Life Supports

Living a life is a hard task; it is really hard job to build a life. We can see throughout our life from young to now. We have passed through many experiences, both good and bad, ups and downs. When we know this, we need to find the support of our life, outside and inside, such as a good environment, outside and a standard of living, inside. Both, a good environment and a standard of living, are important. What do they signify?

A good environment means a good friend who can help and share knowledge to each other. If we say a good friend, the good friend may mean a teacher, parents, brothers and sisters, friends etc. who can give advice, share knowledge or just talk to each other. Why is a good friend important? It is important because in life, we surely encounter some difficulties, a good friend can help us and walk with us side by side; even if life is ups and downs. That is a good thing about good friend.

And a standard of living is a good guidance such as good teachings, philosophy, virtues, way of life etc. for instance, loving-kindness, generosity, responsibility, respect, truthfulness and awareness or mindfulness. These can support us to live a standard or happy life if we learn and apply them in our life.

We can see both supports of life as one is material support and another is immaterial one. Both can build or develop our life for the better equally. First of all, we need to learn them, understand them, and apply them in life and then they will support us. When we get supports, we have no need to find some more supports of life. Both material and immaterial supports will support and develop our life. There is a story, the moral of the pencil, which can illustrate this very well. The story goes like this:

There was a pencil maker who was well-known for his job. He had philosophy of living which he shared with people by putting it beside the box of the pencil he had made for sale. The philosophy was called the moral of the pencil:

"Pencils! there are five things you need to know before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and you will become the best pencil you can be."

First : You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand.

Second : You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but this is required if you want to become a better pencil.

Third : You have the ability to correct any mistakes you might make.

Fourth: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside you.

Fifth: No matter what the condition might be, you must continue to write. You must always leave a clear, legible mark no matter how difficult the situation is.

Then all boxes of pencils were sent to the world for sale. That means all pencils in the box fully understanding its Maker’s purpose.

And then he replaced the place of the pencil with human beings; we should always remember the five things and never forget, and we will become the best person we can be.

One : We will be able to do many great things, If we allow ourselves to learn from others, be taught or advised by others.

Two : We will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems, but we will need it to become a stronger person.

Three : We will be able to correct mistakes we might make or grow through them.

Four : The most important part of us will always be what’s on the inside.

Five : Remember that any action, which we do, will produce the result; so keep doing good actions in every situation.

By understanding and remembering, let us proceed with our life on this earth; having a meaningful purpose in our mind and having borne in our mind that we are like a pencil which can become the best one by having a unique and special purpose and living by it. The purpose is a good support, isn’t it, for living a happy life?