Lessons from the Last Lecture

Happiness is...

The last lecture. A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave—“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”—wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living. Here are some of my favorite pieces of advice.

-If you can dream it, you can do it.
-Get in touch with your childhood. Play.
-Be prepared. All you have is what you bring with you. Always bring something to the table, because it will make you more welcome.
-Be a communitarian. Your rights are accompanied by your responsibilities.
-Look for the best in everybody.
-Watch what they do, not what they say.
-Don't complain, just work harder. Complaining doesn't work as a strategy, and the time we spend whining is unlikely to help us succeed. It won't make us happier.
-Never give up.
-Time must be explicitly managed, like money. Time is all you've got. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.
-A bad apology is worse than no apology.
-If nobody ever worried about what was in other people's heads, we'd all be 33 percent more effective in our lives and on our jobs.
-Go out and do for others what someone once did for you (pay it forward).
-You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.
-If at first you don't succeed, try again. Don't be afraid. The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures.
-Sometimes with the passage of time and the deadlines that life imposes, surrendering is the right thing to do. Life. Is. Too. Short.
-Just because you are in the driver's seat doesn't mean you have to run people over.

Fruity wine

Happiness is...

A good glass of fruity wine on a warm sunny night.

Remind yourself that it's summer, that you have the entire evening ahead of yourself, and that you deserve this. Because you do. Sit on your deck, kick up your heels, and love yourself!

Friends who write

Happiness is...

Friends who write. Blogging is an art that I am certainly no expert at (in case yohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifu didn't already know), but I have several friends whose blogs I respect completely. They provide a little subtle inspiration, a few choice words, and a heck of a good read.

For example, today, this one.

I like to look at blogs who lay it all out in a simple manner, and allow the internet to be what it was made for: easy. There are few things in modern society that are. Shame.

Due to her, and others in my life, I am Happy.

On happiness

"The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy; I mean that if you are happy you will be good."

Bertrand Russell

Breakfast

Happiness is...

Breakfast. Didn't I already tell you how much I love it?