s a list of things I wish I knew when I was a little know-it-all:
1. Thoughts Create Things
Yes, if only I knew about the Law of Attraction at 16 years of age — all the mischief I could have wrought. Well, maybe it was for the best. Seriously though, how cool would it have been to know — back then — that your thoughts are prerequisite to actually manifesting whatever you want in your life!?!
2. You Can Do or Be Anything
Yup, some of you may have had hippie parents telling you this but for some of us, it just wasn’t the case. You needed good grades and to get a job that pays well — you know, the 9-5 job and the white picket fence deal?
My parents, God bless them, probably were only handing down what they believed to be precious information that they had learned from their parents. ‘Get a steady job that pays the bills, there is no money to be made in mucking about with paint or playing the guitar’. Oh, how wrong they were! The sky is the limit with your dreams — go for it, guns blazing into the setting sun shouting ‘Yeehaw!’.
3. You Always have a Choice
Life is all about choices, we make them get in and out of trouble (scrap trouble — challenges is a better word). You never set yourself up with anything you can’t get yourself out of — within reason, of course. So, a message for mini-me would have been: Try to view things from a different perspective, there is always a solution to a problem if you are quiet enough to hear the inner wisdom that is always inherent. Life doesn’t just randomly happen to you if you take responsibility for your choices.
4. To Forgive is Divine
If only I had known back then that to hold a grudge means extra baggage for you. This can even, in some cases, manifest as physical weight. Forgiving, contrary to the saying, doesn't always mean you forget — if the lesson taught you anything, don't make yourself vulnerable or open to certain situations again. Always be mindful of your lessons but learn how to forgive and walk away too.
5. Taking Things Personally is Disempowering
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and tastes but there is no ‘blanket’ rule over what is the truth as there are almost 8 billion different perspectives on earth right now.
I was told, in my younger years, not to listen to people's opinions of me, especially if they caused me distress. I didn’t truly get that when I am insulted I am actually agreeing with what has been flung on my doorstep. If only I learned to dodge those landmines sooner, I would have a lot less BS to scrape off my boots later on down the line!
6. Conforming is Boring
I wish I could seriously implant this into the brains of the youth of today, it’s just that important — especially with the crap that's being pumped at them through social media! Don’t try to be who you are not (and please don't try to mimic a Kardashian). Everyone wants an original not a copy. Duh! Thinking out of the box is not even an option — burn the box! No more boxes, boxes are for things, not ideas or people (just ask Schrodinger's cat).
7. Being Weird is just so Damn Cool
Well, this one just flows so nicely from being a non-conformist. It’s just completely stimulating being different. I mean, come on, look at all those Barbie’s and Ken’s out there — yeah, it’s a nice bit of eye-candy, but really? For real?
Nah, I prefer someone with a bit more kick, vooma, and soul — even if the facial features are slightly askew, hell, isn’t that what makes people intriguing? Give me a David Bowie or a Thom Yorke any day — talent is my sexiness barometer.
So, little Cherie from the past, this is what I would have loved to have been able to time travel to tell you about.
“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”
― Mother Teresa
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You can now hear Cherie Roe Dirksen on Big Indie Giant radio as she reads out select articles on air.
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Cherie Roe Dirksen is a self-empowerment author/columnist/radio presenter, multi-media artist, and musician from South Africa.
To date, she has published 3 self-help and motivational books and brings out weekly inspirational blogs at her site www.cherieroedirksen.com. Get stuck into finding your passion, purpose, and joy by downloading some of those books gratis when you click HERE.
Her ambition is to help you to connect with your innate gift of creativity and living the life you came here to experience by taking responsibility for your actions and becoming the co-creator of your reality. You can follow Cherie on Facebook(The Art of Empowerment — for article updates). She has an official art Facebook page (Cherie Roe Dirksen – for new art updates). You can also check out her Facebook band page at Templeton Universe.
Cherie posts a new article on CLN every Thursday. To view her articles, click HERE.
This article (7 Things Your Teenager Should Know About Life) was written by Cherie Roe Dirksen and published here by Conscious Life News under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author Cherie Roe Dirksen and ConsciousLifeNews.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this Copyright/Creative Commons.
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