Life: What Do I Know About It?

By Terry Paul

Have you ever wondered about the reason for our existence? Why we love, hate, set expectations, have needs and wants? What makes us happy or sad? That's what Terry Paul covers in this book, and so much more. This is an in-depth look at life, as told through Terry's eyes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9780244174576

Book preview

T.P.

Preface

I wrote this book as a way of expressing my thoughts, feelings, opinions, beliefs, experiences, and observations. I am always, thinking, observing, wondering about the various aspects of life and why things occur the way they do. Why do we as human beings behave the way we do? My mind literally races like a freight train. I have always put my thoughts out there on social media and people have encouraged me to put this all in a book. So, I finally decided to take the leap and here we are. My aim is to empower, inspire and motivate people in their personal development journey. This book is an appreciation and a celebration of life. Despite the many highs and lows, I believe life is still beautiful if we choose to see it. I specifically chose the topics in this book because I believe they affect us all and I wanted to send my thoughts on them out into the universe.

Who am I?

I’m an introvert and an empath by nature. I internalise and feel just about every energy that surrounds me. I am one of life’s eternal students. I am always seeking higher learning, wisdom and understanding. My personal development is continuous. My thirst for knowledge unquenchable. Everything I learn, I try to pass on in some way. I believe knowledge to be of little value unless it’s passed on to another; each one should teach one. I consider that to be one of my responsibilities in life. This makes it particularly difficult for me to keep it all in. Writing is my release, my way of pouring out my emotions and thoughts into the universe, in much the same way as a painter pours out his soul onto a canvass. I consider myself to be one hundred times more potent when I write. There’s so much I want to say and share with the world, but I’m not the most talkative person at times. My family and friends may disagree!

Writing my thoughts gives me the opportunity to deliver a taste of my soul. It is my hope that my thoughts will evoke dialogue, spark debate, inspire, motivate, uplift, guide, develop and be truly empowering. We live in a time where people are easily influenced. There are so many distractions that are proving debilitating to our personal growth, if I can shed some light for at least one person to find their way, my mission is accomplished. The way I see it, we have but one life to live and it’s important to make it count. It’s important to have a say. It’s important that we make an imprint, an impact and leave a legacy that can serve as some kind of memory, that we lived as opposed to having simply existed.

This book is soul food and I hope when you read it, you’ll feel it was worth the effort and it does something good for you. I will consider it both an honour and a blessing.

Terry Paul (author).

Acknowledgement

Very special thanks to:

Simon Latham for the hours of proof reading and contributions to the final product. Your thoughts, advice and words of wisdom has been invaluable.

Maxine Cameron for her kind insight on the topic of love and for her kind encouragement.

References:

Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper and Row.

1

Love vs Hate

Love and hate are two of humanity’s most powerful emotions and guiding forces in our lives. I’ve often wondered, why they both exist, since we know that hate causes hurt, pain, anger, resentment and destruction. But then, so can love. I’ve seen the most horrible acts perpetrated in the name of love and the most heinous committed out of hatred. So my perspective is that they simply must exist for the universe to be in equilibrium, just as day must compliment night. In their purest form, they appear to be the direct opposite of each other though both exist as part of a whole. But what is love? There are countless definitions, but none that I’ve seen seems to capture the real meaning. It’s described as an intense or euphoric feeling of affection, interest in someone or pleasure in something. Make what you will of that definition, but I don’t think it fully captures the true essence of love. I believe love is comparable to a complex set of emotions, behaviours and beliefs that are guided by strong affections of warmth, fondness, kindness, respect and protectiveness. This definition I believe, is applicable to both human and non-human things.

The complexities of love means everyone’s interpretation is likely to be different. Although it means something different to all of us, we all know it when we feel it … even if we’re unable to accurately describe it. For example, to one person, love could mean being willing to put another person’s well-being above his/her own. My question to that would be, if I put your feelings above mine, with an ulterior motive of getting