If you had one lesson to teach people in this world, what would that lesson be?

Lesson 75: Mastering Difficult.

Difficult is a perception. Perceptions are, the state of a moment, which bends and turns according to, our experiences, including but not limited to our natural abilities, learned skills, emotions, self-esteem and open-mindedness.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “The best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard, at work worth doing.” I prefer to say, “The best prize that life can hand you, is working hard at what you’re doing.” Some environments allow us to excel while others will take us to the limits of our endurance and experience, challenging us to raise the level of our mastery.

Most often, we tend to limit our response to life out of fear. When we limit ourselves, our mastery is compromised.

Therefore, mastering difficult is as simple as closing your eyes and keeping your mind wide-open and let life come at you.

Age: 59; Gender: Female; Occupation: I am; Place person is from:  Myself

Lesson 74: There are no ordinary moments,every moment has its price and pleasure. There is nothing never going on, go out there and make the move of every move, live the moment as the happiness lies in the Journey not in the Destination.

Age: 24; Gender: Male; Occupation: A Learner; Place person is from: India

Lesson 73: To forgive

Age: 39; Gender: Male

Lesson 72: How to listen and show understanding.

Age: 44; Gender: Male; Occupation: Artist; Place person is from:  Oklahoma

Lesson 71: The first lesson is compassion, to be compassionate for everyone else, regardless of their differences. When we can hold compassion for those who seemingly are our enemies, then the world will be transformed.

Age: 50; Gender: Male; Occupation: Artist; Place person is from:  Hoboken, NY

Lesson 70: All is well

Age: 42; Gender: Female; Occupation: Wemetic Engineer; Place person is from:  Urth

Lesson 69: The one lesson I would teach (if I actually knew how) is how to be a safe place for others to be fully themselves...

Age: timeless; Gender: Male; Occupation: Entrepreneur; Place person is from:  Here

Lesson 68: Forgiveness

Age: 27; Gender: Male; Occupation: Sharing Peace; Place person is from:  Redwood Country

Lesson 67: Question everything.

The truth will bear scrutiny.

Never allow yourself to be silenced. For if you stay silent when you know you should speak out your heart will be haunted by it.

However destructive this engaging culture may be, however unimaginable man's deeds may become, we must remember that one life, sometimes one deed can change the course of history.

Be a source of love, forgiveness, and compassion. This is the most powerful antithesis to the destructive forces in our world. Honor life itself. Maintain under threat of death this antithetical stance. But do not let it prevent you from protecting children, elderly, or any other helpless innocents in mortal danger, with your life.

Imagine a small portion of people devoting themselves to love and forgiveness. Fundamentally it is what we have to do to correct our course of hate, violence, and our negligent value for life, in order to tip the scales in the other direction. And it must be done on the most basic level as one interaction at a time.

Let's face it - it is the individual choice en mass that engages war. It is the conduct of an individual that is destructive or creative. Create goodness. And decency. And respect for all life.

This will be our revolution.

Lesson 66: Breath in Happiness; Breath out Peacefulness

Age: 31; Gender: Male; Occupation: Existing; Place person is from:  Boston

Lesson 65: I would teach how to listen to our spirits, our inner guides, to find the truth ourselves, to see with our own eyes, hear with our own ears, feel with our own emotions, what is the right direction, the right path that leads to our individual destinies.

Age: 34; Gender: Male; Occupation: Student; Place person is from: Peru

Lesson 64: Unconditional Love is the key to all things in life. Love self and everyone else unconditionally.

Age: 45; Gender: Male; Occupation: Instructor of Love & Light/holistic healer; Place person is from: Nashville, TN

Lesson 63: “I don't know"

Age: 54; Gender: Male; Occupation: Unemployed; Place person is from:  Missouri

Lesson 62: The lesson would depend entirely on the situation.

Age: 49; Gender: Male; Occupation: Computer; Place person is from: Born in Philly, I don’t know where I’m from.

Lesson 61: Allow everything to be as it is.

Age: 56; Gender: Male; Occupation: Reconnective Healing Practitioner; Place person is from: Sedona, AZ

Lesson 60: Mutual Respect for all persons, human and otherwise.
Age: 52; Gender: Female; Occupation: Youth/Teen worker; Place person is from: Massachusetts

Lesson 59:  That to gain knowledge and do work motivated by unconditional love is the way to solve all mundane problems, and that everyone can be at peace in knowing that "the ways of the ONE will solve all problems in the heights of I coverage in full" (excerpt from the movie "Rockers") So it's ok to let go.

Age: 26; Gender: Male; Occupation: Student; Place person is from: Earth

Lesson 58: Work smart…not hard

Age: 51; Gender: Male; Place person is from: Hawaii

Lesson 57: There is good in every day.

Age: 54; Gender: Male; Occupation: Traveler; Place person is from: The Heart

Lesson 56: "Even the feeling of having understood is likely to lead one into a sense of illusion, because the individual thinks he has found something to impart to others, but there is no individual." -Nisargadatta Maharaj

Lesson 55:  “The real state is that state which is prior to the arrival of consciousness.” –Nisargadatta Maharaj

Lesson 54:  Since there was a quote from Nisargadatta, here is a good one too.  “How do you understand anything?  Any knowledge of any kind that you think you have can only be in the consciousness.  How can the consciousness, which came later, give you any knowledge about that state which exists prior to its arrival?  Any thought that you have reached or are going to reach that state is false.  Whatever happens in consciousness is purely imaginary, an hallucination; therefore, keep in mind the knowledge that it is consciousness in which everything is happening.  What that knowledge, be still, do not pursue any other thoughts which arise in consciousness.  What is necessary is to understand with sure conviction is that all is temporary, and does not reflect your true state.”

Age: 81; Gender: Female; Place person is from: The absolute

Lesson 53:  From the words of Nisargadatta Maharaj, “Suffering warns us that the structure of memories and habits, which we call the person is threatened by loss or change.  Pain is essential for the survival of the body, but none compels you to suffer.  Suffering is due entirely to clinging and resisting; it is a sign of our unwillingness to move on, to flow with life."

Lesson 52:  From the words of Jed McKenna, “No belief is true, life has no meaning, nothing we do matters.  All is vanity and a striving after wind.  We are going to die and it will be as we never lived.  Everything we think is true is false, all our beliefs are delusions and everything we know is a lie.  There is not such thing as success, nothing we do can make any possible difference, no matter how fast we go or how far ahead we are, we are not going anywhere.  The best and the brightest are in a dead tie with the worst and the dimmest.  These are the facts of life, simple, obvious, plain to behold, yet universally unrecognized and unacknowledged.”

Lesson 51:  Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

Age: 19; Gender: Male; Place person is from: Switzerland

Lesson 50:  Traditional Karen Burmese blessing of ultimate happiness: 

Be Happy and Healthy

Live a Full Life
And have no regrets

Gender: Male; Place person is from: Woburn, MA

Lesson 49:  You reap what you sow.

Age: 36; Gender: Male; Occupation: Life coach; Place person is from: Portland, OR

Lesson 48:  Do unto others as they would like to have done unto them.

Age: 59; Gender: Male; Occupation: Altering reality; Place person is from: Black Rock City

Lesson 47:  Pull off the "mask"...

Age: 42; Gender: Female; Occupation: Web graphics design; Place person is from: Maryland

Lesson 46:  A lot of this world is not seen. And behind this illusion that we live, can be a disturbing reality which although is uncomfortable to accept and complex to understand, exists nonetheless. When we learn how to recognize its presence, we find ourselves overwhelmed and surrounded by it. What was once hidden becomes clear as day but brings with it, the harsh truth of injustice.

Age: 28; Gender: Male; Place person is from: Australia

Lesson 45: Don't wait to take that chance.  Do it, embrace it, and celebrate that you did it, no matter how it comes out, because you are living your life and you TRIED!

Age: 40; Gender: Female; Occupation: Medical Case Manager; Place person is from: Portland, OR

Lesson 44:  Listen well to all conversations and be instructed by them. Never look down upon anyone or anything as not worthy of notice.

Age: 70; Gender: Female; Occupation: Artist; Place person is from: Texas

Lesson 43:  Breathe deeply and often.

Age: 49; Gender: Female; Occupation: Nurse, Pet Rescuer; Place person is from: Ohio River Valley

Lesson 42:  Most of my troubles are created by my own mind and stem from a self-centered belief system. Delusional thinking leads me to believe that the problems are big and actually cause by other people.  When I instead use an altruistic system and focus on how I can be helpful to other people, I think less about myself and the problems become right-sized.

Age: 36; Gender: Male; Occupation: Graphic Designer; Place person is from: NYC

Lesson 41: The worst evil of all is to hate someone, and to think that God joins you in that hatred.

Age: 29; Gender: Male

Lesson 40: Everyone is an artist and a genius, they usually just don't know it. If we were to live/create our lives with authenticity and excellence in the span of each second, you could not create a masterpiece more perfect than your very being. And so to recognize the imperfect perfection of yourself and every molecule you perceive, is to recognize that your breath is your masterpiece and every moment is the best moment, every day is the best day. Every pore, gesture, pound, seed, stain, ounce and word is a gift...and so are you. And I am so grateful to experience you and the world we live in, I say silently to myself "Hi beautiful", in regards to you and the world we live in. I say it several times a day, to the workers in the fields, to the abandoned cars, to the bending leaves and person who cuts me off on the road. I say "hi beautiful", from my toes up and I mean it. And I wonder what it would be like to live in a world that knew how I felt about it. Where others said those words silently of me and recognized the mastery of each other within the nexus of form and the formless.

Age: 26; Gender: Female; Occupation: artist, philosopher, lover; Place person is from: California

Lesson 39:  Yoda Said it: "There is no Try, only Do..."   

Age: 41; Gender: Female; Occupation: Self; Place person is from: Venice, CA

Lesson 38:  Forgive yourself. In the realm of the cosmos, we're like fleas. Embrace the possible that comes with letting go of the illusions. Use that sapped energy for doing positive things on this planet.  Energy is real.  This is not.

Age: 30; Gender: Female; Occupation: J.D.; Place person is from:  U.S.A.

Lesson 37:  Be grateful, no matter how much the waves of life toss you around. There is always someone on the planet suffering much more. Gratitude softens the edges and gives us the perspective we need to keep going, to keep loving.

Lesson 36:  Believe in yourself and trust in God for favors.

Age: 23; Gender: Female; Occupation: Student

Lesson 35:  Try to always walk in your light, live in your love and trust in your truth.

Lesson 34:  Live this moment now, and if you do nothing else will ever matter. Just try it before you judge it.

Lesson 33:  Love God, your neighbors and your enemies with all your heart. 

Lesson 32:  This is all an Illusion

Lesson 31:  When you need to feel nurtured and you don't know how to do it for yourself, try eating with your fingers, even babies know the value of having their own fingers, er thumb, in their mouths. Why after all do you think fast food is so popular, not cuz it's nutricious!

Lesson 30:  Balance is the ability to embrace all that exists, both communally and individually without attachment, expectation or limitations.

Lesson 29:  Make Love In The Streets

Gender: Male

Lesson 28:  I can't choose one.

Gender: Female

Lesson 27:  That there are lots and LOTS of blind people out there trying to define just what the elephant is and that few of them are wrong - just limited in their view of things.

Lesson 26:  "All things in the future will improve if you are making spiritual effort now.” ~ Sri Yukteswar

Gender: Male

Lesson 25:  To truly and unconditionally love yourself with your whole heart with no discrimination

Gender: Female

Lesson 24:  Accept what is.

Lesson 23:  Know thyself.

Age: 32; Gender: Male; Occupation: Trying to know myself; Place person is from: Trying to figure it out

Lesson 22: Above all else, love!

Age: 31, Gender: Male, Occupation: Student; Place person is from: California

Lesson 21: Be as willing to find fault in yourself as you are in others. Be as forgiving of others as you are justifying of yourself.

Gender: Female

Lesson 20: Risk everything for the truth. Risk the truth for nothing.

Gender: Female

Lesson 19: There is no other moment other than this one. The most important part of realizing this moment is loving every aspect of this moment. Love every person you meet and do not judge but openly help from a place of compassion. Judge no one, not even yourself. Judgment is caused by fear. If you judge yourself, it is because you fear something about yourself, or something you are doing. All things can be solved not by logical thought, but by being in the moment and FEELING.

Age: 21, Gender: Male, Occupation: Intuitive Counselor

Lesson 18: TRUE compassion

Lesson 17: Be excellent to one another.

Age: 35, Occupation: licensed massage therapist/reiki practitioner, Place person is from: Cleveland

Lesson 16: Contrary to popular belief all actions do not have consequences. More often than not people get away scott free for all sorts of little and big things.

Age: 33, Gender: Female, Occupation: Teacher, Place person is from: Vancouver, WA

Lesson 15: Fear nothing.

Age: 37, Gender: Male, Occupation: Nonprofit Director, Place person is from: Black Rock Desert, Nevada

Lesson 14: Learn from the past but let go of the negatives by forgiving others and yourself for your perceived failures. Forgiveness is not for the other person but to assist you in building on positives for the future. The past is gone,the present is here... and the future cannot happen without a successful present.

Gender: Female

Lesson 13: Things generally turn out alright in the end.

Age: 23, Gender: Male, Place person is from: UK

Lesson 12: Be unconditional with everyone in you life. Give without strings and life will return the favor.

Gender: Female

Lesson 11: To truly believe in beneficence, above and within.

Age: 55, Gender: Male, Occupation: Entrepreneur

Lesson 10: By staying positive life can be a wonderful ride. 

Age: 26, Gender: Female, Occupation: Actor; Place person is from: Southern CA

Lesson 9: Love life.  Live your dream.  Do it now. 

Age: 64, Gender: Male, Occupation: complementary and alternative health care practitioner and teacher; Place person is from: USA

Lesson 8: Enjoy the moment!! 

Age: 28, Gender: Male, Place person is from: Italy

Lesson 7: I would like for people to learn to appreciate the unique greatness of every person exactly as they are – to see the plus side of what they consider to be annoying or inferior traits in others. 

Age: 42, Gender: Female, Occupation: Scientist; Place person is from: not sure

Lesson 6: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

Age: 31, Gender: Male, Occupation: Business Strategy Consultant; Place person is from: California born in Kansas

Lesson 5: There is no god, only life. 

Age: 30, Gender: Female, Occupation: Hematologist/Oncologist; Place person is from: California born in Montana

Lesson 4: Always choose to play with your children over cleaning the house.  No matter who is coming to dinner.  And the other just as important lesson is that the most valuable gift you can give to your loved ones is the gift of your time. 

Age: Who knows, Gender: Female, Occupation: Financial analyst/trader; Place person is from: Italy

Lesson 3: There's no such thing as a "one secret lesson" that solves the mysteries of life. Beware of dogmas. There are ups and downs, no shortcuts, and a lot of hard work. Even if you learn from other peoples' mistakes, you'll still have to make your own. Realize this, and learn to respect other peoples' struggle in the rollercoaster of life. This all might seem quite paradoxical, but more that a lesson it is a meta-lesson, a lesson on lessons.

Age: 31, Gender: Male, Occupation: Engineer; Place person is from: Europe

Lesson 2: In the words of German philosopher Oswald Spangler...“This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us. . .to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves, to act in such a way that some part of us lives on.”

Age: 32, Gender: Female, Occupation: Attorney; Place person is from: California

Lesson 1: When my daughter was 6 or 7, we were getting out of our car at Toys R Us. We heard, “will someone just help us?” I saw a man holding a small car part, like a filter. I asked him what the problem was. He said his car had broken down en route to Children’s Memorial Hospital; to visit his daughter. While my daughter is trying to pull me away, I’m thinking. I had just stopped at an ATM and I only had $20 bills. So it was a $20 or nothing. I decided on helping him out. But, as I’m handing over the $20, I say, “I hope you are telling me the truth.” He thanked me.

The entire time we were walking into the store, my daughter was chiding me. “Mumma, he’ll probably just buy drugs or beer or something.” I told her that if it was bad enough for him to beg, then he needed it more than we did. But it did bother me. I prayed I had done the right thing.

The next morning, I had a monthly meeting at my daughter’s grammar school. Sister “B” always started the meeting with a prayer. This morning’s prayer was from Matthew 25:40. Jesus was explaining the Commandments to his disciples. “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

There it was!! The answer to my prayer. It was all in the giving; didn’t matter a whit as to what he did with the money. The messages were clear. So, I try to remember the insight I was given that morning and follow it. Both giving without strings attached and more importantly, praying for answers and guidance.

Age: 56, Gender: Female, Occupation: Realtor and Gardener; Place person is from: A place there is water but specifically Lauderdale Lakes