You are the rock. You are the cornerstone. Your children look to you for safety and security. Your duty is to provide it. You are not their friend. You are their father. You provide structure. You bring discipline. You give order to chaos.

You are the rock.

Your children are the grains of sand. They move constantly around you. Often, in ways you can't foresee. Their duty is to explore. To challenge. To figure out where their place lies. It's big a world, and it's ofttimes a scary one. They may stumble, they may fall, but at the back of their minds, you're always there to catch them. Dad.

The immovable rock.

Thanks Ryan Chew.

Sunrise doesn't last all morning,
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up
And has left you with no warning
But it's not always going
To be this grey

All things must pass,
All things must pass away

Sunset doesn't last all evening,
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this my love is up
And must be leaving
It has not always
Been this grey

All things must pass,
All things must pass away

All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So I must be on my way
And face another day

Now the darkness only stays at nighttime,
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good
At arriving at the right time
It's not always
Going to be this grey

All things must pass,
All things must pass away
All things must pass,
All things must pass away

I am in my twenties. Here are some of the things I realized I need to learn before am thirty.

• Love hurts, but not as much as not loving.
• The friendships I nurture will have a greater effect on my life than where I work or what I earn.
• I am not my job. I am not my bankroll. I am not the sum of my possessions.
• The company does not love me. It has no heart. I am replaceable. Keep my parachute handy.
• Few decisions will ever shape my future life more than who I choose to marry. To marry well, I must choose well.
• Love is a commitment.
• My passions will grow out of my values. I should make early, wise choices to value what (and who) is good, trustworthy, and praiseworthy.
• Integrity preserved is honor won.
• I should rejoice in my health. It fades fast.
• Find a passion. Pick a hobby, own it: play guitar, cook—whatever. Get my 10K hours of perfect practice in early and change my life.
• Not to bother comparing myself to others—this only leads to heartbreak, anger, and disappointment.
• Most disappointments arise from unmet expectations. Set realistic expectations for myself, based on my strengths, then strive to exceed them.
• Not to drive others to meet expectations they’ve committed to — lead, inspire, and help them do it.
• Not to set expectations for others when they have not or cannot commit to them.
• Expectations I never communicate and negotiate will rarely be met—except by accident.
• Not to complain. Either change my situation, learn to cope, or change perspective.
• Not to worry about getting a big salary in my youth: first learn to execute tasks with skill, excellence, and grace.
• Little stuff matters—even in lowly jobs. The boss notices—and even if not, my peers and colleagues will.
• Ultimately, privacy is a myth: God sees everything. The cloud records everything. NSA files everything. So, live transparently and don't waste useless energy hiding failures.
• Not to look down on others because they don’t have what I didn’t earn: my intellect, my beauty, and my culture of birth are undeserved gifts. Stay humble.
• Failure is an opportunity: no great man or woman ever achieved significance without great failures. Fail forward.
• Never to withhold an apology when it’s merited. Deliver it quickly, sincerely, and personally—before resentment festers.
• I don’t need to nurture old guilt when am forgiven. But remembering the shame can help me avoid repeats.
• Mere belief in anything signifies little more than assent: trust and behavior reveal where true convictions lie.
• The main thing I need to do quickly is to stop doing things quickly. Trade hurry for calm, confidence, and precision.
• Everybody needs an editor. Everybody. Especially editors.
• To get my work done first so I can play without guilt. Even better, make work play and the fun never ends!
• If I want to develop my passion and gift, I should stop worrying about the things I do poorly. Go with my strengths!
• To avoid fights. Seriously. Avoid them like a plague: nobody wins in a fight, even if I walk away unscathed. But when a fight picks me, leave everything on the mat and give it my all. Hold nothing back.
• If I am bored, am doing it wrong.
• The skills that will help my career most are the abilities to assimilate, communicate, and persuade. Keep on learning.
• Nothing in this life—no pain, no agony, no failure—compares to the eternal joy of Heaven. Live in light of eternity.
• To protect my joy. Nothing is easier to lose by over-thinking, overanalyzing, and second-guessing. On the other hand, always consider the long-term consequences of my choices: stupid decisions made in the moment can rob me of years of joy and happiness.
• My purpose in life determines how I frame events. I can maintain my joy in the most dire circumstances if I find meaning for my life. Dig deep.
• It truly matters what I think about. Think well by reading good books, building good, loving relationships, having good conversation, and imitating great people.

I'm still learning — in fact I haven’t fully appreciated most of the list I made, myself. And I’m still adding to it. But I’m getting better.

All credit to Rich Tatum

There was an old wise cat and a small kitten in an alleyway. The old cat saw the kitten chasing its tail and asked, “Why are you chasing your tail?”
To it the kitten replied, “I've been attending cat philosophy school and I have learned that the most important thing for a cat is happiness, and that happiness is located in my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it: and when I catch it, I shall have happiness forever.”
Laughing, the wise old cat replied, “My son, I wasn't lucky enough to go to cat philosophy school, but as I've gone through life, I too have realized that the most important thing for a cat is happiness, and indeed that it is located in my tail.  The difference I've found though is that whenever I chase after it, it keeps running away from me, but when I go about my business and live my life, it just seems to follow after me wherever I go.”

Wayne Dyer, Your Erroneous Zones, 1976