INSIGHTS
9 fundamental life learnings from Walter Gjergia
Walter Gjergia, Head of Mindfulness at Palta, shared with the subscribers his fundamental learnings from the rapidly accruing decades of life.
Image credits: Walter Gjergja
It is a highly heartwarming and spirit-lifting speech. Now we are sharing it with you so you can find some valuable ideas to follow
Never give up… don't be afraid to start an apparently impossible journey, one step at a time. Start where you are, use what you have, do the best you can!
I have been knocked unconscious (very scary), endured a number of serious injuries, experienced relationship heartbreaks and profound emotive losses, missed out on substantial wealth due to unvested stock options, went from a very modest childhood to a high income lifestyle to years of difficult economic struggles, experienced personal and professional failures and sabotages, traveled by primitive trains and moto-rickshaws to a temple I wasn't sure existed as I imagined, trained and meditated almost every day for over 35 years, abandoned a brilliant conventional career at just 28 years of age to pursue a Way - my Way - which nobody at the time understood or "approved"… and yet here I am, at this "milestone" birthday, able to be exactly who I am, doing what I love with people I love, focused on contributing to the wellbeing of millions of people, with just rewards, feeling full of energy and gratitude for every step of this journey!
Definitely "7 times down, but 8 times up". So … what have been my fundamental learnings from all these experiences? Do the "reps".
Talent and passion may give an advantage, good fortune and opportunities may come by, family and friends may help or support … but ultimately, it is about doing the "reps", whatever the objective and even without a clear one yet. Every day. Tirelessly. No matter what. Build yourself and pave your Way ... step by step, brick by brick … rep by rep!
Definitely "7 times down, but 8 times up". So … what have been my fundamental learnings from all these experiences? Do the "reps".
Talent and passion may give an advantage, good fortune and opportunities may come by, family and friends may help or support … but ultimately, it is about doing the "reps", whatever the objective and even without a clear one yet. Every day. Tirelessly. No matter what. Build yourself and pave your Way ... step by step, brick by brick … rep by rep!
Beginner's mind
Be humble and always focus on what you can improve, learn, develop, adjust, optimize. Preserve both the enthusiasm and the openness of a beginner, because they are the only attitudes that truly allow us to keep improving and growing. A master is only a great beginner!
Have absolute confidence
Doubt and fear are very useful data points, if mindfully used as such, but they are crippling burdens if they undermine your confidence. Confidence must not be arrogance nor delusion and overestimation: confidence is your absolute belief that no matter the circumstances or challenges or setbacks, you will find a way to survive, learn, overcome and thrive!
Constantly sharpen the "blades"
Hardship, if used effectively, forges the spirit, the mind and the body. Embrace hardship as an opportunity to sharpen your "blades" and, even in comfortable times, don't shy away from creating tests for yourself, for example, through difficult physical and mental training; they will prepare you for the real tests that life will inevitably present. Train hard, fight easy(er)!
On the photo: Walter Gjergja
There is no tomorrow
The present is the only reality we have. The past is a memory, the future an imagination ... only in the present we can do. Do the "reps", maintain a beginner's mind, have absolute confidence, sharpen the "blades"... today. Don't waste the present, in a moment it will be gone!
Never compromise your virtues and values
Your virtues and values define who you are: cultivate them and you'll grow yourself, lose them and you'll lose yourself!
Be grateful
Today. Right now. There is always something to be grateful for; in fact, usually there is much to be grateful for, fortunately. Be very mindful to express it consciously within yourself, as frequently as you can: it is a powerful antidote for most negative emotions, as well as possibly preventing the "karmic dangers" of ingratitude, when the universe might notice your lack of appreciation and decide to show you how good you had it!
Mind and body
Take the best care possible of your mind and body, whilst developing them to their maximum potential. They are the amazing - and only - tools which your spirit/soul/consciousness has to fully experience this life!
Kindness first and last
We have this life for one brief instant of time and space: use it as well as you can, generate the greatest positive impact you can have … and there is no greater impact than kindness, from beginning to end, without expectations. You never know what someone else is going through, so be kind. However, don't confuse kindness with weakness: there is a time to fight - figuratively and even physically - yet even that must be imbued with kindness ... to right an injustice, to protect the weak, to prevent harm, to stop evil. True kindness is not that of the weak, but rather of someone who has the ability to do great harm yet chooses to always be kind!
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