The simplicity of living a good life

[Zen Pig]

1. Love yourself. you can never love others if you don't love yourself

2. Gratitude 

3. A sense of humor about everything  

[Marblehead]

I think I do pretty good with all three of those.

 

And, of course, I do agree with you.

 

[Marblehead]

I think Limahong does pretty good with that too.

 

[dawei]

13 hours ago, Zen Pig said:

1. Love yourself. you can never love others if you don't love yourself

2. Gratitude 

3. A sense of humor about everything  

 

 The first one really just enforces separation theory... self vs others. This seems quite a conundrum that Quan Yin understood.

 

Second is still separation theory.

 

Third is separation theory too...  but gives one a chance to laugh 

[Everything]

Yeah words don't teach, only experience teaches.

 

For allot of people it is easier to accept themselves and stop judging themselves, before they are then more ready to love themselves and thereby more able to love everyone and everything aswell.

 

Gratitude can be a sort of surrender that can get really messed up like a slave who's practicing gratitude to its slavemaster. Where as appreciation is a much better word for what you're trying to describe here. People have allot of negative things that has nothing to do with love, assigned to their experiences of love. Where as appreciation is often a cleaner word with more clarity in their experiences of it, for most people, because people don't often appreciate something for any other reason than that it feels good to do so and then they allow themselves to be their own naturaly experience of appreciation more easily.

 

Humor can lead down pessimistic pathways. It is not a bad thing, can be a path of lesser resistance for allot of people, it can be a wonderful source of temporary relief, that can then allow them to allow themselves to enjoy life more effortlessly and naturally and easily. But the goal would then be to stop judging alltogether, which brings us back to the first step. Simply being content with everything. That can yield more experiences of value that then can help someone allow themselves to be the love and appreciation that they seek in life more often.

 

And yeah, when you do love and appreciate, life is very simple and easy, everything works out for you, naturally, as you are being in harmony and alignment with your full nature. But it works out in a way that you cannot even imagine or comprehend even if someone in love would try and describe it to you with words. So you have to take the step by step, gradual journey of feeling better, that is the true simplicity of life.

 

Reach for the better feeling and keep doing it. Because then, even when you are in love and appreciation, you still reach for a better feeling. There is always a better feeling. Life can always get more easy and enjoyable. And more fun. If you allow it, by allowing yourself to feel better.

 

But if you wait for life to feel better, and you're not allowing yourself to feel better, life cannot reflect back to you anything else than what you are feeling right now, so you cannot see that which feels better, even if it were always with you and always has been and always in front of you, but you cannot see it in such a case.

 

Just like you look at a mirror, and you wait for the mirror to become happy. It never will, untill you become happy first and then look in the mirror and then you will know what happiness means. Life is like that mirror. When you are feeling better yourself, you are actually causing life to feel better aswell.

Edited October 13, 2018 by Everything

[Marblehead]

11 hours ago, dawei said:

 

 The first one really just enforces separation theory... self vs others. This seems quite a conundrum that Quan Yin understood.

 

Second is still separation theory.

 

Third is separation theory too...  but gives one a chance to laugh 

Yeah, but I am primarily a dualistic kind of guy so none of that matters.

 

 

[Marblehead]

But then, there are some people I would never be able to love.  And there are some things, some people, I would never feel gratitude for when all I have received is trouble and heartache.

 

 

[Everything]

20 hours ago, Marblehead said:

But then, there are some people I would never be able to love.  And there are some things, some people, I would never feel gratitude for when all I have received is trouble and heartache.

 

 

 

[Marblehead]

Actually, there are some things I can say "never" to because they are against my set of values.

 

Other things I would never do unless conditions dictated that I do them.

 

That's the beauty of free will and having choices.

 

Always remain flexible.

 

[moment]

On 10/13/2018 at 3:53 PM, dawei said:

 

 The first one really just enforces separation theory... self vs others. This seems quite a conundrum that Quan Yin understood.

 

Second is still separation theory.

 

Third is separation theory too...  but gives one a chance to laugh 

 

Are you talking about the mythical Goddess Guan Yin?

[thelerner]

On 10/13/2018 at 4:39 AM, Zen Pig said:

1. Love yourself. you can never love others if you don't love yourself

2. Gratitude 

3. A sense of humor about everything  

These days I've downgraded loving myself and others to accepting them, that's the best I can do at the moment.  Some days I accept and like'em. 

Agree with gratitude and think generosity is the flip side of it.  We express gratitude by being generous. 

Having a sense of humor about the little things, and most of the crap is on lives are in true perspective, small, is an important step to peace. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by thelerner

[SlowRiot]

Is it possible to really live a good life, when you know about so much hatred and destruction taking place daily ? I really wonder about this these days...

For me things are going pretty well, but should i forget about what is happening - ecocide, far right rising up, mass extinction.... I know i dont have the power to stop it by myself, but its hard not to feel hopeless.

Edited October 29, 2018 by SlowRiot
Typo

[Miroku]

2 minutes ago, SlowRiot said:

Is it possible to really live a good life, when you know about so much hatred and destruction taking place daily ? I really wonder about this these days...

For me things are going pretty well, but shoul i forget about what is happening - ecocide, far right rising up, mass extinction.... I know i dont have the power to stop it by myself, but its hard not to feel hopeless.

Don't live a good live despite evil's existance. Live a good live because evil exists. Honest good live filled with love and care is an open defiance to anything bad and nurtures many positive things. Kinda like Tolkien wrote:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

[Marblehead]

3 minutes ago, SlowRiot said:

Is it possible to really live a good life, when you know about so much hatred and destruction taking place daily ? I really wonder about this these days...

For me things are going pretty well, but should i forget about what is happening - ecocide, far right rising up, mass extinction.... I know i dont have the power to stop it by myself, but its hard not to feel hopeless.

And this is why we should not take life too seriously.  We see many things we think are wrong or destructive.  But we are powerless.  Nihilism?  Hell no!  Reality.  We each of us have our own limits.  Some can help, some are helpless.

 

We just do the best we can with what we have.

 

[SlowRiot]

Thank you. My heart agree with you, my mind not so much. I just read about a new study showing just how fast an enormous number of animal species are disappearing, and thats hard not to make a connection with how damaging it is for us, for the balance of things and ultimely, the Dao.

Ancient daoists lived in a chaotic society for sure, but at these times human was far from being such a threat to the very essence of life itself. 

Sorry for being such a pessimistic, i hope to be wrong but there is just too much happening so fast.

Edited October 30, 2018 by SlowRiot
Typo

[Marblehead]

1 hour ago, SlowRiot said:

Sorry for being such a pessimistic, i hope to be wrong but there is just too much happening so fast.

I hear you.  And it is true that whether we can or cannot do anything to right the problems and whether or not we actually do get involved, there are just too many people who don't see that there is a problem.  No problem - no corrective measures.

 

[Fa Xin]

12 hours ago, SlowRiot said:

Thank you. My heart agree with you, my mind not so much. I just read about a new study showing just how fast an enormous number of animal species are disappearing, and thats hard not to make a connection with how damaging it is for us, for the balance of things and ultimely, the Dao.

 

From a human standpoint ... things are looking pretty grim.

But maybe from the view of the Dao, everything is where it's supposed to be... Chaos and all.

 

 

[ilumairen]

On 10/13/2018 at 6:53 PM, dawei said:

 

 The first one really just enforces separation theory... self vs others. This seems quite a conundrum that Quan Yin understood.

 

Second is still separation theory.

 

Third is separation theory too...  but gives one a chance to laugh 

 

Where is Rene? She's supposed to be here to remind us of 'both - same time'.