Hi Friends!
Carlos
Slim, in a letter to the university community, gives advice to the most
outstanding students on what, in his opinión, are the most important things in
life.
Mexico City, June 1994
I write to you this letter in
order to share some of my life experiences, hoping it will contribute to your
education, your way of thinking and living, your emotional well-being, your
sense of responsibility to yourselves and to others, your maturity, and above
all, to your happiness, which should be the result of your daily existence.
You are privileged within society
due to your talents and efforts, and for the best reason, your own worth.
Success is not about doing things
well or even very well, or being acknowledged by others. It is not an external opinion, but rather an
internal status. It is the harmony
between the soul and your emotions, which requires love, family, friendship,
authenticity and integrity.
To be as exceptional as you are
is a privilege, but it also entails many risks that can have an impact on
values that are much more important than professional, economic, social or
political “success”. Emotional strength
and stability are in the interior life, and in avoiding emotions that erode the
soul such as envy, jealousy, arrogance, lust, selfishness, vengeance, greed and
laziness, which are a poison that is ingested little by little.
When you give, do not expect to
receive. “Fragrance clings to the hand
that gives the rose,” says a Chinese proverb.
Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it
is conceived and developed within ourselves.
Do not mix up your values or
betray your principles. Life’s road is
very long, but it is traveled fast. Live
the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the
future be an incentive. Each person
forges his or her own destiny and it may influence reality. Do not ignore it.
Live with positive feelings and
emotions such as love, friendship, loyalty, courage, joy, good humor,
enthusiasm, peace, serenity, patience, trust, tolerance, prudence and
responsibility. Do not allow their
opposites to invade your soul, may they pass quickly from your mind, do not
allow them to stay there, banish them.
You will make mistakes many times, it is normal and human; but try to
make them small, then accept, correct and forget them. Do not be obsessed by
them; heaven and hell are within us.
What is most valuable in life does not cost anything but is very
precious: love, friendship, nature and
what man has been able to achieve with it; the forms, colors, sounds, smells
that we perceive with our senses can only be appreciated when we are
emotionally awake.
Live without fear and guilt; fear
is the worst feeling men can have, it weakens them, inhibits action and
depresses them. Guilt is a tremendous
burden in our lives, the way we think and act.
Guilt and fear make the present difficult and obstruct the future. To fight them, let us have good sense and
accept ourselves as we are, with our realities, our merits and our sorrows.
Staying occupied displaces
preoccupation and problems, and when we face our problems, they disappear. Thus, they make us stronger every day. We
should learn from failure, and successes should be silent incentives. Act always as your conscience dictates,
because it never lies. Fear and guilt
will then be minimal. Do not block
yourself in, do not ruin your life, live it with intelligence, with soul and
senses aware and on the alert; get to know their manifestations and train
yourselves to appreciate and enjoy life.
Work well done is not only a
responsibility to yourselves and society; it is also an emotional need.
At the end we depart with
nothing, we leave behind only our work, family and friends, and, perhaps, a
positive influence which we have planted.
My
very best wishes,
Carlos
Slim Helú
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