The power of the daily wisdom.
The best wisdom is daily wisdom from real people.
That is why sayings are passed from generation to generation: because they work.
I love to collect these little pearls of wisdom in my daily life.
Here are the ones that have had the most significant impact on my life in the last decade.
The CEO
“When the elevator is stuck, use the stairs.”
Before becoming a writer, I worked in one of the biggest law firms in Europe (as a salesman).
This is the typical firm, with a private plane, trips to the Caribbean as gifts at the company Christmas dinner, and all that Jazz.
My cubicle was in the headquarters (a colossal building owned by the firm).
Its founder (who retired a couple of years ago) occasionally visited the building and walked around all the departments, asking random employees for suggestions.
I don’t know why, but he liked me. He learned my name.
One day, he saw me sad, bought me a cup of coffee (my legs were shaking; I thought he would fire me), and said, “Success doesn’t change your life, AG. Love what you do does.”
“Doing what I love won’t pay my bills,” I told him.
“Yes, it will. People are too busy waiting for the elevator. They have forgotten they can take the stairs to the penthouse of Success. And that eliminates most of the competition. You only have to climb the ladder one step at a time,” he replied.
He didn’t fire me. But I listened to him and left the company.
I started working on my dream, and the CEO was right: I have been paying the bills for seven years with the fruits of my dream job.
Lesson: Success is not a destination; it’s a direction. And if you love the path, you will go much further.
The baker
“Knowledge is like yeast. A little is enough to make bread rise. If you overdo it, the bread goes down.”
On the main street of my town, there is a bakery that has been open for three years and specializes in sourdough.
The bread is expensive, but everyone buys bread there.
Once, some tourists said, “I wish there were a bakery like that in my town.” Because I was confident, I told the owner, “You should expand; people love what you do.” And he stated, “I have three more bakeries. And next year, I’m going national.”
“Wow!” I said, and I asked him for the secret to his Success.
And the guy said, “Knowledge is like yeast. A little is enough to make bread rise. If you overdo it, the bread goes down. I’m only in the mother yeast business. I only know mother yeast. But I know the most about this shit. That’s my advantage.”
Lesson: knowing too much of one thing is better than knowing too little of too many things.
The Gardener
“When you give love, you give health. And get beauty and in exchange.”
My mother spends a lot of time in the hospital due to a bone disease, and during the periods when she is away from home, I take care of her plants.
The problem is that I don’t understand why the plants always die when I’m in charge.
So, one day, while walking, I saw a beautiful garden. In it, an older woman who seemed to glow was watering the plants while singing.
And although I was a little embarrassed, I explained to her my problem with my mother’s plants.
“The plants miss your mother so much that they get sad and die. To solve this, it won’t be enough that you water them from time to time; you need to talk to them and give them part of you. When you give love, you give health. And get beauty in exchange, ” she said to me.
I applied it, and it worked.
I made up a name for each of my mother’s plants. I wrote them on paper and glued each name on its corresponding pot.
Now, when I water the plants, I call them by name. And they bloom and look beautiful in return.
Lesson: The love you give comes back to you through beauty. If you want to live a better life, you have to learn to love better. It’s so simple yet so complicated.
A virtual hug
AG
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