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Maturity

Kenneth Leong
2 min readNov 6, 2019

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Maturity is not a matter of how old, how smart or how successful you are;
It has everything to do with how well you manage walking through fire.

Maturity is not just the ability to have sex, or not to have sex;
It has to do with one’s ability to empathize, feel and connect with another human being, and balance one’s passion with compassion.

Maturity does not necessarily mean that you can support yourself in every each way.
But it does mean that you don’t base your peace and happiness on the emotional support, praise, affirmation or approval of others.

Maturity has nothing to do with how charming you are or how socially graceful you have made yourself to be; it has much to do with how you handle your own anger, fear, lust, greed, jealousy and other inner demons when you are away from the limelight.

Maturity does not mean to live one’s life seriously or cautiously all the time;
It is also to know when is the time to relax, to forget oneself and dance wildly as if no one is watching.

Maturity is not to value what the world values, or to despise what the world despises.
It is to see treasure in what the world discards, and magic in what is ordinary.

Maturity is knowing that one does not have to be “perfect” all the time;
It has to do with how well we take failure, rejection, betrayal and defeat and learn from them.

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Kenneth Leong
Kenneth Leong

Written by Kenneth Leong

Author, Zen teacher, scientific mystic, professor, photographer, philosopher, social commentator, socially engaged human

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