Actor Jim Carrey graced the graduation ceremony of the Maharishi University of Management at the meditation preaching university of Iowa on Saturday. The comedian shared his story with the graduates starting with the great lessons he learned from his father.

Carrey told the graduates that we all have to choose between being practical and doing what we love. Sometimes we choose the practical thing, not knowing that we will not be happy with it. He then told the story of his father who chose to work as an accountant, a job his father considered safe, instead of following what he really wanted to do. However, his father got laid off, forcing the family to do everything just so they could stay alive. He was only 12 years old at the time.

Carrey said that the best lesson he learned from his father was that it was better to take risks and do what you really want because doing the things we do not want will ultimately fail us. He continued to say that the reality of his purpose in life, which is to liberate people from worry and anxiety, came when he was 28 years old. Carrey said that his father's experience taught him to follow his heart and not to do what is supposedly right for you. This, he said, was his ministry.

He left the graduates with this beautiful and meaningful thought: "I've often said that I wish people could realize all their dreams and wealth and fame, so that they could see that it's not where they're gonna find their sense of completion." Carrey told the graduates that discovering how things will work out for you is not your task, but you need to grab the opportunity when it comes.

The university conferred on Carrey the Doctor of Fine Arts Honoris Causa honorary degree during the ceremony.