100 Life Strategies by Elena

Elena Lori

100 LIFE STRATEGIES Pristine Pieces Of Wisdom For A Modern Life That Brings Happiness and Fulfilment

Minsk 2017

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Albert Einstein

What is bigger than a law? It is the idea to order something as a law. What is bigger than the knowledge of a mechanism? It is the idea to construct attributes as a mechanism. What is bigger than a word? It is an idea, which doesn’t exist yet and deserves its definition. When we are linked with knowledge, we act inside a clear system of coordinates, in a matrix, where all causeresult connections are clear, because they adhere to certain logic. Going beyond a framework means creating an idea of reality or an opportunity of something that does not exist, and the courage to imagine this is the beginning to any creation. At the beginning comes a thought — something, that does not exist, then its definition, then its exact plan on how it shall be. Our imagination will help us to imagine the door, or the hatch, or the cellar in the room of our life, in which, it seems, there are no exits. With the help of our imagination we can imagine that we are big and our disease is small, that a magic pill fixes everything in our body — this is placebo effect, self curing from imaginable cure. Imagination is the beginning of our self esteem. The biggest mastery in working with imagination — not only imagine and believe, but even more, to know, be confident, that imagination is real. If something exists in our thought — it is for sure real. And whom does our though belong to? It belongs to us.

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When there is no exit — I imagine it, and try to thoroughly elaborate my vision. When I imagine something that I like, I launch the process of its materialization. If I do not like anything, I imagine a more perfect and harmonious image and fill it with the needed attributes, qualities, conditions. I do not just believe, but I know that everything is possible.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. Jesus Christ (Luke 6:32)

The quote teaches us to learn to authentically love those whom we can’t stand now. Are they good or bad? The truth is somewhere in the middle. We don’t love people who do not align with our view of the world, but maybe not the people are bad, but our view of the world is bad? The lesson of this quote is to understand that everyone lives their life, testing their views on life, thereby, everybody has his/her own truth and attitude. Understanding that, we put love above the truth that anyone declares, because their truth and attitude might be biased and subjective, but your love is always here, it is absolute and unconditioned. For example, your big value is having children. Can you understand and love someone who doesn’t want to have children and who, hereby, doesn’t love you? Yes, you can, if you notice beauty in their very serious and considerate attitude to making children, in their courage to live their life in a way which is not tolerated by many, in their ideals of prosperity and joy. Or, if you have a great well-paying job and someone criticises you for not being creative enough or dedicating time for family, can you still love such a person? Yes, you can, if you will humble yourself and accept with grace the advice of investing more into creativity and family. Then your love becomes actionable, since you are open to develop in the direction which is good for you and for your dearest. Why don’t you love some people? What lessons/ the other side are they trying to show you?

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I accept and love all the people regardless of their views on life or on me, because I understand their negative views are formed by their upbringing, difficult life, heavy thoughts, or bad experiences. I learn to question and understand the desires, mindsets and reasons of people around me, by that I become more open-minded, balanced and informed about the world. I love everything and everyone with my heart, my mind, my words and actions.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.

Epicurus

Many of us sometimes complain about our physical appearance, though people rarely complain they are not good enough in their heart. Our appearance is just the instrument of communicating joy and beauty, and even if it is not as you wanted it to be, that is even better for you, because it develops your internal motivation to excel in something with other alternative resources. For example, if you do not have the best appearance in the world and you can’t do much around it, then focus on developing your other skills of, let’s say, good dance, kind touch, the skill of pleasant compliments and many others. All our possessions and attributes can be either our keys to happiness or our biggest pains and curses, because when we have something, we tend to evaluate other people whether they have the same, which makes us miss the other, more valuable qualities. Even if you didn’t receive many gifts from life — rejoice in it, because it makes you humble, it makes you open and perceptive to new unique people and to the treasures they have in them. By not giving us all that we desire our life gently teaches us to praise and appreciate everything that we have so we stay modest, hardworking, creative and motivated.

The conclusions to take to our daily life:

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Instead of complaining to what you don’t have, try to bridge the gap by developing other different virtues. For example, replace the lack of physical strength with kindness, replace the lack of money with the abundance of compliments. Learn to appreciate what you have and to fully use it to your advantage. If you have good voice — don’t hide it, record your songs; if you have the talent for anything — turn it in life. Accept what you cannot change by realizing that you suffer not because of missing a specific object, but primarily because of missing the feeling it creates. Focus on building up this feeling with alternative means by finding it within you and expressing to the world. Do not dwell in your perfection and do not trade it, go beyond it, see the world outside your paradigm.

What the woman wants, the Lord wants. (Ce que femme veut, dieu le veut.)

French Proverb

This quote reminds us about the creative power of women’s wishes. Truly they spin the world! It is not bad to want anything, or even everything — that is the strategy for building a masterpiece out of life. There are several stages to start wanting anything. The first is to believe this is possible to want for your life! The second is to let go of fears and go ask (for women) or give (for men). For women — this is the fear of being called demanding, mercantile, not intelligent and so on, which in its root comes from the lack of our confidence in our divine nature, in God, we don’t have to bother proving anything to anyone, we can just BE and blossom. For men — the fear to give and lose possessions, which comes from the same root, from the belief that being attached to things and wealth will define who you are. In fact, the men who understood the law of sharing wealth with women have much more in life and feel very strong in their ability to achieve things, going through life with less struggles. Serving women’s wishes is like serving to God, who expands itself in beautiful creations a woman wants to bring to her life. This makes women enjoy at her best capacity and this makes men feel strong, energetic and creative.

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Appreciate women who have the courage to speak of their wishes, or be such a woman! Appreciate and be grateful to men for all they give, or become such a man who can give a lot! As a woman, practice asking to help with your wishes and practice giving appreciation. As a man, practice in fulfilling women’s wishes and practice in asking for appreciation. Keep calm and joyous and take it as a game, a good one.

May this marriage be full of laughter, our every day in paradise.

Rumi

Marriage is a long-term union of two people, and even if it might sound boring, it can appear to be the most entertaining thing to do in the world. We shall not be afraid of stability thinking that our resource of laughter and joy is scarce or limited. There are not so many letters in an alphabet, but an unlimited number of poems that were created and still can be created out of it. The same is the joy of our life, the elements may be not so many, but the combination of them, the timing and other nuances guarantee that this paradise can last forever. Our job is to eliminate our fears and negative expectations which come to our head if we think that it is not possible to always be happy and in love. It is possible, when we keep aware of it, consciously working towards maximizing the jewels of joy in our life. Such an awaken attitude leaves no karma and makes no logic for any negative things to affect our life. And what is paradise if not the absence of fear, grief and anger? And that is up to us to build it by turning weaknesses into strengths and immunity, by developing the habit for noticing and enjoying things, by developing the skill for surprising, loving and uplifting our partner while also enjoying ourselves.

Things to take for our daily life:

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We consciously build a paradise together with my partner by maximising laughter, happy moments, words, actions. Laughter and joy is the recipe for longevity of our relationship. We take love medicine always in advance to build up strong immunity system of our marriage. Every moment we make a conscious choice to maintain our love and appreciation to myself and to my partner. The more love coming out of us, the more returns to us.

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Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:48)

In this quote, Jesus calls us to be perfect, or, in other translation, be mature and complete. We have many attributes, which characterize our beings, for example, our physical appearance, our physical needs, our talents, intelligence, compassion, our opinions, our ambitions, our past. And other people around us also have the whole set of those. Being complete means that we should learn to embrace all our heritage and unite it into one single point, without being dragged to any side, for example, by our ambition at the expense of our compassion, or by our past experiences at the expense of our dreams. Being in the state of completeness has many advantages. For example, it gives us freedom to be creative and original, which means being mature enough not to hang on old pains, fears and superstitions, but model a better reality and walk towards it. Being whole also gives us the quality of understanding any person without judging, that is because we find the reflection of this person with all his/her attributes in the space of ourselves. Any pain and complexes start bothering us when the completeness is lost, i.e. when there is a heavier load on any of our sides. For example, some people feed their childhood traumas and abuses for their whole life, imagining that people around them want to act negatively towards them, too. It takes great effort to get over it and finally become mature, letting everyone be equal, forgiving and just walking our own way without trying to hold on others just for the sake of feeding our pains.

Lessons for daily life:

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Learn to analyse which feeling or thought drags you back or make you feel bad, identify it and just imagine the things are or have a chance to be 180 degrees different. This will balance your state. Do not let any thoughts control your life in a way you dislike. Instead, put yourself together into one point, realizing that you are the beginning and the end of everything right now and always and act according to your ideal vision. Learn to be compassionate to any person by finding her/his experiences also in your heart. Learn to give away into the world only the best, because what you will let out from your heart, this will circulate all around you and your dearest people.

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Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.

Bob Marley

Bob Marley reminds us to look at the world from a magic perspective. Our nature, our friends, lovers, relatives — they all contain so much to offer, but that also depends on the observer. This is a call for us to awaken and be overwhelmed and sensitive to the drops of rain, to the ray of the sun, to a snowflake, to a gentle world, shy motion, to silence, to a look, to the beauty of human eyes, to the magic of a heartbeat, to the divinity of a smile, to the joy of talk and collaboration, to the vastness of knowledge and to the presence of opportunities. Happiness is stored only in us, in our ability to perceive it. Happiness might be turned into a habit, when we keep conscious about acknowledging small but great things of our life and enjoying them at our fullest. I wish you embrace all this beauty and awesomeness that is right in front of you, around you and meant for you. When was the last time you danced out of happiness? Why not do it right now. Our ability to enjoy is so inspiring, it does not only let us shine, but enlightens the people around, who are listening and watching us. This “wave” of joy is very powerful and can carry loads of ideas.

Tips for daily life:

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Learn to be poetic in perceiving the ambience around you: these grey heavy skies, this random ray of light, this concerned for nothing person. This way you will ease the burden of negativity and open the space for joy. Open to feel and enjoy everything: the touch of wind or a drop of water, the sound of a music beat, the beauty and perfection of nature, the presence of other human beings. When you are sad, make a conscious effort to heal yourself just by opening and starting noticing all the great things around. Be the example of a bon vivant for other people.

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