what's a good life? (yet again)

[Viking]

im always coming back to this question - what is a good life? and each time my understanding deepens and comes closer to the answer.

I watched that video 

 

and I think her life is miserable, at least if I would live it. Seems so superficial and surface-level living.

Though I dont know. After all, I think what determines a good life is how you feel. "the sweetness of your emotions", "the intensity of your life" as sadhguru puts its. Although that is affected by the way you live your life, it can be present even in a life situation as shown in the video.

All that stuff like gratitude, learning, contribution, self development is not IT. That stuff may contribute to feeling genuinely good on a daily basis, which what a good life is, but having that stuff is not a requirement for a good life, and definitely doesnt necessarily bring it about.

I dont even think enlightenment is a requirement for a good life, I think good life leads to enlightenment. 

I dont talk from experience, but I dont think identifying as consciousness will necessarily bring about sweetness and intensity of life. sure, there may be no suffering, but it doesnt have what I consider to be the components of a good life.

I think they key is energy work. 

our body's energy/vibe is itself the emotions and the happiness we feel. if we can change it for the better, by which I mean enhance the positive and lessen the negative, we will have a good life. By negative I dont mean sad emotions, I mean unnecessary states of mind, like anxiety, fear, depression etc. hence I didnt break the ying and yang law rule thing.

The ways to bring about energetic changes to the body which I found are the following:

• Yoga, specifically energy oriented like kriya/kundalini
• psychedelics- from my personal experience, after a few trips my energetic body definitely changed, I feel more love, joy, I laugh more easily, though negative feelings increased as well, so what needed is:
• shadow work- getting rid of your negative beliefs. Every negative feeling has a cause rooted in some belief. Enlightenment is the pinnacle of shadow work, because the ego is ultimately the root of negative feelings.
• kundalini activation- dont know much about it, but it amplifies the whole of life. like with psychedelics a lot of shadow work needed to make your life positive.
• having good life circumstances, like contributing to society, being grateful, growing etc. but that's a bonus, I think in order to get there you need to have a good sense about the world already (good feeling). what kind of motivation would you have to grow if you're depressed?

eudaimonia as I see it is ultimately about feeling the best you can at all times. my definition of "feeling the best" is not some hedonistic shallow stuff, but a genuine feeling that life is good, that is what we're all after.

p.s. if you know any more ways to change the energetic state I would be grateful if you could share

Edited July 30, 2018 by Viking

[Viking]

Just now, Feel Good said:

A good life is your actual life. Not the life you think about 

well. if I understood you, you basically say that awareness plays a key role here. I think the state of your energetic body is determining your awareness. compare a western businessman and a buddhist monk. it's not like the businessman can just decide to not live in his thinking mind. I think the change that should take place is in the energetic body (whatever the fuck that may be), over time as you mentioned.

[BjarkeT]

“I’ll live the focused life, because it’s the best kind there is.” Winifred Gallagher said from cal newports book deep work.

some other quotes from the book:

“Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love—is the sum of what you focus on.”

“what we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore—plays in defining the quality of our life.”

“Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging. There”

“The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”

there is a lot of benefits from doing deep work like getting passion from your work and being recognized for what you do.

I recommend reading hes books they are really interesting.

some examples of people who did deep work is:

issac newton, albert einstein, richard feynman, charles darwin.

Edited July 30, 2018 by BjarkeT

[Viking]

@BjarkeT that's included in the last point of the 5 I made, and I think that's the path with lowest probability of success, because you need your body to be aligned in such a way for you to be able to do deep work.

[BjarkeT]

@Viking what do you mean aligned? Anybody can do deep work it's just a matter of training and disconnecting from distractions. Or was it that what you meant by it?

[Viking]

Just now, BjarkeT said:

it's just a matter of training and disconnecting from distractions

I dont agree, I think it's much more than that. You have to have commitment, motivation, discipline, and reason to invest your time into a specific domain. That comes with that alignment.

think, why dont all people just do deep work? if it would be as simple as training and disconnecting from distractions everyone would be deep working. The motivation and the resolve are extremely important.

[BjarkeT]

@Viking 

so far i have read that it really is just a matter of training and disconnecting/quitting distractions. It helps to focus on something wildly important as cal says. Yes those 3 things are required but the main thing is training and disconnecting distractions you can still have those 3 things but if you don't disconnect from distractions or train your ability to do it you won't perform deep work very well.

not everyone is doing deep work because they may not be aware of it. It's not easy to quit distractions. It's not easy to train your ability to do deep work. It's not easy to embrace boredom (rule 2 from deep work) after being on distractions for a while.

“Once your brain has become accustomed to on-demand distraction, Nass discovered, it’s hard to shake the addiction even when you want to concentrate. To put this more concretely: If every moment of potential boredom in your life—say, having to wait five minutes in line or sit alone in a restaurant until a friend arrives—is relieved with a quick glance at your smartphone, then your brain has likely been rewired to a point where, like the “mental wrecks” in Nass’s research, it’s not ready for deep work—even if you regularly schedule time to practice this concentration.” Cal newport.

Edited July 30, 2018 by BjarkeT

[Viking]

4 minutes ago, BjarkeT said:

not everyone is doing deep work because they may not be aware of it. It's not easy to quit distractions. It's not easy to train your ability to do deep work. It's not easy to embrace boredom (rule 2 from deep work) after being on distractions for a while.

What do you think allows certain people to go over that hump of building those habits while most people wont succeed? I think it's negative beliefs, which is part of that "alignment"

[BjarkeT]

@Viking i think it's mostly the reason I mentioned and probably the one you mentioned however I haven't heard that from cal newport so far. while those who succeed probably are aware of what's required and does what's required.

http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/12/31/resolve-to-live-a-deep-life/

(actually it's training, quitting distractions and protecting your time to do deep work)

Edited July 30, 2018 by BjarkeT

[Arkandeus]

 

Quote

 I think her life is miserable, at least if I would live it. Seems so superficial and surface-level living.

Though I dont know. After all, I think what determines a good life is how you feel. "the sweetness of your emotions", "the intensity of your life" as sadhguru puts its. Although that is affected by the way you live your life, it can be present even in a life situation as shown in the video.

here you are, coldly dissecting, analyzing this girl's life

have you considered the effects of your attention towards the life of this girl?

do you think if you looked at this girls life and believed in her happiness , would that actually make a difference?

do you think you are not taking a part of this girls life? that you are merely watching images on a screen and there is large distance between you and her physically?

whether the girl has a miserable life or not, would there be an effect if you made the conscious decision to believe in the happiness of her life? would that effect her life even in the smallest way

I think so, and that to me is consciousness work

to be conscious that life is now, you are not sitting on a seat watching life from far away on a screen, you participate, and your decision to believe in someone's life, in their happiness has a real effect

its not about who's living right or who's living wrong, its about love

only when we realize that our thoughts affects this reality and the people in it directly in real ways, will we have the power to stop our minds from dissecting life

 

know that I believe in your life, in your happiness and your satisfaction

Edited July 30, 2018 by Arkandeus

[Viking]

3 minutes ago, Arkandeus said:

do you think if you looked at this girls life and believed in her happiness , would that actually make a difference?

do you think you are not taking a part of this girls life? that you are merely watching images on a screen and there is large distance between you and her physically?

whether the girl has a miserable life or not, would there be an effect if you made the conscious decision to believe in the happiness of her life? would that effect her life even in the smallest way

I dont believe my opinion changes her life in some way

[martin_malin]

@Viking Have you ever read ''A guide to the good life'' from William B. Irving? I open it at least twice a week. 

[NoSelfSelf]

Good life is an idea that you can only answer for yourself its like art some people love one type of art some other its like a blank space that you let itself paint or you come to paint it yourself like you choose...

[Leo-Tzu]

One where you're happy and loving mos of the time i guess?