Lessons for a father - Life On Fire

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A friend of mine recently re-introduced me to the works of a 13th century Persian poet known more popularly in the English-speaking world simply as Rumi. 

One of his more famous quotes goes thus:

Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.

It has become one of my personal favorites. The words of Rumi hold a lot of meaning. They speak of passion and true friendship and belief. All things that we can do a little more with. 

Here is what I think Rumi was talking about:

1. Believing in ourselves: No one ever and anywhere will believe in us and our abilities if we do not believe in ourselves. "Set your life on fire" has two very distinct words that stand out for me - "your" refers to us as the owners of our lives and destiny. We own what we have and what we do. 
2. Let that fire burn: The second is the word "fire". No matter what we do in life, it should be coupled with red hot passion. We should do what we do with so much zeal and hunger that it burns within us setting light to whatever and whoever we come in contact with. That light within us should also burn bright to show others the path and lead them to what they want to be successful at and show passion for.
3. Seek true friends and mentors: This is a hard task. The people that show up and respond when your chips are really down - those are the ones that we look for. How do we get friends like those? By being a friend like that first. By, first, investing in their well being and greatness, that is how. We should feel lucky and grateful if we get those that enable our passions and "fan our flames".

My friends are better than me in various ways. Some are better programmers than I am, others are better leaders. Even others are better at empathy and human values. I learn from all of them. They all make me better. I am thankful for them and what they bring to my life everyday. 

Something else that I think is implicitly said in Rumi's words is that we should continuously keep learning and adapting. That continuous influx of knowledge must act as the fuel that keeps our passion burning. Without lifelong learning and adapting to changing conditions and priorities we will remain susceptible to things that do not make sense in this fast changing world.

In the meantime, as the great Rumi said: "Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray".