What Are The Five Secrets To Life ?

One of the books I've recently read suggests that there are five key secrets everyone should discover before they die.  Here is a link to a short intro to the book on if you want to read about it, but I've also listed the title topics of those five secrets below.

Secret #1:  Be True To Your Self

Secret #2:  Leave No Regrets

Secret #3:  Become Love

Secret #4:  Live The Moment

Secret #5:  Give More Than You Take

I highly suggest buying the book or borrowing it from the library and reading it in its entirety.  The author outlines his experiences conducting interviews of hundreds of wise people in their later stages of life.  The common themes of their success, happiness, wisdom, etc. are contained in these secrets.  They provide insight into living a life you'll be glad you lived when you reach that stage of life and look back on how you've spent your time on this earth.

The first secret has been on my mind a lot lately, but I'm not sure I'm any closer to truly living it.  The author suggests the following questions to help you assess whether you are living true to your self:
- Did this day or week feel like my kind of day / week?  What would make tomorrow or next week feel more true to myself?
- Was I the kind of person I wanted to be today / this week?
- Am I following my heart right now?  What would it mean for me to really do that?

I feel the key with this secret is to really ponder and meditate on who you want to be.  I can think of that in smaller increments (good father, loving husband, caring friend, etc.) but other than an unreachable ideal of perfection (i.e. Jesus Christ) I'm not sure I can define an overall person I want to be.  That leaves me wanting when it comes to knowing if my life's work or personality or even hobbies are truly me or if they are where I happen to be and what I happen to be doing.  At least I theoretically have plenty of years left to figure that out and move toward it right?!


Song Of The Day:
Today's song choice is "I'm Not Who I Was" by Brandon Heath.  My favorite part of it is not the lyrics, although those are great, but rather the background vocals on the chorus.  I'm not sure why they capture my attention each time I hear the song, but I love to sing along.  I'm sharing the song because at least with music I feel like I can be true to myself.  I know what I like and what I don't and more importantly, I know why I like what I like (for the most part).  The title of this track also shares a message about how we can change into whoever we truly are and I love that concept and believe it to be true!
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What Have You Read Lately ?

As a youth, reading was easily one of my favorite pastimes.  Encyclopedia Brown was a favorite series that comes to mind, but almost any kind of book was interesting to me.  I read fiction and non-fiction.  In either genre my favorite thing to do was imagining myself into the story or identifying with the lessons learned by the main characters and trying to learn them for my own future use.  It was just as Nephi (from the Book Of Mormon - 1 Nephi 19:23) had written when he said he did "liken the scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning."  In fact that's likely where I got the idea.

That concept has stuck with me all my life, but my "reading time" had disappeared almost entirely with the time commitment that my marriage, being a father, working full time, and so on had rightfully demanded.  I didn't really miss my reading time because my life was filled with plenty of other enjoyable experiences in those new roles and responsibilities.  But technology is truly amazing and, if used properly, is another gift from the Lord!

Through use of the Kindle app on my iPad, and my long forgotten library card (I cannot believe it's still active and you can read the numbers on it) I have been able to read three books thus far this year.  That may not sound like much, but if you knew how little I've read books in the past 15 years you would be amazed.
I've read a book about preparing for interviews and a new role or job (from the Knock 'Em Dead series).  I've read a research book (The Power Of Habit - cover shown on the left) which has helped me begin replacing habits I do not want to keep with those I believe to be important to me.  And because the title caught my attention, I've read "The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die."  That book coupled with the Habit book has already inspired and motivated me to make some positive personal changes in how I view and live my life.

Best of all, I have been reminded of my love for investing time and energy in reading again.  Not just reading sports articles or pop culture magazines, but books that I can learn important life lessons from.  Even those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books of my youth taught important truths that I hold dear to me still, mainly: your choices always have consequences ... and you don't get to choose what those are - only the initial choice is yours alone.  What happens afterward is, in some cases, already decided.  So choose wisely!


Song Of The Day:
I love reading, but had forgotten how much.  So I'm featuring a great song by Chris Rice today, which asks a great question.
"When Did You Fall (In Love With Me)"  is a song about relationship love, but the questions pondered in the lyrics could almost all be written about books or other pastimes.  I'd also forgotten how much I loved this melody, so I hope you enjoy it too.

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