1 Excellence is a habit Aristotle, the greatest philosopher of ancient Greece, once said this. If excellence is a habit, laziness, then, is too. People have different tempers from their nature by the time they were born, but all other traits are shaped after that, by family influence and nurture. Therefore, what we say and do are habits accrued by time. Some people have good habits, while some others have bad habits. What we should do from now on is to make excellence a habit, be used to it, and make it our second nature. Let us get used to creative thinking, working carefully, treating others nicely, and appreciating the grand nature. (Open your eyes wide, breathe deeply but peacefully, and see the world as you were an infant).
2 Life is a process Getting result is important, but the process in doing it means more, as good results bring joy, but the process makes life rich. Death is the destiny of every life, but we can't deduce from that to say life is meaningless. Eternity seldom exists in real life. When a college student tells his love he'll love her forever, in most cases it turns out not true. Statistics found 90 out of 100 pairs of dating students ended up parting, and of those who did get married, 50% ended up divorcing. So is love perpetual? Perhaps not. It would be more truthful in saying "I really love you at the very moment of now." (Let the very moment last to be a lifetime, and love would follow. But remember, all people are not as persistent as you are, forgive him, for it may be better to part intact than to be together unhappily) Your heart may be broken when your love leaves, but the pain becomes an experience which enriches your life.
3 The shortest distance between two dots is not alway a straight line Either in people interaction or during the process of doing something, it's rather hard to get it right through a straight-forward approach. We sometimes wait, sometimes cooperate, and sometimes need tactics. There are difficulties and obstacles to overcome, and unnecessary enduring and simply rushing to the point is not always the best way. Consider detour, detouring a difficulty could solve a problem more smoothly than you thought it could. Think, don't we even choose words when speaking to others? So in a society as complicated as China, learn to understand others, leaving an impression in others that you are kind and mature will help you accomplish something. (Sigh, has it to be so complicated?)
When I ski, the most scary feeling is having no idea of how to stop. I did not hire a coach when I first learned to ski, because it seemed so easy when looking at others do it - simply going down from top to the bottom of the hill! So I put on my snow board, and down I went. I actually rolled, instead of ski, down to the bottom. I found I was totally at a loss of knowing how to stop or keep balance, so I practiced over and over again just to learn to stop on a slope. When I learned it, I became bold enough to dash down from top of a mountain, at a very high speed. Because at this point you know for sure whenever you want to stop, you can by simply making a turn. And when you are able to stop, you will not hit a tree or a rock or someone else, you won't end up crashing dead. So, only one who knows to stop can advance speedily.
5 To give up is wisdom, and a defect is a gift When you have 6 apples, don't eat them all, because when you eat them up, you have them in your belly, and you are left with only one taste, the taste of the apple. But if you share 5 of your apples with 5 people, it looks that you lose 5, but you actually earn friendship and favor from 5 other people. When one day they have more fruit, they would share them with you. You would get a tangerine from A, a pear from B, and at the end of the day you get fruit of 5 different kinds, all different tastes and different colors, and 5 people's friendship as well. So, to give up is a wisdom. (Holding on is of course another, not everything can be given up, so wisdom is knowing what to give up and what to hold on.)
The greatest pleasure in life is to strive for what you want and finally get 'em, so defects can mean we still have room to perfect, and things for us to strive for. In the United States there was once a teleplay which told a story of a millionaire who left his offsprings with a patrimony so huge that it could never be used up. But his descendants either became drug users, committed suicide, were put to jail, or ended up insane. And why is that? Because the descendants are left more than enough money that they needed not work to get what they want. So when one has everything in his wish list, the living space is deprived from him. How nice it would be when we wake up in the moring only to find there's something missing, something that needs to be perfected, and something that still worth pursuing! (There are holes to the heaven and earth, let alone in us! Isn't it a good thing for us to have room to perfect?)