A dive into my personal philosophy

Does everyone have their own personal philosophy? I would say yes. Whether they are aware of their own philosophies is a different question. I believe that discovering one’s views on their personal philosophy is vital to leading a life of fulfillment. In this article, I will describe my process of discovering my personal philosophy and how it changed my views on life.

As a kid, my goal was to live a life of happiness and be a good person. I did not possess depth in my thought process to ask myself the deeper questions - What is happiness? What does it mean to be a good person? If someone asked me this question just a few years back, it would have broken my mind.

I was a really shy person as a kid who did not express himself a lot and naturally did not have many friends. I wouldn’t say I was unhappy but I always felt like I needed to interact with more people to be happier. When I finished my schooling and was about to enter my college life, I decided that I would open up more to people and make more friends which if I must say I succeeded in. As time went by I became something of a people pleaser.

As one could guess, this was not sustainable in the long run. I lost friends even when I tried my hardest. I wasn’t feeling happy even though I thought I should feel happy as I was trying my best to make others happy. There were days when I felt absolutely miserable. I wanted to find out the root cause of my misery and correct it. That is when I asked myself the real questions. Who do I want to be? What brings me happiness? That is when my journey of self discovery of my personal philosophy started.

I realized that I am what my beliefs are. I started listing out my beliefs and if I was able to justify my stance on them. Along this process, I came to an understanding that in order to find the truth, one must take strong stances but willing to admit if proven wrong. The problem with moderate stances is that one ends up changing their beliefs to satisfy other people and distances it away from the truth.

My personal philosophy has evolved in the past and will continue to evolve as I gain new experiences because new experiences lead to new perspectives. I personally have taken a liking to concepts of stoicism and it has greatly influenced me. I will describe my core beliefs that lay the basis to my personal philosophy

The purpose of life is not happiness

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.
- Robin Sharma, The monk who sold his ferrari

Happiness in itself can’t be a goal in life. What is happiness? One might say that doing a certain activity brings them happiness. I would argue that it is merely an experience. I am not meaning to say I don’t enjoy activities where I just consume and not provide usefulness.

My true happiness comes from when I create something that is useful to others, because then I am also fulfilling my life’s purpose. The purpose of my life is to make sure my work is useful to others!

Don't worry about things not under your control

the more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.
- Epictetus

Differentiate between the things that are under your control and the ones not under your control. For example, we cannot make someone like us no matter however hard we try.

This has been a key belief that has changed the way I look at my life. As I stated earlier, I used to be worried about how people would react based on my actions. But now that I understand that the action of people is something beyond my control and the only thing I can ever have control over is myself. This has allowed me to focus on myself and work towards being a better person without the worry of other people judging me. It has also allowed me to be kind to people without having any expectations from them.

Be honest to yourself

Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

The only person that wakes up with you everyday of your life is yourself and nobody else. To be a better person than one was yesterday, one needs to be truthful to themself.
If one is not honest with themself, then people don’t admit their mistakes and cannot therefore take corrective action thus putting them farther away from the goal of being a better person than yesterday.

Cherish the current moment

While we wait for life, life passes.
- Seneca

We must live in the moment and cherish the things. We often spend time worrying about the past or the future.

As they say, “death” is not a future event but something that travels with us all along. Every moment in the past belongs to death. Death is human destiny. No one knows when it will occur. Live every day as the last.

Everyday is a gift and do not waste it worrying about the future or the past. Balance your books everyday as they say. To understand the significance of the things in our life, one can imagine a life without it. Don’t postpone things however small it may be, be it expressing your love for your parents or thankful for the things in your life.

These are just my core personal philosophy and it will evolve with time. Exploring my personal philosophies has led me towards a more content lifestyle where I appreciate the things I have. I would encourage everyone to discover their personal philosophy as it will help in the journey of finding meaning to life.

One life, No regrets!