A very good morning to our English teacher Miss Elena and all my fellow friends.

Today I am going to give a talk about how to make you life more meaningful 1. First, Follow your aspirations. Sometimes we confuse aspirations with personal goals, but they are completely different. Aspirations are the answer to the question: What do I want to give the world? Whereas personal goals are the answer to the question, What do I want the world to give me? 2. Be passionate. Whenever you do something that you are passionate about, it gives meaning to life. Sometimes it can be difficult to balance work, relationships, and passion. But a life without being passionate about something can feel empty. 3. Live by your code of ethics. Every person needs a personal ethical code to have a meaningful life. An ethical code is a set of values that you uphold, even if the consequences might be painful for yourself. 4. Cultivate compassionate. Compassion happens when we stop being the center of our concern, and open to the suffering of others. If we focus on ourselves as the center of the universe and our thoughts revolve around how we were, how we will be, or how others see us our life will ultimately feel meaningless. Compassion is a way of looking beyond our own needs, to those of others. 5. Be kind. Kindness is not just a feeling, its an emotion that leads to action. Kindness gives warmth to a life. Each kind interaction triggers a feeling of connection and pleasure. Actually, kind action is something that gives meaning to your life AND makes you feel happy! 6. Be in service to a greater cause. A great way to give depth and meaning to your life is to do volunteer work. Whether you coach a basketball team for streetkids, or help out with the elderly, or raise money to alleviate world poverty, whenever you step in to serve a greater cause, you give your life meaning. 7. Strive for a better future. Striving for a better future can take many forms, but it always entails developing as a human being. If you strive for a better future, you subscribe to life-long learning. New skills make us more effective in the world, both for our own life, as well as for the cause we serve. 8. Make your life about others. The most important thing you can ever do is make your life about other people. Our world is so self-centered. We are brought up to believe that we are more important than everyone else and that we need to take care of our own needs and wants before the needs and wants of others. But after a while we realize that we feel kind of empty. Thats when we have the midlife crisis. The crisis occurs because we realize that we have spent our whole lives working to make ourselves happy but we still feel crap. The great Buddhist Shantideva said: All the suffering in the world comes from wanting happiness for oneself. All the happiness in the world comes from wanting happiness for others.

9. Dont procrastinate. If you want to make every minute of your life meaningful you have no time to procrastinate. We hear it all the time but we never take it in. Life is short. It will be over in the blink of an eye. And to make matters worse, you have no idea when your life is going to end. You could die of a heart attack in your 80s or you could die from cancer in a week. You could get hit by a bus. So now ask yourself this: if you knew you had only five years left would you change the way you are living? I bet most of us would.
10. Dont get angry .Anger, it is said, is the worst of all the negative emotions. Lots of bad things happen because of anger violence, rape, wars, etc. And the bad thing about anger is that you always end up regretting it. Think about the last time you got angry and acted on it. You might have yelled at your partner or a co -worker. How did you feel five minutes later? Did you feel vindicated and justified or did you feel heavy and burdened? I am betting it was the latter. Every time I have said or done something in anger I have come to regret it. Life is too short for anger. Angry people dont succeed in life. They sabotage their happiness and they end up living very lonely and shallow lives. Take a look at any friend you have that is constantly angry. They are never happy. They are always frowning and they get no joy from lifes simple pleasures. Anger is the worst thing you can do. Dont become one of those people who finds the worst in every situation. Look for the best.

So what about happiness? How do meaning and happiness intersect? My take is that happiness is the by-product of a meaningful life. On its own as a life goal happiness can feel shallow. But once you focus on leading a meaningful life, you will feel fulfilled and experience not only fleeting sensations of happiness, but a lasting sense of joy. In Conclusion, Life is so short and fleeting. You could die in your sleep tonight. Make sure you live your life in a way that will allow you to pass away with no regrets. Make compassion, love, patience and energy the main pillars of your existence. If you do you will leave behind a wonderful legacy. Thank you for your attention