happiness / Live life fully

@Lesoldat one can enjoy life by helping others, pursuing their dreams, just do what you want to do, what makes you happy.

 

I don't see happiness as something that external things can give us. They only can give pleasure. But I don't think happiness is a feeling or emotion. It's a state of being. Something that we already have, it's just covered by our mind and the way we see the world. I do want to uncover some more happiness in my life. So I study my psychology and practice self development. Cos I believe that's the way to it. I'm not master of all of that yet but so far, from practicing what I do know, I notice that those beliefs are true, in my experience anyways. Dreams I have. Reaching them would bring some pleasure and working towards them is fun journey. But that's about all significant I give to them.

What does it mean for me to enjoy life? Well, I think there are two main states in life. You either suffer your life or you enjoy it. I guess there is also third state which is neutral, I would call it peace. But most of people, including me, does not really live in that one for very long. We either suffer something or enjoy something. We are either in a state of pain or pleasure. You are either bored or entertained, enjoying to play tennis or pushing through hard workout that you hate, either thankful for your shelter and food or sad that you are not as wealthy as others who can afford better food and house. You can not have both, you have to pick one. It's like you have to pick between light and dark, you can not have lit and dark room at the same time. So for me it's about putting in conscious focus and effort to stay in a state of positivity and gratefulness, and excitement. Because pulling myself out of state of suffering automatically creates enjoyment. Or at least peace, which is pretty enjoyable too. Notice how I focus more on psychology of it all rather than material things? Cos I believe our mind creates our reality, not the dreams we accomplish. If they would make you happy then that's indirectly, only because you used them as a tool to transform your mind.

Do things you like. If you like a lot of things, well, do all of them if you can find time. I think more important than pleasure tho is fulfillment. I for example feel pleasure from watching Netflix but spending that time on working at my dream carrier is painful, cos it's boring at times, but it's more fulfilling. Or PMO. Pleasurable. But going through all of this struggle for something greater and not giving in is more fulfilling. So maybe it's not so much about what things you enjoy doing that will bring you pleasure but what things you think you need to do to feel fulfilled for a day, when going to sleep. Have a feeling like " yea, what I did today meant something".

 

What makes a thing worth having or doing? What makes a meal worth having? What makes a movie worth seeing? What makes Italy worth visiting? What makes it worth for a fighter to go through that pain and sacrifice to win the belt? What makes ANYTHING wroth? It's either one: the pleasurable experience of that moment. Or two: the memory, that one has done it.

The things you do NOW extends into eternity. The moment of pleasure is short. But the memory will be forever. We all have different values and beliefs in life. What is more important to You? When you will be 98 years old, with your life 98% over, sitting in a wheelchair in your room staring out of the window like a cat, what will you remember? The awesome TV show on Netflix you once seen? Or the time you spend to work on your dream instead of watching TV? What will be the most fulfilling? What will you regret? All the time you spend home with kids when instead you could have spent it on your business, because you wanted to build an empire? Or will you regret wasting all the time on meaningless dreams, what now are empty, when you could have spend it with loved ones instead? I don't know, it's different for everybody. Cos like I said, we all have different values and beliefs in life. So what makes life worth living? That's something only you can answer for yourself.

I know to me it's about fulfillment. I see there are two types of pleasure in life. One comes from the mind and body. And other comes from the soul. A higher self vs a lower self, if you will. So that's what I use as a guideline. If I ate this cheese cake yes I will feel pleasure, but if I ate this apple instead I will feel different pleasure. The pleasure of pride, strength, health, energy. Instead of pleasure in my mouth and quick dopamine release in brain.

That being said, I do believe there needs to be balance. Life is all about balance. The problem in this society is not that we play video games, watch TV or ate junk food. It's that it is the only thing we do. We don't balance these things out with stuff that would feed our higher self as well. We just drug ourselves with TV, sugar, fat, MO, video games, etc. That's the life of most people. They will probably die drugged too. The very fact that you are even thinking about what's life is about is a sign that you are starting to awake. And it's painful, cos of all the confusion and fear. But what feeds the lower self will never feed the higher self. They can not digest the same food. You either have to pick a favorite one and starve the other one till almost death or feed them both. You don't want to kill one of them tho, trust me you don't.