The longboarding community is brimming with truly fascinating people, people who think deeply and people who have learnt to love life; people like Paul. Paul lives in El Paso, Texas, is 21 and has a 9 month old daughter. He is also a longboarder, reader, martial arts practitioner and artist (see above for a sword he made). In a bid to garner many perspectives, I’ve given him this platform and today he talks to us about what he’s learnt about life.

Life is hard.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar or a fool. But, Be glad that life is hard.

How will you ever grow without challenges to overcome?

A life without struggle is a fruitless one. There is beauty in the struggle. Hold no anger or resentment toward obstacles you face, but face them with love in your heart. For you will never know true happiness until you have overcome hardship.

All experiences lead us one step closer to enlightenment. The best thing you can do to arm yourself against the challenges of life is to love yourself.

Yet, this is also the hardest thing to do, but once it is achieved you have the power to do anything.

Love for others and yourself is the constant work toward spiritual growth whether or not it involves suffering.

Do not love others for what they do for you but for who they really are. Challenge them to grow and love them even when they make mistakes. God [edit: in my opinion this word holds to much negative connotation so can be changed to ‘the universe’] gives us challenges to grow our spirits even if it involves our suffering for he is a loving god.

Arm yourself with truth. Walk the path of truth and honesty and you will walk the path you were destined to walk. Memories are too precious to distort with lies. If you live hiding from the truth how can you ever be happy? When others crumble under the pressure of lies, you shall stand tall for truth is a powerful ally.

Be grateful and positive. We are privileged to experience such a beautiful life and world.

Being positive brings positive into your life. Every thought you have springs into life in the garden that is your mind. Water the plants you want to grow.

Only entertain those thoughts which empower you. For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Guard your thoughts and when you have negative ones, pause, reflect, and then change them into positive thoughts. The energy you put out is the energy you receive.

(Photo – El Paso, Texas, 2016)