Greenlights – Love Letter to Life!

Today, we are going to talk about life, living and perspective. And to my surprise, the author is an unexpected personality, specially for me. It is actor Matthew McConaughey. He was the Rom-Com king till 2011 when he simply decided that he wanted to do something different. Was out of work for almost an year and he was given warnings by many people on being OOSOOM. But finally he got his next break and did movies like Mud, Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar etc. But this, is not about the movies. It is about Life! Honestly, I never expected a Hollywood personality to have such a deep perspective on life. It is not a rags to riches story. It is just life! In his words, it is a love letter. To Life!

We cannot really structure this one. It’s one free flowing life story. His Australian stint, weird dreams, his travels across Europe on a bike, his journey across America in his beloved Airstreams… This is a compilation of his thoughts from his diary! The lines…are poetry!

1. Expectation & Hope:
   1. My parents didn’t hope we would follow their rules, they expected us to. A denied expectation hurts more than a denied hope, while a fulfilled hope makes us happier than a fulfilled expectation
2. How to find yourself?
   1. Process of elimination and identity. Too many options can make a tyrant out of any of us, so we should get rid of the excess in our lives that keep us from being more of ourselves. Knowing who we are is hard. Eliminate who we’re not first, and we’ll find ourselves where we need to be
   2. Sometimes we find our frequency by holding on to a moral bottom line in the midst of chaos. Sometimes, we find it by breaking the rules and running the red light to get home
3. Living Life:
   1. When we know what we want to do, knowing when to do it is the hard part. Get them early so you don’t have to get them often. Prevent before cure, habilitate before the re
   2. Life, like architecture, is a verb. If designed well, it works. It’s beautiful. And it needs no directions. It needs maintenance
   3. Death, family crises, and newborns – the end of a life, trying to keep a life, and welcoming in a new one – these are three things that will shake your floor, give you clarity, remind you of your mortality, and hence, give you courage to live harder, stronger and truer. These make you ask yourself – what matters? And make you realise – it all does!
   4. You ever get in a rut? Stuck on the merry go round of a bad habit? I have. We are going to make mistakes – own them, make amends, and move on. Guilt and regret kill many a man before their time. Get off the ride. You are the author of the book of your life. Turn the page
4. Nature vs Nurture:
   1. Biology and giddy up.  DNA and work. Genetics and willpower. Life’s a combination. Some get the genes but never the work ethic or resilience. Others work their ass off but never had the innate ability. Others have both and never rely on the first
5. The intellect:
   1. it is not meant to surpass the apparent so far as to conceal it or make it more confusing. It is meant to expose the truth more clearly and reveal more of the obvious from more lines of sight. It should simplify things, not make them more cerebral
6. Freedom:
   1. We have to prepare to have freedom. We must learn the consequence of negligence – it’s not just what we do, it’s what we don’t do that’s important as well. We are guilty by omission
7. If only:
   1. Means you wanted something but did not get it. For some reason, either by your own incompetence or the world’s intervention, it did not happen. Sometimes this is just the breaks and we need to bow out gracefully. But more often than we care to admit, we don’t get what we want because we quit early or we didn’t take the necessary risk to get it. The more boots we put in the back side of our if onlys, the more we will get what we want
8. For all those who are suffering:
   1. Sometimes we don’t need advice. Sometimes we just need to hear we’re not the only one
9. Here’s something for balance:
   1. A man addicted to ideas need to be intervened with starvation. A man addicted to truths need to be fed
10. Journey vs Destination:
    1. I’ve never cared much for the destinations. The idea of landing is too finite for my imagination and sense of song. Give me a direction and a sixteen lane highway with room to swerve and explore along the way. Like jazz, I prefer to see life as a river. Behind the steering wheel has been my favourite seat, and driving the highways of America has always been my ideal office
11. Common Sense:
    1. Common sense is like money and health. Once you have it, you have to work to keep it
12. If you’re high enough, the sun’s always shining
13. The business of Business:
    1. It’s better to play your game in the business of Hollywood than to do your business playing Hollywood’s game. You have to get the joke, and the joke is, nothing’s personal. From the ‘I love yous’ to the unreturned phone calls when your last picture didn’t perform, they will pick you up in a limo, but you might have to catch a cab home. It’s not personal, it’s just business
14. What’s peace?
    1. An honest man’s pillow is his peace of mind. And when we lie down on ours at night, no matter who’s in our bed, we all sleep alone
15. Time and truth:
    1. Two constants you can rely on. One shows up for the first time every time while the other never leaves