What is life without knowledge? To the delight of myself, elementary teachers, and guidance counselors nationwide I’ll follow up the previous question with the classic schoolyard cliché’ “Knowledge is power.”

Somewhere a sixth grade student is rolling their eyes. Do you even lift bro?

In my short but turbulent life I have experienced three main life lessons that have affected me to my core. I now consciously live my life in alignment with these lessons and am pleased with the results. This isn’t a self-help, raspberry, bullshit article where I’ll promise you the world on an ice cream cone but rather real world truths that I have lived and all of us instinctually know. Sit back, relax, grab a coke, put on a smile and enjoy.

Life Lesson One: Whatever You Think About Intently Will Transpire.

The older I become the more I realize that life isn’t random but rather life mirrors our thoughts and feelings. It’s like some creepy guy videotaping your thoughts and selling them back to you in a $5.99 bargain box at Wal-Mart. I’m just kidding. I would never use this crude analogy in seriousness for such an important concept.

This life lesson does sound a bit new age, does sound fictionally fantastic and to my more authentic audience, does sound like bullshit. But I’m here to tell you it’s the God honest truth. How we observe and interpret life is always in direct alignment with our thoughts and feelings. It is of the utmost importance to monitor what you think, as whatever you think about intently will eventually transpire. People pursue what they want only because they think about it all the time. Thoughts create the action, the action creates your world. Sometimes great lessons are that simple. The key is to recognize opportunities you created for yourself and jump in headfirst when you discover them. This is an incredible lesson as it allows you to determine your life only after you take responsibility for yourself. Chew on these quotes taken from two different religions; Christianity and Buddhism.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” – Buddha

This is sacred knowledge; something everyone can apply with practice. Simply put, change your thoughts, change your life.

A challenge: For the next three months hold one dominant thought and write down the occurrences that happen, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Life Lesson Two: The Best Gift You Can Give Anyone Is The Truth.

I’ve come to find in life that the best gift you can give anyone is the truth. The truth not only with fact, but also with personality and interaction. In other words the best gift you can give anyone is being “real.” Everyone can detect bullshit, everyone can detect ulterior motives and everyone can detect when someone isn’t genuine. This is the truth.

When you’re 100% “real”, people will respect you for having the courage to be honest and be yourself. All too often “fake” people will cater to other people’s thoughts and feelings. They subject themselves to another person’s reality and echo to them everything they want to hear. These actions will provide you with zero respect from your peers and hurt your confidence. What value does anyone have when nobody respects them? No one respects a fake; no one respects a fraud. The reason people aren’t real is because they value other people’s opinion more than their own. It’s actually very sad.

Finding people that are “real” and truthful is so rare that when you are able to give someone the gift of truth they immediately respect you and become more receptive. It quickens the rapport building process and increases your value. When you are honest and truthful, you have nothing to loose. If someone likes you for you then you know that; it feels great. If someone doesn’t like you for whom you are even better. Save your time, energy and peace of mind by not giving these people an ounce of your mental capacity. This also means loosing the “If they don’t like me for me then fuck them mentality.” Holding negative thoughts about people only hurts you. Forget them.

A challenge: Next time you are out, approach someone new and strike up an honest, truthful, conversation. You’ll be surprised at the results. [I promise they’ll go one of two ways. You can probably guess what I’m thinking.]

Life Lesson Three: Choose To Be Happy

Maybe Pharrell influenced this. I’ll ask everyone an important question: why on earth would you choose to be anything but happy? Did the rain really ruin your day? Did someone honking at you really throw you off? Did your neighbors Facebook status upset you? When you let small events throw off your day you are giving your happiness away. It is not wise to give away happiness; happiness makes life much easier.

No, you can’t control everything that happens to you. Yes, you can control how you respond to situations. No, you won’t be happy 100% of the time nor is that even possible. Yes, you can probably be happier in more moments.

Choose to be happy because it simply makes life easier. If you need something to be happy about, think about what you can give thanks for. If you can’t find anything to give thanks, the problem is you.

Challenge : Spend two hours a day being happy.