I offer myself to you in the only way I know how – through words. In them, I will do everything in my power to reach your heart. It took ten years to fully feel the extent of mine; I’d like to lessen that time for anyone interested by sharing what I have learned. I can only hope you are open to listening.

 

This canon of conclusions is split into three parts. I’d suggest reading them in order, but it’s not necessary. In fact, you can flip to any page and it can stand on its own. Each section contains something different to contribute – endeavours at playing the three wise men role on paper. I cannot take credit for the majority of this compilation as it is an accumulation of knowledge from countless people. It is owed to scientists, philosophers, and explorers, to humanitarians, religious icons, and iconoclasts, to those who assembled language as well as those who educated. Every stratified sentence has essence originating from every angle of humanity. As comedian Steven Wright said, “to steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.” I’m not a thief but a collector, perhaps even a hoarder of anything that touches my life. I give it to you.

 

What began as a whim amassed as an ever changing philosophy and I will do my best to capture it for but a moment. The first part is my take on reality. It was shaped by a multitude of things led by a question every human being asks at some point or another (should they dare to live): why do I exist? Or even simpler: why exist? The pursuit for an answer emerges in the strangest of times, feasibly the most stressed of times, for existing follows a complex nature. Yet, it has a humble purpose.

 

Religion falls short. So do many careers and relationships. But we continue forward with them, secretly yearning below the surface for more. Survival isn’t enough. Satisfaction doesn’t deliver. Connection has lost its meaning constantly being connected. I set out on a quest for purpose, not knowing what it was nor was I able to explain the inexplicable intuition that I’d find it somehow. I never expected to stumble across universal purpose in the process.

 

Let me be clear, my beliefs are not a religion. They cannot be weaponized in any way to cause harm or distil progress. They will not hurt your heart. And there is no god here. If you are looking for one, go elsewhere. I have only an objective way (I hope) to help create your own subjective, appreciative relationship with the universe.

 

The first part contains no “I”, for I cannot be in it. I must emphasize that it is not enough to grasp the concepts on an intellectual level alone. Everything must be understood emotionally too. This is the unceasingly difficult aspect. It requires an open mind, which grows harder and harder to have the more things are forced into it, especially when it is done via deception, aggression, or manipulation. It’s up to you how open you’d like to be – I was quite sceptical myself. Some days pass where I vacillate with doubt. My heart seems to lose contact on these days and my mind closes. Criticism rears its ugly head. It is a war we all face, the happiest of people having won the majority of their battles, presumably a war you might not have been aware you were in. This is a fight for emotional freedom.

 

The most honest difference between human beings and other earthly life forms is that we have a choice. More choices emerge the more our awareness increases. You will always react to something emotionally, but in that split second, you have the ability to change it. This is the first step towards greatness, a responsibility that slowly grows resilience.

 

The second part is how to win the war. Tactics, planning, practice – it is application. Victory takes grit and guts. The guts to be responsible to your own greatness and the grit to keep up the discipline. Can you be your own hero? Healer? Teacher? It requires the utmost devotion like the pope to the church, except we’ve replaced his holiness with your mind and the church with your body. Your heart anchors everything together through the universe’s amusing ironies, it intangibility. I have always abided by Phil Colins’ lyric, “put your faith in what you most believe in,” and that must begin with yourself. Have the courage to believe in your heart and the bravado to see it out. Mind with matter. Matter with heart. Each as equal to the next and each necessitating steps of upkeep. I will highlight the basics of body, mind, and heart, but ultimately, it is up to you to put them into practice, nurture them into healthy habits, and retain them into longevity. Build things to last because that’s how legacies are made – think like the Romans.

 

Body needs healthy food, fresh air, sound sleep formidable exercise, and a comforting home. Mind requires fulfilling problems to solve, dedicated learning, stimulating conversation, deep reflection, provocative stories, and music for every mood. Heart proves to be the greatest challenge, for it needs defensive walls to be broken, to give and receive appreciative love, cherish memories, promote happy thoughts, embrace grief, and construct for the better. Unselfishness in the name of the self – counter-intuitive, I know. In the second part, I will divulge what I do for myself and my ever demanding goals, and you may decide what to take away from it all. You know yourself best. Choose to keep, change, or improve your own habits and harness the willpower to sustain it no matter the effort, no matter the situation, no matter the heartache. Battle till the end of your life, but know it also gets easier the more you pour the effort to win, and there is a war to be won. We all want to die fulfilled, whatever that fulfilment may be.

 

The last part is nothing but “I”. I will provide you my personal explanation for the philosophy at hand, a combination of my intuition, experience, and education. It is a canon of dissected emotion under my own microscope, maximized for understanding, but bear in my mind it is from my perspective, which is both limited and biased no matter how hard I try to remain objective. It is set up like an appendix for what led to my line of reasoning in the first section. You may go back and forth for a timeline or disregard the bouncing back and forth. My life plotted versus my life recollected. Do with it what you may – judge me, feel me, perceive me – I can only hope you see the film I’ve accumulated through my eyes, reality drawn up by my mind, body, and heart.

 

It is for you. It is for me. It’s how it was always meant to be.