This is just a simple reflection on things that pop up as most salient
on this date that marks my 40th year on earth. I am composing this
on the fly. I will try to elaborate each of them later.

Lesson 1: Family is the first and most important part of a happy life.

Lesson 2: Giving without depending on a return is
liberating and rewarding, and we should consider it a blessing to be in the position to help, to give, to forgive, and to do good for others.

Lesson 3: An individual constantly changes and can change over time, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and in many other ways. So, I learn never to hold too rigidly any egoistic images and feelings about myself.

Lesson 4: Your strength lies solidly in how well you can handle disappointment, rejection, hardship at a critical time, misunderstanding, gossip, etc. and still strive on to turn a positive side of yours to the world around you.


Lesson 5: Love is partly like a business merging deal. You have to have a fair deal for your other party,
whether they be your loved ones who are close to you, your friends, or colleagues.

Lesson 6: You have to be very lucky to be loved
unconditionally and that, I realized, wont' happen more than twice outside your family line.

Lesson 7: Only when you can overcome pride, egoism, prejudice, aggression, greed, anger, and illusion will you truly find peace inside and can be a peacemaker.

Lesson 8: It takes a lot of guts and often pain to follow radical beliefs or ideologies, and it takes a long time before people can see your points, but this may be the most effective way to change some people and the system around you. Are you willing to sacrifice?--that's the question!

Lesson 9: You owe so much to the world when you really think of it. Look around humbly and you will be thankful for virtually everything around you, and that
realization gives profound peace-packed happiness.

Lesson 10: There's so much I do not know about tomorrow and days later.

Lesson 11: You do not become a better person by putting a blame on others, by saying bad things about the world around you, or by projecting a positive image of yourself, but you can become so by candidly reflecting on your own mistakes and humbly accept that you can make mistakes and that there are always some people out there that know or do better than you in most respects. Of course, that must be accompanied by appropriate actions to get better and to be better for and with others, too.