There is truth and beauty to be found in the greatest and smallest of things. Reflect for a moment on the life of a single cell, which by itself can exist as an independent organism capable of reproduction and interaction with its environment which we call life.

Some cells only live for a few hours while others can survive dormant for millions of years, and all of them are a part of the miracle we call life. It’s a miracle because it takes 100 trillion cells, that’s more than all the galaxies in the universe, to create an adult human being.

It’s a miracle because each and every cell serves an essential and meaningful purpose in making us unique, whether we fully understand it or not.

Our planet is a miracle too. All the individual parts of our ecosystem and all the species of life serve an essential and meaningful purpose in making our planet unique, whether we fully understand it or not. Like us, our planet is a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

We can learn so much simply by admiring what is already within ourselves.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch lost his life to pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008. This was his last lecture at the university about how he achieved his childhood dreams. Randy is not only a smart guy and a great teacher, I admire him because he lived his life knowing how to prioritise what was really important and what was not. If you also want to know how he does this, watch his lecture on Time Management.

Learn more by visiting Randy Pausch’s Home Page or buy his book The Last Lecture. Do it for his kids!

How to live before you die

Here is another talk given by Steve Jobs in keeping with the theme of making the most of life.

Dr Rachel Naomi Remen shares some of her stories about finding meaning and satisfaction in our lives. Rachel believes that stories have the power to change our experience of life, to see ourselves differently, to become more without becoming different. Stories have a lot more power than data and they are a function of the heart, not the intellect.

“We become distracted by pragmatic concerns and time pressure and fatigue. We can become blinded by cynicism and numbness and perfectionism but our lives and our work are full of meaning anyway. Every one of us lives a far more meaningful life than we know. Finding meaning is not about doing anything different, it’s about seeing familiar things in new ways.”

This talk is somewhat lengthy and needs your full attention, but its lessons may teach you to see your own life differently too.

Jonathan Reed created this video for the AARP U@50 The contest, launched in August 2007 on YouTube, gave people between the ages of 18 and 30 the chance to submit short videos on the subject of what they expect their lives to be like at age 50.

I am part of a lost generation
and I refuse to believe that
I can change the world
I realize this may be a shock but
“Happiness comes from within.”
is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy.”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
they are not the most important thing in my life
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
but this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.

And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it.

This five year old, blind and adopted little girl must be the definition of love in the Korean dictionary.