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Live Your Life

 We have, at best, 80 to 90 years on this planet. That may seem like a lot when you’re 20. When you’re 70 you wonder how all that time passed so quickly. 

To make the most of those years we need to be ourselves, speak honestly, live our own lives. If we allow others to define us or if we live to please others, we cheat ourselves. 

We don’t get a second chance. No do-overs. At the end of our lives we can look back with regret or satisfaction. Living to satisfy our own standards will give us satisfaction. Letting others dictate our lives will bring regret. 

We should not only strive to avoid our own suffering but the suffering of others as well. Empathy and compassion are the hallmarks of a satisfied life. We should want the best possible life for everyone. 

We are members of a single race, the human race, and every human is as deserving of a good life as the next. 

None of us can fully control what happens around us, but we can control our response to it. Self-control is a valuable asset. It’s the one way we can assure ourselves of a satisfying life. It gives us the ability to create our own pleasure. It allows us to avoid regrets. 

We get this one life. Why should it not be as pleasant and satisfying as possible? Why should we not reach out to each other and enable our brothers and sisters to have satisfying lives as well?

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