Isn’t it true that in high school when the teacher told you to stop clicking your pen you did it at least once more? What are the truths you remember in your life, are they experiential moments or are they rules your parents raised you by. Here is a list that my friend Marc picked up while travelling, living in different cities, working for different companies ( and himself ), and meeting remarkable and unusual people everywhere in between:

1. There comes a point in life when you get tired of chasing everyone and trying to fix everything, but it’s not giving up. It’s realising you don’t need certain people and things and the drama they bring.
2. You can’t control how other people feel, or how they recieve your energy. Anything you do or say gets filtered through a mindset occupied by whatever they are going through at the moment, which has nothing to do with you. Just keep doing your thing with as much love as possible.
3. If a person wants to be part of your life, they will make an obvious effort to do so. Don’t bother reserving a space in your heart for people who do not make an effort to stay.
4. If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down- which is not always so obvious.
5. Doing something and getting it wrong is at least 10 times more productive than doing nothing.
6. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You don’t fail by falling down. You fail by never getting back up. Sometimes you just have to forget how you feel, remember what you deserve, and keep pushing forward.
7. The more things you own, the more things own you. Less truly gives you more freedom.
8. While you’re busy looking for the perfect person, you’ll probably miss the imperfect person who could make you perfectly happy. This is as true for friendships as it is for intimate relationships. Finding a partner or a friend isn’t about trying to transform yourself into the perfect image of what you think they want. It’s about being exactly who you are and then finding someone who appreciates that.
9. Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. If something is meant to be, it will happen – at the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason.
10. Making a hundred friends is not a miracle. A miracle is making one friend who will stand by your side when hundreds have walked away.
11. Someone will always be better looking. Someone will always be smarter. Someone will always be more charismatic. But they never will be you – with your exact ideas, knowledge and skills.
12. Making progress involves risk. Period. You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.
13. Every morning you are faced with two choices: you can aimlessly stumble through the day not knowing what’s going to happen and simply react to events at aa moment’s notice, or you can go through life directing your own life and making your own destiny and decisions.
14. Everyone makes mistakes. If you can’t forgive others, don’t expect them to forgive you. Set yourself free by forgiving someone else.
15. It’s Ok to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. Cry if you need to – It’s healthy to shed tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.
16. We sometimes do things that are permanently foolish just because we are temporarily upset. A lot of heartaches can be avoided if you learnt to control your emotions.
17. Someone doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right. You have to allow people to make their own mistakes and their own decisions.
18. Nobody has it easy, Everyone of us has issues. So don’t belittle yourself or anyone else. Everyone is fighting their own unique war.
19. A smile doesn’t always mean a person is happy. Sometimes it simply means they are strong enough to face their problems.
20. The happiest people I know keep an open mind to new ideas and ventures, use their leisure time as a means of mental development, and love good music, good books, good pictures, good company and good conversation. And oftentimes they are the cause of happiness in others – me in particular.
21. You can’t take things too personally. Rarely do people do things because of you. They do things because of them.
22. Feelings change, people change, and time keeps rolling on. You can hold onto past mistakes or you can create your own happiness. Don’t make the mistake of waiting on someone or something to come along and make you happy.
23. It’s much harder to change the length of your life than the depth of it.
24. You end up regretting the things you did not do far more than the things you did.
25. When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.
26. One of the greatest challenges in life is to be yourself in a world that’s trying to make you the same as everyone else.
27. Enjoy the little things, because they’re bigger than they first appear.
28. Anyone can make a difference. You have more power than you think. Use it.
29. Every experience is a life lesson – everyone you meet, everything you encounter. Never forget to acknowledge the lesson, especially when things don’t go your wat. Gain insight and move forward.
30. Regardless of how dark your past has been, your future is still spotless. Don’t start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Each day is a new beginning. Every morning you wake up is the first day of the rest of your life. What do you want to make happen?

So what has humanity said about its truth’s, here are a few of my favourites:

1. Living your truth may not always be comfortable, but well worth it.

2. But you can also reclaim some of your own truth by looking at what made you angry in the first place: Dark Horse.

3. What truths do you keep in your personal treasure chest?

4. From Sydney, Australia Palak Gupta won the Miss India crown. At just the age of 20 Palak’s truth is that life isn’t about your height, weight and shade. It’s about the values and beliefs you embrace, your truths: Unwritten.

5. What to carry in your makeup kit for life.

6. From Russia with Love: Time and Glass.

7. It’s up to Us.

8. Everyone is Free now: Everything is Free Now. 

9. From the man who gave us bliss, his truth about life.

10. What mask do you present to life that hides your truths from your dearest and nearest: Behind The Mask.

11. And then we find someone to share our truths with.

12. My ethos in life is Love and Respect for All. Everybody Included: Respect Yourself.

13. Do you worship your truths, what value do you give them?

14. As Marc says in poit 7, it is not the things you own that measure your lifestyle, but how you are remembered: Happy.

15. And for our final lesson, it’s good to remember the shadow and the light in our lives.

So to make it really the longest blog I have ever done, 10 more truth questions:

1. What does the child inside you long for?
2. What is the one thing right now that you are totally sure of?
3. What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?
4. What is the biggest motivator in your life right now?
5. What are you most grateful for?
6. What have you counting or keeping track of recently?
7. What’s the difference between being alive and truly living?
8. If you had the opportunity to get a message across to a large group of people what would your message be?
9. Have you done anything lately worth remembering?
10. When is the last time you tried something new?

Today’s playlist begins in pop diva land with Katie Perry and Natasha Bedingfield. We then journey to Russia with Name 505. Gillian Welch then sets us free, Michael Jackson lifts our masks. Madonna is the penultimate track and we finish with Pharrell Williams: Stop Clicking Your Pens.

My truth for the world is Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again, my dear friends.