My Verses in the Book of Life

As I explained, many years ago I had a dream where I was asked to "add a verse to the book of life." I took that to mean contribute wisdom that summarized important insight gleaned from life that would be of benefit to all. These are some of my candidates collected since then.

While reviewing the scraps of papers that found their way into the folder to be gone through "some day" it was interesting to notice how my thoughts evolved over the years. I've listed the dated ones chronologically to enhance the ability to perceive that evolution.

For those of you who don't know me personally, a bit of history.

I graduated college in 1981 with a degree in computer science and went to work at the research and development lab for General Electric where my father worked. A few months later I received an invitation to a dinner honoring my father's retirement after 42 years of service. After staring at it for awhile I realized that I was working in the same building where he had worked for 42 years, and the thought of my being there that long was like a slap in the face. I didn't want to die in Scotia NY, and planned my escape.

I concluded that I could earn far more money elsewhere and have far more fun. Within a few months I had moved to NJ and started contracting, doubling my salary each of the next three years until the "earn more so you can spend more" spiral became pointless. After being conditioned for decades that my purpose in life was to get a great job and earn lots of money, what was I supposed to do now that I had achieved all of my career goals? I entered a period of wondering that extended ten years. During that time of introspection I explored consciousness and relationships as I sought convincing strategies for deciding what pursuits deserved my energy.

  • Do whatever it is that you want to do the most, and do it as well as you can. Jan 13, 1984

  • Flexibility is critical to a successful relationship. Two individuals are bound to have differing expectations, wants and aspirations - what will keep them together is an ability to transcend the differences through compromise, patience and understanding. Feb 18, 1987

  • The key to enjoying the boring times is doing something interesting at the same time. Nov 1987

  • Things go much smoother when you're prepared. Allow your level of preparedness to reflect importance. Dec 24, 1987

  • Learn how to do many things at once so you can always have fun doing one of them at any given time. Jul 15, 1988

  • The art of living is the ability to view life from perspectives that bring pleasure. Sep 9, 1988

  • Spend time on activities that support those ideals that are the most important to you. Nov 20, 1988

  • Consider whether you are proud of what you are doing. Dec 31, 1988

  • Stop every once in a while and check to see if what you are doing is what you want to be doing. Minimize the time between checks and maximize the depth of the check. Dec 16, 1989

  • Allocate time to plan and revise your goals (at least a few minutes weekly). Jan 26, 1990

  • Only the unimaginiative can fail to find interest in what they are doing. Nov 17, 1990

    Then I met my soulmate, and we've been enjoying the infatuation stage ever since. Hopefully I'll get a chance to contribute thoughts from this decade at some point, but I'm far too busy now.

    Finally things have calmed down (our son is nearly 5 years old), continuing...

  • Unfortunately, the definition of the line between genius and madman is left to those who are neither. Aug 27, 2007

    Feel free to send comments to Kevin or browse contributions from others.

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