To live our lives, we have to know who we are, what we wish to achieve, and then create a path to our chosen destination, altering as we go along when needed. If we simply coast without self reflection, we end up living someone else’s life.

If you constantly see your flaws, focusing solely on them, it is difficult to see any of the beauty that is your life. If you shut out any notions of imperfection, you are caught in your own web and have no way to improve. If you find a path to truth, you can walk along unencumbered.

Optical illusions should teach us that we see what we think we should see. Our brain tries to make sense of illogical data. Escher played with this to great effect. If you think something is going to be this or that, it very likely with be this or that – because that is what you created.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned.” The story of our lives. The best laid plans of mice and men do often go awry. The only thing to do is begin again.

Are you perfect? Of course not. No one is. Do you strive to appear perfect? Even to your own self? Isn’t that exhausting? Admit your strengths and your weaknesses. Look at who you are. Face yourself in the mirror. Live the life you have made (or make a different one).

Did you see that? Did you taste that? Did you hear that? Did you feel that? Did you smell that? Whatever it was, it was there and then gone forever. Don’t miss your next chance to see, taste, hear, feel, or smell. Here it comes.

Sometimes we “just know”. But what we know isn’t true. We misinterpret or misunderstand. We only see one small section or hear only one side of the conversation. What we think we know doesn’t have to be true. Keep an open mind.

The smell of fresh brewed coffee. The smell of burnt toast. What happens right now is intoxicating if you pay attention. It may be good or bad, but it is the only thing we have. We have this present moment. Live it.

There are so many shiny things. There are new things. There are memes and kitten videos by the boatload. And as you scroll and click your way through your day, looking for that elusive something, you miss all the opportunities to create something substantial.

Tomorrow may bring many terrible things – or not. Tomorrow may not even get here. Wasting today on the many possibilities of tomorrow means you didn’t get to live the day you already had. You miss today’s sunset if you are looking at the weather for tomorrow as the sun slips beneath the horizon.