Once there was an old wise man who lived on the side of a mountain. There were three little boys who were always trying to outsmart the old wise man. One of the little boys said, “I’ll put a marble in my hand and we will go to the old man and ask him what I have in my hand.

So the three boys went to visit the old man and the little boy asked, “Old man, what have I in my hand?” The old man answered, “A marble”. The three boys left and returned with another object. To their astonishment the old wise man was able to answer the question correctly.

The next day the boys pondered the situation trying to come up with something so ingenious that the old man would never guess the answer.

Then one of the boys said, “I know, I’ll put this baby bird in my hand and I’ll ask the old man if the bird is alive or dead and if he says the bird is alive, I will crush it in my hand and outsmart the old man.”

So with smiles on their faces they went back to the old man’s house and the little boy asked, “Old man, what have I in my hand?” The old man answered, “A baby bird.” Then the boy said, “Is this bird alive or is it dead?” The wise old man looked at the boy and said, “The bird is as you choose it and so it is with your life.”

Life is a gift that has been given to us. It’s in our hands. Think about it, God has never asked anyone if they will accept life; that is not our choice. But our challenge is how to make the most of the life that we live.

Too often, life evades us because we fall victim to living someone else’s dream. To fall into this trap is to live a nightmare. Dreams only come true when we are true to ourselves. Instead of living our dreams we are forever chasing someone else’s.

We spend all of our energy being a people pleaser rather than being pleased with ourselves. People-pleasing is a daunting task and only leaves the victim highly frustrated and miserable. It would be a tragedy to go through life and to never have lived.

We deserve to live our best life and our best life is not about pleasing people or about duration. We can exist for 60, 70, or even 80 years and still not have lived. Those years can be filled with apologies, accusations and excuses.

It is a tragedy to be consumed with such an existence but tragedy can be turned into joy when we decide that our lives are our own. Life is in our hands and we can choose to do with it whatsoever we desire.

You alone are responsible for the quality of your life, so live your best life without regrets.