How do you want to live?

I was actually thinking the other day just how much happier I would be if there wasn't any pressure on me to try to impress everyone with how amazing my life is or whether or not I'm improving.

Living your life as if you MUST keep improving is bound to leave you really unhappy and disappointed with pretty much every day, because you're just going to end up guilting yourself over not doing something you weren't even really all that interested in, and there are always days or months or years when you're going to get worse (even much worse/lazier/eating crap food/etc) and when that happens it's better not to be overly disappointed with yourself. I want to get to the point where I can say that I don't really care whether or not I'm good at anything or if I've actually accomplished something or if I've 'squeezed as much out of life as I could'-- I just mostly want to know what I like to do and then do it. I think that avoiding unrealistic expectations is pretty important-- maybe the most important thing.

So yeah, basically I will improve by not improving and focusing on where I am and trying to content myself with that... with all of the self-help do-this/don't do this healthy and dynamic living BS being thrown around, it's hard enough just to know who you are and what you like, and whether or not you're doing something you want to do or if you're just doing it because you're trying to impress superficial people or because you're afraid of dying or whatever. I don't really want to live that long anyways-- retirement doesn't seem so amazing.

 

I want to be challenged everyday. Tinkering of self, till I basically feel invincible. Both externally skill-wise and internally as a person. Not too worried about where I will end up short exactly, the only one I have to beat is myself every day. To be pushed out of my comfort zone every now and then till what I initially feared becomes "meh". This will require facing lots of people's comments and criticism, so I will need teachers, mentors and therapists even, throughout life. I want to be a role model for those I know personally, generally thinking about my own would-be two children. I hope they grow up to have a courageous flame in their hearts, to be brave and go fetch what they want out of life.

Not sure if that answered the question, but living compared to dying is such a long process to idealise >.<

 

I want to live content in the moment, free of judgements from both myself and others. I want to do what I can do in the moment and nothing more (and not pressure myself for anything more) and be at peace with that not being perfect.

 

Without worry over money and away from people.

 

Cabin in the mountains, girl of my dreams, a Siberian Husky named Caleb and lots of pizza.

 

I'd like to be able to become somewhat of a minimalist. Weed my belongings and obligations down to where I need very little or nothing in the way of income to survive, and live that simpler life in a warm climate.
How did I end up with so much crap? And the bills that go with it? Little by little.
I would then like to use the time that I spend now living this slow, and mind numbing 8-10 hours a day called the workday doing volunteer work for others.

 

Like most people, I just wish to live contentedly. There would preferably be continual learning and growth -- separate from personal improvement in that there is no end goal -- but I'm not sure whether the point is worth arguing. We can only hold so much before any more becomes redundant and clutterish.

 

This is the best question eveh!

It's amazing how wonderful the timing is.... [shakes head in disbelief] I've been circling around this question for over a week now as it has been asked before you did. Somehow it feels easier telling you.

I want to live in a place where I have access to the quiet love from nature in a cooler climate.
I'd take walks in it or be in it every day I was home.
I'd have plants and animals and people around me in mutually beneficial and nurturing relationships. I'd welcome disabled and traumatized people to my place and run sessions with them on horses - or grooming horses - or singing to the horses.... so many wonderful things to do with and around and for horses.... sigh....I miss them.
I'd have the flexibility to move whenever my body deems it delightful. I'd dance when I wanted to. Walked/exercised when I want to. Stretch and/or do yoga moves when my body wanted to.
I'd have a garden and grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. I'd have a chicken tractor (movable hen house). I gain a great deep sense of satisfaction when I watch what I planted in the ground grow. Combining a movable hen house with gardening is mututally beneficial-harmonious with nature - logical - and creates healthy food for myself and my beloveds. I very much resonate with this.
I'd find someone somewhere who milked goats and made products from the milk and sell them to me. Although I do not readily like the taste of goat milk - it is wayyyyyy better than cows milk. And it's better for our system too. Besides - I like the idea of going out and visiting and petting goats.
I'd have access to wide selections of organic and range grown food.
I'd be able to utilize my gifts in the service of others and make enough of a living to thrive from doing this. Helping others learn to turn their compassion in on their selves would make me happy to get out of bed every day! So...I'd do that. I'd coach people.
I'd schedule clients in cool places I'd like to visit.... because I like exploring Earth. :bounce:
I'd feel joy every day and be able to tell people about it because they'd appreciate hearing it.
I'd have more opportunity to get people to laugh. I guess this would mean I'd find more people who appreciate my sense of humor? I don't know... or maybe it means I'd have my own facebook page and I'd post stuff in it and people would laugh? Naw....that doesn't sound right. I know.... the people who come to my place would find me humorous. The people who lived with me would laugh while we ate dinner.
I'd sit on the porch in the evening some nights and listen to the stillness.
Other nights I'd dance and sing for Spirits.
I already fall in love almost every day now. That will steadily increase (hopefully) until I am in that state all of the time.


Calling: @Questingpoet @bamf @mia kulpah @charlene @Black Sheep @efromm @purplecrayons @Serenity @Soulful @Trifoilum @ThisIsWhoIAm @TinyBubbles @Vicarious @Stu

 

Daily I want to bring some level of improvement on my environment, on my skills or knowledge, and on my spiritual and psychological health.
Daily I also want to bring some kind of delight into someone else's life.

 

Whatever it takes to make those I love happy and myself happy, simple as that. Some days that means working from sunup to sunset, others it means lying in bed and doing nothing but listening. Sometimes it requires traveling the world and at other times it just requires opening the front door. From day to day, what I need to do to make my life better will change but at the end of the day every action can be explained simply by this desire for happiness.

 

Great thread.

I would like to have a place somewhere near my city (desert climate) but on the outskirts, so i'll be living in nature (desert though as i love it).

I'd like to teach martial arts, music, yoga and medidation, for students who would come and could stay the entire day and interact with eachother, chill, and have deep and prosperous conversations.

I'd raise my kids there with my wife, and they would go to an anthroposophic school in the city which would be close by, and will not be secluded without friends.

I would write and paint there as well, and release my books on the internet for free(i'll put an option to pay/donate but it would be up to the downloader).
The books would be about mental and physical health and the western misconceptions about illness and healing.
Plus some other things that interest me

I'd take walks in the desert with my two german shepherd dogs
[MENTION=2578]Kgal[/MENTION] you wanna open a place near mine?

 

I just want to be here and appreciate the people I'm with. Appreciate the beauty I see.

I just live life approaching it however I see fit to approach it every day, because it always changes if only slightly.

I want to smile as much as possible. I want to share a lot of happiness and explore and behold the beauty of the world together with others I meet.

I want to help others to release their bad feels. And I want to keep finding who I am and understanding this world and what I want or need to do in it.

I have problems with this too. You're welcome to PM me to vent whenever you'd like.

 

Hayell Yeh! :dance:

I was just thinking that as I was reading through your words. I found myself thinking wow - it would be cool to have you as part of my Intentional Community. Your ideals mesh well with mine.

Except I'd need to be able to talk with trees on a daily basis. I don't know if deserts support trees as I've not ever lived in one. I've only ever lived in and around forests.

 

As I get older I have less and less ideas about how I want to live. I find that I am in the stage of life where I am beginning to learn how I do not want to live. That is to say, I don't want to live by someone else's rules and guidelines, I don't want to compromise my own integrity and beliefs (as few and far between as they may be) to satisfy someone else's idea of the world. I do not want to succumb to ideals that will only disappoint me. That's not to say I am a pessimist, but I would much rather uncover all the untruths that I've been conditioned into since childhood and learn to live in a more real, authentic way. Because I am so wrapped in conditioning through my environment and society (I hate that term) it's hard to say what living authentically will look like. So in the mean time, I can only strip away what I don't want.

That's about as vague an answer as I'll ever write, I suppose.

 

Great thread idea!

I wrote this list while thinking: What would make me unhappy if it were missing from my life every day?
And this is what I came up with.

• Be true to myself
• Appreciate life's beauty
• Write/Create/Imagine/Discover
• Sing and listen to music
• Share all of life's pleasures with my soulmate
• Love and inspiration
• Be passionate/The ability to feel
• Evolve as an individual

This is a general list...I didnt elaborate on my hobbies and passions.
I *need* this in my life in order to maintain balance and achieve happiness

 

Well would be something like this: http://www.google.co.il/imgres?q=%D7%97%D7%95%D7%95%D7%94+%D7%91%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9D&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=960&bih=542&tbm=isch&tbnid=dBaRGzP9-MAvMM:&imgrefurl=http://www.carmey-avdat.co.il/63488/%25D7%259C%25D7%2599%25D7%25A0%25D7%2594-%25D7%2591%25D7%25A0%25D7%2592%25D7%2591&docid=ar603CIzGhDnQM&imgurl=http://www.carmey-avdat.co.il/image/users/63488/ftp/my_files/cabins/2.gif%253Fid%253D3128887&w=300&h=200&ei=nx5fUYirNujx4QTTyoGQBg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:62,s:0,i:274&iact=rc&dur=1991&page=6&tbnh=159&tbnw=214&start=54&ndsp=12&tx=76&ty=74

 

Cheers

 

Hey K! Sounds like you need to move to Idaho. You could most likely do all the things you want here.

You know I am more of a wanderer. I realize now that I enjoy the exploration and interaction with people. I like seeing the towns and city's that are built. I like to see nature in all her beauty. If I could I would travel the USA and photograph my travels and blog about it. You give me a camera and a town and I will find something there worth talking about. A home base would be anytime that I was in the forest. That is my natural home. I realize now how lucky I have been to be a forest dweller. To be able to follow a river or creek to it's beginnings. And explore it's fingers. I think I have lived in paradise all along. And just never really appreciated it. I would also like to explore the woods of BC. I love it up there. Wonderful country. Great People too....​