However you do things in life, there are other ways for you to do them. There are other platforms to come from. Because you have always been a certain way doesn’t mean you must continue being the same way. I ask you to adjure from saying: “That’s how I am. That’s how I will always be.” Why would you close the door on life? Why would you let so much in, and no more, and feel virtuous about it? I have seen those who sometimes are smug in telling someone off, for instance, as if that were a proud thing to do. How can that be a proud thing to do? Why would anyone wish to be proud of that?

You may want change in your life, yet you may want change without your changing. Let Me put it this way. You want change in your life, and, at the same time, you don’t want to have to change. You may want new gifts from life, and yet want everything else as before. It is your life I am speaking of. Life is meant to be a flowing stream, not a stationary object.

What is so hard about letting a little change in? I am suggesting you change your mind about something. I am suggesting you let the past go. Past ways are of the past. They have not always held you in good stead.

In a sense, when it comes to certain areas of life, you have been rigid. You have been for one thing and against another. You have held prejudices. You have said: “I will never change my mind about this.” And you have held on to an opinion as if an opinion were a rare antique to be polished. An opinion is just an opinion. Opinions do not have to be permanent. Your stance in life does not have to pretend to be permanent. If you feel you have been casting pearls before swine, you have some changing to do.

You do not always have to be at the peak of the mountain. Gain a wider frontier. Be humble rather than prideful. If you play baseball, learn how to pitch more gainfully, learn how to catch more gainfully. Take a chance on change.

Even when you are unwilling to budge, odds are that life will pull the carpet out from under you. Life is patient, yet it does not stay still. True, you are a creature of habit, yet you are more than that. Do not purse your lips quite so tightly. Do not be quite so sure that you know all the answers.

Rather than be smart, be kind. Rather than show off, don’t show off. When you put someone down and make him or her feel small, you don’t make yourself big. Rather, you are showing your size. Add to your arsenal of ways to reveal yourself in the world. When it comes to kindness and thoughtfulness, you are on the right track. Do not close out life by squashing anyone else.

Kindness and thoughtfulness do not mean that you put up with everything. It’s just that you don’t always every minute every time put yourself first. There is some truth to the idea that the one who comes last comes first when he who comes last is not inordinately proud of himself. Do good deeds, and disappear from the garden of pride. Be virtuous without pinning medals on yourself.

You don’t have to have the last word. You are not to punctuate life. You are to serve. You are not to capitalize on your assets in life. You are not to make a big thing of them.

Be kind and courteous. Be considerate of your fellow man. If this means changing your ways, then, by all means, change your ways. Be the sun that shines. Add to the happiness of your corner of the world.