"If you look to your children
to provide meaning for your life,
your life will be meaningless.
If you need them to be successful
to feel successful yourself,
you will always fail.
Your children were not born
to complete your life.
They were born to complete their own.
When you look inside and discover
that you have everything you need,
you will find your freedom.
As long as you perceive
that your life lacks something
you are in danger
of using your children
to satisfy that lack.
This is far too great a burden
for them to bear.
Are you looking to them
when you need to be looking
to yourself?"
For a long time I thought that having a family would complete my life. Instead I have learned, through my pursuit of faith, art, love, adventure, and service, that I am complete. I will encourage, admire, and rejoice in my daughter as she pursues her meaning. I am sure her journey, and my witness of it, will reveal even more aspects of my own. I welcome that, with gratitude.
to provide meaning for your life,
your life will be meaningless.
If you need them to be successful
to feel successful yourself,
you will always fail.
Your children were not born
to complete your life.
They were born to complete their own.
When you look inside and discover
that you have everything you need,
you will find your freedom.
As long as you perceive
that your life lacks something
you are in danger
of using your children
to satisfy that lack.
This is far too great a burden
for them to bear.
Are you looking to them
when you need to be looking
to yourself?"
For a long time I thought that having a family would complete my life. Instead I have learned, through my pursuit of faith, art, love, adventure, and service, that I am complete. I will encourage, admire, and rejoice in my daughter as she pursues her meaning. I am sure her journey, and my witness of it, will reveal even more aspects of my own. I welcome that, with gratitude.
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