There's Always Hope

As Long as you are alive there is hope. This is an important thing to consider. I was talking to a Tibetan Lama that my now ex-wife and I were bringing back to the U.S. from Dharamshala, India in 1986 about my problems. His point of view was very simplistic. He said, "I don't think you have any problems at all. For example, look at me, if I have enough food to eat, clothes to wear and a safe place to sleep what could be better than that?"

He was trying to tell me that from the perspective of people in Tibet and Dharamshala I didn't have any problems. But, according to the psycho babble of Coastal California I did have the problems of the western World. So, who was right?

So, I guess what I'm saying here is: "As long as you are alive there's hope."

For example, the biggest problem I had with my 20s likely would be: "Unrealistic Expectations" and I think in the western world maybe 90 percent of young people fall into this trap of "unrealistic expectations".

How does this happen? The way it happens is part of the survival of western civilization. People raise their kids in the U.S. and tell them openly. "You can grow up to be President!" But every 4 years the probability of you becoming President is about 1 in 300 million or more. So, "yes" you CAN become president if you win the President Lottery. But what are the odds of that?

So, this means if all kids actually believe this everyone of them but one every 4 years is bound to be disappointed.

Did I ever believe I would be president? NO. But I might have believed I could have been a successful musician if I tried. But, I didn't like playing for people in smoke filled rooms because I had already been playing piano and organ in church since I was 12 until 21. So, for me, doing that didn't fit the (spiritual) aspect of music to me. But that was just me. So, that isn't the direction I went in but I do have friends that are successful musicians that did go in that direction.

Even if you don't have a job right now there still is hope. In fact, not working gives you time to be with God and possibly find a way to start your own business out of your Garage (like Steven Jobs) maybe. However, for me, starting a business was always easiest to do while working at least part time for someone else and working the rest of my time for myself building up clientele for any business I owned in my late 20s, 30s and beyond.

So, realizing there is always hope if you don't permanently give up is important in all our lives, especially if you are raising kids.