To be good - To be useful - To be grateful

In the short 24 years that I have lived, I have come to the conclusion that there are three ultimate goals I wish to achieve in my life.

This conclusion is based on the experiences I have been able to have so far in my life. I am continuously seeking to expand and improve my goals as I encounter new learnings and people.

No matter where I am, or who I am with, or what I am doing, I want my actions to reflect the following three qualities:

(1) To be good

When I mean I wish to be good, I don't mean the "oh wow! I did this task 100% perfect" good.

I want to be good by always seeking to have a heart that acts based on love, care, and understanding. To me, being good means seeking to have the best intentions in mind when I do a task or interact with others.

Is it always easy? No. But I believe it is worth it. So. Much.

(2) To be useful

Ralph W Emerson once said, "the purpose of life is not be happy, but to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well".

Whenever I am useful - volunteering, working, doing chores - I find great joy in knowing that I am giving to something greater than myself.

And when you are useful on a task or job that makes your heart burn with passion, time and space cease to have limits.

Again, is it easy to always have a mindset of service? No. Sometimes you don't want to do anything!

But good things don't come easy. And good character is not molded by doing easy things. Good character and discipline is molded by work and seeking to do the next right thing.

(3) To be grateful

In a culture where the definition of success has been thwarted to mean seeking possessions and material prosperity, it can be difficult for people to appreciate and value their current state of being.

I don't want the focus of my life to be centered on outwardly motivators, always seeking to have more, comparing my "success" with others, and striving to please the idea of others.

Rather, I want to strive to be grateful of not only the comforts that I enjoy at the present moment, but also of the person I am becoming.

I wish to focus my life on how I can become the best-version-of-myself so that I can create ripples in the betterment of society.

To be able to achieve that, I have to first be at peace with who I am and who I am becoming. I want to be grateful so that I can be good and serve others with an authentic heart.

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In my life, I have many material goals I want to achieve, many adventures I want to enjoy, and many people I wish to meet.

But in my pursuit of those goals, I don't want to lose sight of the most important one: Developing the best-version-of-myself by seeking to be good, to be useful, and to be grateful.

To quote Maria Montessori, "Joy, feeling one's own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul".

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear from you. Let's connect!

Trust the process. Live the commitment