*Transcendental *Logic

It’s been a while since I did a list, and longer since it was one that didn’t entirely have to do with sleeping (or not), so hizah!  Behold:

Things It’s Just A Good Idea To Do With Your Life

This list is by no means inclusive, but I’ve given it lots of thought.  It may, in fact, be a collection of the best advice I could ever offer anybody. So many things are of ambiguous value…the good job, the fancy house, the social network…even things we’re all taught to strive ceaselessly after, like The Relationship.  What are some things that are just good ideas, things that you can be pretty sure you’ll be happy you’re doing and glad you did?  These are my ideas of course, but additions are totally welcome.  And p.s.:  I have not done all of these things…yet.

1.   Learn to drive the things you may need to, be that a car, a stick-shift, a tractor, a boat…whatever vehicles feature prominently in your environment, try to have at least a decent working knowledge about how to operate them, and preferably a license too.  You never know when you may need that knowledge, or be able to make money off it in a pinch.  If neither of those ever come up, you can still show off.  ;)

2.   Learn a form of meditation.  Any form will do, but when the shit hits the fan and you’re left gasping for air and needing to not go crazy for the moment, knowing how to breathe through it, to find your center, or whatever you can do to keep your wits about you, could save your life / sanity / world.  Plus it has lots and lots of other smaller benefits over time, and would be a positive thing even if you never “needed” it.

3.   Learn some physical thing so well that you can do it in your sleep.  This could be anything from martial arts to hoeing a garden, but there’s a lot of contact-with-reality and overall happiness associated with being able to do something with your body so well that it almost happens automatically.  I’m told this takes at least ten years to really kick in, so pick something you like if at all possible and get started, already!

4.   Get familiar with your favorite philosopher.  Even if you’re not “into philosophy”, pick the person whose ideas you admire most (or one you generally agree with) and read as much as you can about them.  Why reinvent the wheel?  If somebody out there has already worked hard to develop a philosophy that you’ll probably agree with most of, why leave yourself hanging when you need that wisdom?  Not everybody has time to come up with everything from scratch.  One tip, though:  Make sure you pick someone whose life you feel is exemplary, not just their philosophy.  The words of someone who screwed the pooch on Earth aren’t likely to lead you to any different ending!

5.   Develop a deliberate routine, even if it’s only one step long.  By “deliberate”, I mean to differentiate between the routines we choose and the ones that we’re stuck with, like getting up for work.  Make sure your day includes at least one thing that you do because you choose to do it regularly no matter what.  This can be saying a prayer or poem every morning, or taking a walk every evening, doing situps, writing in a journal, making tea, whatever.  The intent is more important than the content.  You’ll find that this gives you a sense of control that can be invaluable, and gives you something that you can look at every day, no matter how icky a day it was, and say, “But I did that thing, I got that done.” 

6.   Practice sympathy.  Learn to see another person’s situation “from within their shoes”.  Start with people that aren’t too hard to sympathize with, and then move to more distant situations.  Can you feel understanding for how someone got where they are, or do you only feel contempt and “that couldn’t happen to me”?  Try to understand the cause-and-effect without assuming that someone’s at fault (be it the person, their parents, society, etc.)  See if you can make “there but for Grace go I” apply to everyone.  This will not only make you a better and happier person, but it will give you the ammunition to spread tolerance and peace in places where others can’t seem to do it — intolerance isn’t always somebody’s “fault” either; most of it comes from an inability to sympathize.  But how can you sympathize if you never learn how?  The trick to learning is always practice, practice, practice. 

7.   Be conscious of what you eat.   This is, I think, something of a new requirement for humanity; it used to be that for most people, you ate what was available, and that constituted a pretty simple, generally adequate diet.  It was natural, organic, seasonal, and local.  Nowadays, though, there’s a lot of different food around, and it’s easy to slide into feeding your body a mixture of fuel that can severely damage your health and performance in every area.  The answer to this is less a “diet” than to pay close attention to what you eat and how you feel.  This will lead you back to a balanced diet that suits your body and your lifestyle, and prevent you from overeating, etc.  (This step is one component of “the Zen diet”, which I’ll write about separately in more detail someday.)

8.   Give thanks daily.   Doesn’t matter who or what you thank, or if you actually thank anybody or anything.  What matters is to take a moment every day and be grateful for something.  (Beware of getting tangled up in prayers or other repetitive devices; the idea here is to be genuinely grateful for a moment, not just to pay lip-service.)  There’s even been recent science to back up the positive benefits of this, which last into and through old age.  It’s free and it only takes a few seconds; what can you lose?

9.   Whatever you love, do it every day.  Almost everybody in the world is a writer, artist, magician, singer, etc. etc. etc. who has to work at something else for most of their time in order to survive.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing (a society full of starving artists would quickly collapse), but don’t let it make you forget what you love most.  Whatever it is — if there’s more than one, pick the one that’s closest to your heart — make sure you get to do a little of it every single day.  Scribble a poem on a napkin.  Sing a fast aria in the car.  It doesn’t have to be perfect or even good (there’s a hidden benefit to not being paid for it!), but doing it, and making sure you do it no matter what pressures “real life” puts on you, will keep you happy, knowing that you didn’t sell your soul for your bread.  (Also remember — there may be only room for so many professional writers/singers/artists/etc. in the world, but there’s INFINITE room for songs, stories, paintings…)

10.  Be outside.   My dad grew up a farm boy, and though we’ve always lived in the city, he made sure to pass on his love of the outdoors to us.  It doesn’t require getting dirty, killing anything or taming any wilderness, you know.  Just standing outside, even in the city, and appreciating the configuration of the planet that spawned you can do wonderful things for your state of mind (and body).  Taking a walk, a hike, a swim, or just a second to breathe the air or watch some birds can be all the difference between a good day and a bad one, trust me.  Why?  Because nothing cheers people up like miracles, especially adult people and especially undeniable miracles, which all of nature is once you look close.  One dose of being outside is probably worth six therapy sessions, and at the moment it’s still cheaper.  Do it often.

-PD

This entry was posted 1 year, 11 months ago on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 3:31 pm and is filed under lists, mo' betta consciousness, philosophy, psychology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.