LIFE’S METAPHORIC LESSONS

Symbolic Words To Live By

This blog is a shorthand review of some of my lessons about living life from my writings and speeches, using a few of my favorite metaphors, with several relevant quotes thrown in. Consider these as thoughts to ponder.

 Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. Samuel Butler

• I have to learn how to live life while living it.
• I will travel on uncharted waters; there are no road maps, no advanced scouts showing the way.
• It is better to have tried and failed than never to have failed at all. If at first I don’t succeed, I am well above average.
• The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates). The unlived life is not worth examining. Max Lerner

 Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.                                                                                     John Lennon (maybe)

• I will learn to plan and plan to learn.
• I plan to take detours; it takes time to smell the roses.
• I plan to Stop, Look and Imagine. Stopping curtails the rush and gives me time to reflect. Looking where I am, where I have been and am going is helpful. But imagining is most helpful; it is seeing what isn’t there, what could be.
• The best laid plans of mice and men are usually about equal. Murphy’s Law

 Humankind is like the fly riding on the back of an elephant who thinks it is steering. The elephant doesn’t mind, and it makes the ride more enjoyable.      Unknown

• Whatever the elephant represents metaphorically (the mind, reality, human consciousness, God, etc.), I will continue to think I am having some influence over our direction (steering).
• Although I know I do not totally control where I am going or what is happening, it is empowering to think I have some control or influence.
• I can try to make something happen instead of letting it happen.
• Buddha compared the mind to a wild elephant; hard to control. He said: Our life is the creation of our mind. 

Life is not a puzzle to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.  Thomas Merton