Counting my blessings

What have i learnt from the life i have lived till now? I am fairly old and have gone through a great life till now. I have had expierances that most people dream about. I am yet to have a lot of expierances that i dream about. ..but sometimes when I collate whatever life has taught me till now, i can gather a few pearls of wisdom that i woudnt have learnt had life been a bit softer with me..! Today i thought that I would put down in words what i think are the biggest thruths in my life.

• If you have good freinds half of life's problems are solved.I am fortunate because i have great freinds. Great in the way that i feel comfortable with them stripped down to the basics. They may be bit rough around the edges and most of the times they greet me with choiciest of abuses but these are people who are genuine and true. Yes, we may not really be into collective beer baths or bachelor parties , but when i see people in corporate world and the freindships they carry ..i can only say , "thank god, i have real freinds". The freinds i have have literally carried me out from the dumps and made me see life in a better way. These are the people who have placed their personal prestige on hold to see me happy. Why should i not feel fortunate that i have freinds like this?
• The best thing in life is your health and peace of mind. When i see my class mates with beer bellies and double chins i realise that these guys are so helpless in a system that expoects them to work in coffe and pizza environment without a care for personal health. They earn tonnes and tonnes of money but spend most of that in an expensive gym trying to fast forward their health routine. Most of them are addicted to alcohol and smoke. And most of them are obese beyond repair. I look at them and feel great that I can still do a three day trek with ease..I can end my day with a run...I can say no to junk food and yes I can survive without alcohol. ..More than that i can sleep peacefully .
• Nothing in life is what it seems at first glance. Although life is beautiful and human beings are essentially nice, life is not what it seems at the first glance. I am not talking of appearances here. I am talking of relationships and feelings. Lurking amoungst genuine love and freindships are grade one actors who are out to take advantage of the smallest break in your armour. Its well nigh difficult to avoid them, to avoid them you have to lose your basic goodness which is really not worth it...hence the broken hearts and failed bonds. So what can you do to overcome them? Nothing much , just leave them and walk on. If you are a genuine guy , most likely you will end up with good guys. The bad guys will get it on their own...u need not waste time , thinking how to damn them. Just try learning and moving on. 
• There is no such thing as a free lunch. Life is a total trade off and we all reach our optimum levels of sadness and hapiness . If some one has gained much, he has also lost much ..so its no use trying to compare or compete. With every reward you earn there is a pay off involved. While it may not be apparent in the start you will pay the price eventually.Its better to not be taken in by small sighted advantages over far reaching damages.
• There are two kinds of people whom you meet in life. One who inspire you to better things and others who pull you down to their levels. Its best that you avoid the second types ..however beneficial it may be to u. 
• The only living gods one needs to worship is his /her parents. Nothing they do will be to intentionally harm you. Yes, they may make unintentional faults but that is too small a thing to hold out against them. They are worthy of worship and respect and more so when they grow old. Its our duty and dharma. Nothing can degrade the love and affection they have given us and we need to give it back in full measure.

Lets be thankfull for what we have and enjoy . Have we ever realised that we are always happy in the past or future. "when we were in school we were happy"...Or " if i win this I will be happy" ..how come we are never happy in present?.Lets learn to think that we can be happy now. Only then we shall stop turning to look at the past ever time we make a bend.