Life Lessons from Personal Experiences
By Shiva
@Shiva49 (26765)
Singapore
December 7, 2017 8:54am CST
We learn lessons from our experiences, more from those that are bitter.
Some change our perspective of what life is about. We keep the lessons at the back of our minds and they define us and in the way we interact with others.
I list out mine starting with the positives:
1. The vast majority are decent people following the maxim – live and let others live.
2. Hard work and sincerity are rewarded and they prove of lasting value.
3. People remember the help extended though they may not acknowledge it openly.
4. We are observed and people make their judgement about who we really are and not what we profess to
5. The ordinary folks are more trustworthy and are eager to please
The negatives:
1. Few are out to take advantage of our kindness
2. Selfish behavior and self-preservation trump our approach but that is quite understandable.
3. Fly by night operators are everywhere, so better to be safe than sorry.
If the majority will really ran our world would have been a heaven but few rotten apples have been spoiling the lot right from time immemorial.
Do you agree the above observations are valid?
Image: Free Image – Facts of Life
12 people like this
13 responses
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
10 Dec 17
@Shiva49 and the majority are put under a vicious cycle of fear and threat that they find it hard to get out and make the minority realize their follies.
2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
13 Dec 17
@Shiva49 Yes rightly so- they ought to fight among themselves and not drag us in.
2 people like this
@crossbones27 (49703)
• Mojave, California
7 Dec 17
Trump, do not get me started. Oh wait, you just meant the word "trump." I am not bitter at all. 
I am not sure how America remains a free country from here if this is the path we are going down. So mad at people who burn the flag, but now have leaders who our torching our constitution.
Sorry, made me think of that as I read your post and that was my observation as it relates to what I am feeling. Is that selfish? Well kind of impacts the world if the first country ever that formed its own government by the people themselves falls. Think not so selfish. 
I am not sure how America remains a free country from here if this is the path we are going down. So mad at people who burn the flag, but now have leaders who our torching our constitution.
Sorry, made me think of that as I read your post and that was my observation as it relates to what I am feeling. Is that selfish? Well kind of impacts the world if the first country ever that formed its own government by the people themselves falls. Think not so selfish. 4 people like this
@crossbones27 (49703)
• Mojave, California
7 Dec 17
@Shiva49 Maybe I sound dramatic, but Rome was an almighty empire and think many were saying the same. It is a slippery slope and it goes quick.
Maybe I am being unimaginative, but if this way does not work, what ways are left to try? Pretty much means the end of the earth because man is to selfish and just cannot learn to get along with one another.
3 people like this
@Shiva49 (26765)
• Singapore
8 Dec 17
@crossbones27 One needs to open the heart to let others know our feeling even when it is labeled a plaintive cry. We can always agree to disagree and move on.
I too am pained at the ways of leaders, not only political, who are supposed to know better. They think others must lose for them to win, score points, flex their muscles, even rub salt in the festering wounds.
Now there are few "big brothers" who can swing their arms around hurting the small fries around them. Fairness and diplomacy have taken a backseat but they are the basics for our survival - siva
3 people like this
@Shiva49 (26765)
• Singapore
7 Dec 17
I understand your feelings. It takes a while for things to settle down. We have to be patient. Our leaders create problems where there were none or make them worse when they have no clue.
We elect politicians as leaders and not those who go for inclusiveness.
I sincerely wish the US stays its course as the leader of the free world and not ditch the rest like it looks like doing now. There are lots of angst at the way things have gotten out of control and much damage done.
I recall Martin Luther King's clarion call to drive home my point: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." - siva
4 people like this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
10 Dec 17
I agree with all of the above most of the time.
On the next day however, I may disagree again.
It depends on my wavering outlook on this wavering world we abide in.
3 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
10 Dec 17
@Shiva49 Yes I too am trying to be more positive and follow on doing my duties without losing hope. Yes, at times, adversities seem like never-ending as well as quite complex. Yet, I have found it best not to let oneself stress out and keep on moving ahead.
2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
13 Dec 17
@Shiva49 that is good positive attitude. At times, others seem to make us realize that if we are not following path A or B, then we are heading towards disaster. However, we have to ignore such people, and best decide our path in the life.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
10 Dec 17
@Shiva49 yes news media do not relish peace. And often good deeds are also ignored by media.
4 people like this
@Shiva49 (26765)
• Singapore
11 Dec 17
@JudyEv Yeah, the good is taken for granted everywhere while the bad plays it hard to please, gets all the attention. North Korea is in the news every moment and their leader may have gotten used to the attention thumbing his nose at the world! siva
3 people like this
@Shiva49 (26765)
• Singapore
8 Dec 17
Yes world wars of increasing intensity and destruction have driven home the lessons loud and clear. But we have short memories and big leaders provoke others than extend the hand of friendship. Then history repeats generation after generation.
Peace is cherished by common folks though may not be rewarding to leaders, arms dealers and media! - siva
4 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
10 Dec 17
I agree but for point 5) The ordinary folks are .......
I increasingly see that people are becoming selfish and damaging others for one's self interest is increasing day by day- may be due to population pressures, increasing competition and an increasing intolerance for one another's thinking pattern as well as views.
2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
13 Dec 17
@Shiva49 rightly said, and yes we have to work towards what we want, and not give in to our petty differences.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (26765)
• Singapore
11 Dec 17
I still hold the view the ordinary folks want to stick to the right path. No harm in aspiring for a better life. Personally, I may go for less is more, a minimalist outlook, but that is my choice.
The majority has been turning a blind eye to the machinations of few basking in the illusory feeling that they are enjoying democracy and freedom. However, the awareness to nail the culprits and not succumb to divide and rule is becoming more.
I feel it is for them to realize that real democracy and freedom has been more of few taking advantage of the system. They have to fix the loopholes and see that rule of law prevails and not some are more equal than others. For them to rise as one, they should rise above petty issues like seeing others as different. There is only one creator, and we are all the same made of the same stuff and feelings
Yes, we get what we deserve and if we want better leaders we have to really work for it forgetting our petty squabbles. Everything has a price to pay including electing real leaders - siva
2 people like this
@vandana7 (100540)
• India
7 Dec 17
90 percent!!!
I would add that age and situation when somethings are said or done also matter. What we can ignore because we did not experience it at one stage, we fail to later on when we start to understand. Likewise, what would be a big deal for us when we are young or poor is not relevant when we are old, or well off.
3 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
10 Dec 17
I agree @vandana7 as we grow older, we realize that bothering about certain things do not matter any longer.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (26765)
• Singapore
8 Dec 17
Well said, the point is better learned when we experience them.
The basics needed by poor countries may not be relevant to the rich.
At each stage of development the challenges vary.
Also age plays a part. I cannot invest with a long term point of view and it is better to let the future generation carry forward from where we leave.
That said, why we still have leaders who preside over the destiny of younger generation when they are hardly able to look after themselves. Learn to let go is the mantra as the Buddha exhorted, but proves tough in the land of his birth! siva
3 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
10 Dec 17
@jaboUK majority of people were good, but this is changing. Many people now have attitude- why be good, and often by their actions, they teach their kids not to be good, and even defend them.
Some say: "Let our kids be bad towards other- they will become clever and learn to survive in the world."
Yet this is leading to more and more discontented and impatient people, especially youngsters. It leads to a kind of chain reaction, and who suffers the most - well the society at large.
I do know that many youngsters are good and care more for people at large and environment than what we ever did, yet they are becoming lesser than before.
3 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
13 Dec 17
@Shiva49 May be I come across more cynical and negative people than good ones, so hearing about spreading of goodness is something that makes me happy.
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@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
13 Dec 17
They all ring true to me as well. Good food for thought.
2 people like this
@innertalks (22073)
• Australia
8 Dec 17
If we are learning here continually these life lessons from our own personal experiences it makes me wonder sometimes, if those further up the chain are also still learning like this too.
Does our soul also learn, does God learn, what has our soul learnt, what has God learnt, why do we all have to learn?
I would have to say too, that even love learns too.
Love learns how to teach itself how to love others more, when they reject it, in the sense of love finding forever new ways to approach a "non-love" accepting person.
We all are learning from love ultimately as all lessons at their heart are lessons of love.
When we see this, we make allowances for people because we see the truth, that they too, like us, are simply growing in love from their own seed of love in their own way, optimally so, even as love rains on them helping them to do this, that is, if they accept the rain and the sun, and do not hide themselves too much away from either.
The sunny days and the rainy days are both important to life then.
Love teaches us best. God is our ultimate teacher.
Do we ever get bored with what appears on our board of learning?
We shouldn't ever be bored when love is our teacher, if we always realise that this is so.
@innertalks (22073)
• Australia
8 Dec 17
@Shiva49 Like you have said many times over though, there are more good loving people at the bottom than at the top.
This is good in at least one way, the good at the bottom will learn from the bad at the top not to be like them, and at least they are in the majority too still. (.i.e there are more good at the bottom than bad at the top)
I for one would probably not like it if it was the other way around either though.
If there were more bad at the bottom where I was, I might not feel so good then either...LOL...except for the fact that if there were more good at the top, presumably they could have a greater effect on the bad still at the bottom to pull them up too, a bit, then too.
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@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
10 Dec 17
@innertalks Sometimes good people do not rise much to the top, because they do not do many things which they think as unethical, but may take them to positions at the top. But yes, things will change sooner or later, unless a few madmen start WW-III and destroy the whole earth.
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@Shiva49 (26765)
• Singapore
8 Dec 17
@innertalks Yes Steve, as long as the majority is good we are on the right path.
The issue is the supposed good show their true colors when elected to authority due to greed and ego.
The trusting seems to have no alternative but to choose from those who are up to no good.
Though the awareness to do what is right is widespread we still do not want to bite the bullet.
If the welfare of the vast majority backs the decision making there can be no wars, weapons proliferation, etc.
There is no piecemeal solution; it should be an all compassing approach involving all countries. The bottom up, with the welfare of the common folks at heart, should give a boost to reach a better solution. Then those who block the process can be isolated and exposed.
Now it is divide and rule with greedy arms dealers benefiting at the cost of the majority - siva
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@riteeshpatidar9026 (504)
•
10 Dec 17
Yes sir I totally agree with you. You are correct.
I have heard from somewhere that success comes from experiences and experiences comes from bad experiences.
3 people like this
@peachpurple (13961)
• Malaysia
10 Dec 17
yes , i agree to what you had pointed out
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