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Our life flow consists of three parts — past, present and future. The past is a collection of encounters, challenges and achievements that have shaped who we are now. At this point, we are hopefully making plans that include a bright future with much happiness. This future should incorporate new encounters, new challenges and new achievements which eventually become our past and so on. Life may appear to be a very coherent cycle but it’s not.
Winning life’s battles provides valuable and useful experience, but what does it really mean the next day? From the perspective of this “next day” past credentials don’t really matter in that we constantly keep needing to prove our credibility. Life is such that being number one today does not guarantee the same position tomorrow. Today’s benefits, congratulations, awards and warm
hugs are great, but tomorrow is a new day.
I was introduced to this principle for the first time almost twenty years ago when I was accepted into a spiritual school. With two successful businesses, a degree in Law and Masters in Psychology, I believed that I had the credentials to be placed at the top of this school list.
To my surprise, I was told that my previous credentials do not matter. This was a new place where everybody proved their worth from the beginning. Looking back, I am very thankful for this experience which has formed the narrative for my life — Don’t talk too much about who you are because words mean nothing… Don’t brag about what you have because possessions are
doubtful, what you have today, may vanish tomorrow… Prove yourself with your actions!
You have probably noticed that this principle is a great challenge to our vanity, something that many people dismiss, but too bad. Familiar environments, where it seems that there is no need to proving who you are, do provide a level of comfort. However, life is not just limited by the “known”, and we regularly come out of this familiar environment — new workplace, new social circle, new demands…Three years ago I immigrated to Canada, and like
Previous credentials or future performances — What really matters?
Dr Naira Velumyan