mathieu

Is It Possible To Make Yourself Believe That You Only Have A Few Years To Live?

14 posts in this topic

What I want is the kind of motivation that it will create when you know the your time is so short. I've heard Leo saying about the importance of knowing "your life is short" many times. Yes, I believe that life is short but the truth is, I am not yet motivated much. Is it possible to create such an artificial time constraint for your life? How? @Leo Gura

PS. I have read about Anthony Burgess who was 40 when he learned that he had a brain tumor that would kill him within a year... Burgess had never been a professional novelist in the past, but he always knew the potential was inside him to be a writer.... In that time, he wrote energetically, finishing five and a half novels before the year was through... But Burgess did not die. His cancer had gone. He wrote more than 70 books, but without the death sentence from cancer, he may not have written at all. (I've copied these lines from Steve Chandler's book, and this stuck in my head)

PSS. I didn't mean I want to be a novelist too. Generally, I believe it's important in realizing your own life purpose.

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You can ask yourself every morning what you would do if this was your last day....

You might see there is quite a difference between what you acutally do and what you would do ...

that´s where the work starts

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On 14.10.2016 at 8:21 PM, blazed said:

Steve jobs said this too and I don't quite get it,

I actually adaped this habit from steve jobs

On 14.10.2016 at 8:21 PM, blazed said:

Most of the world's population would just quit their jobs then,

Assumption, and i think not an accurate one. Just because you "want" to do smth else doesnt mean that you quit your job and lower your chance of survival 

On 14.10.2016 at 8:21 PM, blazed said:

and the world's economy would collapse.

another assumption ...based on the first assumtion. And even if "the economy" would "colapse" do you think life would stop ? 

On 14.10.2016 at 8:21 PM, blazed said:

At best you can strive towards a life you want, you'd have to work very hard and get lucky. Let's be honest you probably won't get it,

self limiting belief ...

On 14.10.2016 at 8:21 PM, blazed said:

how much of the world's population % is living their best dream?

justifying your limiting belief by saying "those people didnt get it so neither will i... 

On 14.10.2016 at 8:21 PM, blazed said:

Money for example, the small % of rich people in the world can only be rich if the rest stay down there at the bottom

that is another belief... infused with victim-mentality , it took me a while to go beyond that as well but it is crucial if you want to grow as a person!

On 14.10.2016 at 8:21 PM, blazed said:

, that's why business role models is to maximise profits and cut costs down all the time, hence we have automated machines, self checkouts, sweatshops and call centres in 3rd world countries, etc, etc.

you are very good at finding reasons why you can´t live the life that you want, arent you ? ...btw so am i , i guess we all are that to an extent. My solution is instead of finding reason why you can´t achieve your dreams ...actually fucking work on them every day, i know it sounds mad but it is all we have ... (which is another belief of mine ...it might be wrong or it might be right ... that´s life 

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Have you tried death meditation ? I'm not saying it can convince you that you only have months to live, but it can make you fully realize that the 50yrs you have left are going to pass in the blink of an eye. It's been great for me . 

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32 minutes ago, blazed said:

All you're talking about is positive thinking, a good trait to have.

What I'm talking about is reality, you can't force reality to suit you, you can only increase your chances by trying, doesn't mean you will get it.

The only way to win the game of life is to try and be happy in the moment of now, always. If happiness lies within future goals or dreams then you will lose, because you're implying that happiness is somewhere out there... in the future... something to be obtained...

It's not the goal that is important, it is the journey, the here and now, because it is the only true thing that you have.

agreed

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On 14/10/2016 at 0:21 PM, mathieu said:

What I want is the kind of motivation that it will create when you know the your time is so short.

How do you know that your time isn't short? How long do you expect to live? How can you be sure of that? Any one of us could die in the next 10 minutes. They real question to ask is: why are you so sure you have time in the first place?


“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.”  - Lao Tzu

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@FindingPeace hi. thanks for that insight.

22 hours ago, FindingPeace said:

How do you know that your time isn't short? How long do you expect to live? How can you be sure of that? Any one of us could die in the next 10 minutes. They real question to ask is: why are you so sure you have time in the first place?

I am not implying that I am "so sure" I have the time in the first place. I believe it is the default way of thinking of an ordinary man that he/she have the time in the future. You were right the any of us could die in the next 10 minutes, or say tomorrow or next year. But, why do people live like they have plenty of time? also me or maybe you?

Maybe the problem is that it's hard to make yourself believe that you might die sooner. Yes, it's hard to fool your unconscious mind. You might agree that we can die at any time, but your unconscious mind can't just believe that easily, unless you have some incurable illness or some disease.

22 hours ago, FindingPeace said:

They real question to ask is: why are you so sure you have time in the first place?

yeah, I believe generally people assume we have time in the first place, because i believe that's the default way. so my question might sound like, HOW to trick your mind to make it believe that you will die soon? is it possible?

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@Falk hi thanks for that insight too. I think that would also work well when I insert that in my sentence-completion exercises/habit every morning. Something like, "If this is my last day today, I would....." :))))

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On 10/16/2016 at 5:04 AM, ChimpBrain said:

Have you tried death meditation ? I'm not saying it can convince you that you only have months to live, but it can make you fully realize that the 50yrs you have left are going to pass in the blink of an eye. It's been great for me . 

Hi @ChimpBrain thanks for sharing that. First time I heard about "death meditation". Wow

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there was a zen saying: "Live your life like you have one day left and at the same time live your life like you have a hundred years left."

what it means to me is that if you deeply know yourself there will be no difference how much time you have left. If there is a difference depending on your time left  -- you got more inner work to do :)

Edited by Yavor Kirov

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@Yavor Kirov i was still thinking about my question within these past few days. and I can't imagine living my life purpose if I was given a year to live. It's simply because I have not found the one specific thing that is deeply meaningful to me, not even gained mastery over it.. I am still on the process of figuring out my Life Purpose, and i am taking the LP course for the second time. So I thought I really need more time to realize and live my dream career. Leo said it could took more than a decade, so let it be. I need to savor every day of "life" still given to me.

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Go see it.

See if you can do some volunteer work at the hospital or hospice care.  There's nothing that will make you think more about your own death than seeing others dealing with theirs.  After that, it'll be very easy to think about it every day.

Funerals are good for this too. Lot's of funerals.  And friends or relatives that are very sick.  Even getting very sick yourself will let you see it.

As you get older you're going to experience so much of it you're going to wish you hadn't.

But it'll help you for now. :)

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The best way to realise 

On 14/10/2016 at 7:21 PM, blazed said:

Steve jobs said this too and I don't quite get it, Most of the world's population would just quit their jobs then, and the world's economy would collapse.

At best you can strive towards a life you want, you'd have to work very hard and get lucky. Let's be honest you probably won't get it, how much of the world's population % is living their best dream?

Money for example, the small % of rich people in the world can only be rich if the rest stay down there at the bottom, that's why business role models is to maximise profits and cut costs down all the time, hence we have automated machines, self checkouts, sweatshops and call centres in 3rd world countries, etc, etc.

This isn't a very good belief to hold and ultimately will just cause you suffering. Get rid of all ideas, beliefs and concepts if you truly want to live!

Check out my Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsn6RFvtpS64w7KjL2RQUlQ

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On 14/10/2016 at 0:21 PM, mathieu said:

What I want is the kind of motivation that it will create when you know the your time is so short. I've heard Leo saying about the importance of knowing "your life is short" many times. Yes, I believe that life is short but the truth is, I am not yet motivated much. Is it possible to create such an artificial time constraint for your life? How? @Leo Gura

PS. I have read about Anthony Burgess who was 40 when he learned that he had a brain tumor that would kill him within a year... Burgess had never been a professional novelist in the past, but he always knew the potential was inside him to be a writer.... In that time, he wrote energetically, finishing five and a half novels before the year was through... But Burgess did not die. His cancer had gone. He wrote more than 70 books, but without the death sentence from cancer, he may not have written at all. (I've copied these lines from Steve Chandler's book, and this stuck in my head)

PSS. I didn't mean I want to be a novelist too. Generally, I believe it's important in realizing your own life purpose.

I think that a good way to start working towards your dreams is simply becoming more aware of whats true in reality each day with meditation. The more lucid you become in the waking life and see the joke it will be extremely easy to begin to be productive. Its like in the dream world when you realise your dreaming so you begin to say fuck it and start flying and other crazy shit. The point is that the more conscious you are the more you start to do more intuitive things. I talk about this more in my video "how to be happy - the secret to true happiness"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBVcYrSwNrg

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