This article was written when I was 15 years old and was originally published in a bi-monthly newsletter that my dad put together called The Light of Wisdom. I'm republishing the article here on my blog for archival purposes.
Every thing that is built needs a foundation. Houses, factories, buildings, skyscrapers, roads, highways, and even humans! When we are born, it is like we are just starting to dig into the soil where we want to build our house. Then as we grow up, the things we learn and the thoughts we think, are like adding to the house's structure. Depending on how we were brought up and what materials we used, our house will be made of bricks, and stay upright even if problems arise, or we will have a house made of cards, which could fall apart with just the smallest problem. So, as you see, how we grow up tells us what our house will be like in the future.
Well now you might say to yourself, "Well, I was not raised properly, so now I am not going to be able to have a good life. My foundation is not good, and now it's too late." Well, if you say that, then you are VERY wrong! Can you rebuild a house's foundation??? Yes, you can. Just start over again! That's right, by rebuilding your life's house, you can create a new foundation. It doesn't matter what age you are. In fact, rebuilding your foundation is so fast and simple, that it can be done every SECOND! If you could rebuild the foundation of a house every second, do you think it would ever get worn down??? No, it won't. But the reason you can't do that, as you know, is because it takes time and money. But to rebuild the foundation of your life can be done every second. And our time is VERY limited.
Think in minutes for a second. Not years, or months, or weeks, or even days or hours. Think in minutes. How many minutes do you have left??? Now you may be realizing that your time is so limited that there is not enough of it to do everything you want to accomplish in life. That's right. There isn't. That's why you have to pick out the things that you NEED to do, and not WANT to do. If you spend all your life looking for something outside of yourself to make you happy, then it's like looking for a blue sky on the ground. You will never find it.
Everything that you need in life came with this package called life. It has five tools with which we work. They are our five senses. If we misuse these tools, then we will mess up life's complex structure and we won't know how to put it back in order.
So, if we start building a new foundation right NOW, then we can become better than the last minute. But only you can do it. Can someone eat for you? No. Of course not! In the same way, you have to change. Don't worry if people don't listen to you when you try to tell them to change for the better. Remember, you can't change them. They have to change. By trying to change them, you are using those minutes doing something which is NOT helping you (or anyone). So, if you want people to listen to you, tell them using your own example. If they follow you, then they will change. If they don't, then you can't help them.
What should you do to build up your foundation of life? Well, you could start by just being happy ALL the time. And if a problem comes in your way, act like the water, go AROUND it. Don't stop your whole life just because of a little problem. Next, you could always help people who need help. Give instead of take. Use your words carefully. If you speak all the time, then your words don't have much affect. But if you only talked when needed, people would want to hear what you are going to say.
So building a strong foundation for your life is the first thing you need to do. Then, add GOOD and strong things to it, and build it up. But, remember not to put even ONE bad thing in it. For example, if you have a big garden of flowers, and you put just one seed of a thorn bush, the thorn bush will over grow the flowers and be very hard to get rid of. Even though the flower bed might be many thousands of times bigger than the thorn seed, it will soon grow and destroy the beautiful garden. So, in the same way, don't put any bad things in the structure of your house. If you do, it may one day fall down on you! So that is my good advise to you. Please reread this article if you didn't understand it fully, and remember, it is up to you to change your life!