Nothing in life is perfect.

Nothing goes “perfectly right” for anybody.  There’s bound to be hang-ups, setbacks, and other obstacles life may throw at you.

Ever noticed that no matter what has happened to us, it is always the WORST thing on earth – it cannot possibly get any worse than this.

“Woe is me!  The world is going to end!  This sucks!“…  And my favorite (as we complain and whine to someone thinking they actually care), “But you don’t understand, you can’t possibly understand because you’ve never been in as bad of a situation as I am and you have never hurt as badly as I hurt now.”

We focus on so much on what’s wrong.

Better Way to Live – It Starts With Your Attitude

Always looking back and feeling regret, remorse, and bitterness is a horrible way to live.  Always having self-pity is a miserable way of being.

Much power belongs to the person who’s able to live in the present, accepting that everything that’s happened happens for a reason, and charge forward with his/her life with an open and optimistic mind.

Much power belongs to a man who exemplified the following quote:

“We can’t change the cards we’re dealt, just how we play the hand.“

That man was Professor Randy Pausch.

Professor Pausch learned that he had terminal cancer in September of 2006 and he only had a few months to live.  But he didn’t let that stop him from living his life, however much was left of it.  He continued living.

He continued to inspire people.  If anything, what “was wrong” in his life provided additional drive for him to accomplish greater things he sought for in his life; it motivated him.

He didn’t let his disease get him down, he didn’t let it control him.  You really should learn more about his story (here) and how he made a huge impact on the world with his famous “The Last Lecture” (shown below).  The lecture, titled Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, is an inspiring speech that teaches folks to live your life.

Live it for today and tomorrow and not for yesterday.  Live for what can be and not for what should have been.

And if you can’t spare the an hour right now to watch the whole thing (which you really should), at least spend the few minutes to watch his address to the Carnegie Mellon University graduate class of 2008.

Raymond Fong