Live without pretending. Love without depending. Listen without defending. Speak without offending.

Four simple sentences. How hard could that possibly be?

Live without pretending. 

Does that exclude “fake it until you make it”? Or is that really a way of expressing that a life worth living must be kept real at all times in order to fully savor the experience, learn the life lessons, grow, admit your mistakes and own your shortcomings?

Love without depending.

Of course you want to be in a relationship in which you can depend upon the other person. But what if the love is conditional? What if one party is too reliant upon the other? All of the psychological variances regarding dependency arise.

Listen without defending.

There are moments where we all must listen to someone who is going to express dissatisfaction with who we are. Are we supposed to just listen and accept whatever they say? Or is it wiser to absorb everything that someone is sharing with us prior to your response that makes it clear how your perception of whatever they have expressed is disparate from that which they just shared?

Speak without offending.

In our current polarized world, this is becoming even more challenging than ever before. Is this concept precluding having definitive opinions or is the better lesson learning how to be diplomatic as to never offend an audience with whom you are conversing?

Four simple sentences. Incredibly difficult to actually live by, but certainly worthy of the effort at every possible turn. 

I hope this gorgeous Saturday finds you happy and healthy and eating Thanksgiving leftovers✨✨✨

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Written by Brian Weiner
When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!