What Is the Most Important Thing in Life? [You’ll Never Guess What it is]
I ask myself this late at night, as I drift into sleep. When I feel the first morning sunbeam falling on my eyelids, I repeat the question. Whenever I’m alone with my thoughts, here it is again. It is, I presume, what moves us conscious beings from one breath to another. What is the most important thing in life? In your life to be specific.
Have you answered it yet? What is the most important thing or things in your life?
Because the way I see it, our answers are probably the same. Is it love? Or Family? Well, yes and no. The most important thing in life underpins everything else, and I’ve come to know many wise men who’ve spent their days happy and fulfilled, though alone. It’s definitely not money or status, so what is it?
I’ve thought long and hard, one mindful year after another, until I eventually came up with this. The following are the things I spend most of my time on, and the reasons why I spend it that way. They’ve brought me peace, love, and excitement, and made me grateful that I’m alive.
- Health
health
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver” – Mahatma Gandhi
A healthy man cannot taste what sickness feels like, so he cherishes what he has a little less than he should. Taught by cautionary tales, we repeat that well-being is vital for a good life, without ever truly realizing why and how.
Meanwhile, inspiring people like Stephen Hawking or Nik Vujicic teach us that human mind knows no physical limitations. Seeing them and listening to their stories make me believe in my answer even more. Today, when somebody asks me what is the most important thing in life, I swiftly respond: mental health.
The world is full of both good and bad. It’s unpredictable, often unjust. I’ve known people who’ve treated their bodies as temples for their entire lives but ended up sick all the same. Conversely, I’ve known passionate hedonists and intemperate enjoyers of life who’ve died laughing, and of old age.
So I’ve realized an important thing – be gentle to your body, and the odds will be in your favor. But, let it breathe! The human body is a mystery that keeps unraveling, and there’s little that’s powerful enough to break it. Your mind needs continual nurturing though, so do everything to keep it healthy and sane.
With good health, everything is possible. See your body as a golden goose, treat it well and the repayment will be limitless.
- Great Supporting System
great Supporting System
Everybody needs somebody, be that a friend, a partner, or someone you’re related to. The people we choose are the perfect reflection of who we are but most importantly is who we’re becoming. My mentor always told me, if you want to be better, be with someone who is better than you and you’ll never stop learning.
So choose those who can help you reach the better version of yourself, who inspires you to chase your dreams, and who supports you when times are hard.
And, trust me, they will be. However powerful you think you are, there will be battles that you won’t be able to fight alone. Having someone by your side, someone who understands your vision and loves you enough to push you forward when all you want to do is go back to safety, that’s what makes you a winner.
Every adult decision, be it about quitting a bad habit, about taking a leap into entrepreneurship, or about changing yourself for the better, is easier to make and stick to if you have a support network to rely on. Knowing that there’ll be someone to catch you when you fall will make you a fearless person.
- Making Someone’s Day Full of Sunshine Even When Yours is Not
Making Someone’s Day Full of Sunshine Even When Yours is Not
I’ve recently read about a wonderful, though unsung psychological concept called the “helper’s high”. Apparently, it’s what the dreamers and the altruists consume to forget about the cultural horrors of our era, for the same reason that you and I eagerly drink our Saturday night’s wine.
The difference is, the dreamers and the altruists are not helpless and bitter. No, they are happy. It is because helping others and not expecting anything in return actually releases endorphins – and that’s a scientific fact. Also, it helps you feel more grateful for what you have, which is yet another kind of happy.
Bob Marley was a big consumer of the helper’s high too (among other things), and that made him one of the most beautiful human beings ever to walk this planet of ours.
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” – Bob Marley
So, when somebody asks you what is the most important thing in life, answer them that they are. If you don’t have anything else to give them, give them a smile. Be selfless and kind, and you’ll be happy and fulfilled. The helper’s high improves mental and physical health, research found, so it’s twice as important.
- Money Should Not be a Priority
Money Should Not be a Priority
Money’s just paper. Even in its own class, money’s not the most valuable thing. A book is more important than it, and so is your birth certificate.
There’s more value in an old Rolling Stones ticket from 1969 than in a five-dollar bill. I have a used serviette that helps me travel back in time, the way money never could.
So why do we give it so much power? Sure, material wealth reflects status and success, and sure, money can buy you a lifetime of travels, a plateful of saffron, and a whole lot of other pleasures that you only dare to imagine.
But, when common folk says that money can’t buy you happiness, be wise and listen.
To my knowledge and experience, there isn’t a single example of money drawing people together. I’ve seen more relationships crumble and families fall apart from chasing wealth than from living in poverty. They earn and earn, and before they know it, their bank accounts are full, but their lives are empty.
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato
In case you’re already on your way to success, stop to reconsider what’s at the end of the road. Don’t do it for the money. It’s the experience that makes you rich, the overcoming of obstacles and trials, so make sure that your priorities go beyond the material.
- Education
education
As one book nerd to another (in my wildest fantasies, all people are big literature buffs, and so are you), I can proudly say that this is the one thing that I’ve done 100% right.
At my worst, I’ve struggled with panic attacks and depression, but I didn’t like asking anyone for help. So, I read and I learned.
“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.” – B.B King
I’ve lost so much of myself during the years, but my erudition remained intact. In more ways than I’ll ever realize, literature helped me survive.
While this romantic side of me believes that books hold the key to the meaning of life, the more realistic me understands that education is both an emotional and a practical investment. Continual learning is how we build our human capital, the only thing that makes us professionally unique and irreplaceable.
Our human capital worth transcends formal education and professional development, of course. It is a sum of everything you’ve red, experienced, accomplished, and learned, a total of your talents and skills. The more you expand it, the more invaluable you become.