PROPER
FUNCTION OF MAN IS TO LIVE, NOT TO EXIST
(Compiled for a Discourse by N.R. Srinivasan at Sri Ganesha Temple, Nashville, USA)
“Too often we go through
life on autopilot, going through the motions and having each day pass like the
one before it. That's fine, and comfortable, until you have gone through
another year without having done anything, without having really lived life.
That's fine, until you have reached old age and look back on life with regrets.
That's fine, until you see your kids go off to college and realize that you
missed their childhoods.
What follows is just a list
of ideas, obvious ones mostly that you could have thought of yourself, but that
I hope are useful reminders. We all need reminders sometimes. If you find this
useful, print it out, and start using it. Today.
Love. Perhaps the most important. Fall in love, if you aren't already.
If you have, fall in love with your partner all over again. Abandon caution and
let your heart be broken. Or love family members, friends, anyone -- it doesn't
have to be romantic love. Love all of humanity, one person at a time.
Get outside. Don't let yourself be shut indoors. Go out when it's raining.
Walk on the beach. Hike through the woods. Swim in a freezing lake. Bask in the
sun. Play sports, or walk barefoot through grass. Pay close attention to
nature.
Savor food. Don't just eat your food, but really enjoy it. Feel the texture,
the bursts of flavors. Savor every bite. If you limit your intake of sweets, it
will make the small treats you give yourself (berries or dark chocolate are my
favorites) even more enjoyable. And when you do have them, really, really savor
them. Slowly.
Create a morning ritual. Wake early and greet the day. Watch the sun rise. Out loud, tell
yourself that you will not waste this day, which is a gift. You will be
compassionate to your fellow human beings, and live every moment to its
fullest. Stretch or meditate or exercise as part of your ritual. Enjoy some
coffee.
Take chances. We often live our lives too cautiously, worried about what
might go wrong. Be bold, risk it all. Quit your job and go to business for
yourself (plan it out first!), or go up to that girl you've liked for a long
time and ask her out. What do you have to lose?
Follow excitement. Try to find the things in life that excite you, and then go
after them. Make life one exciting adventure after another (with perhaps some
quiet times in between).
Find your passion. Similar to the above tip, this one asks you to find your
calling. Make your living by doing the thing you love to do. First, think about
what you really love to do. There may be many things. Find out how you can make
a living doing it. It may be difficult, but you only live once.
Get out of your cubicle. Do you sit all day in front of computer, shuffling papers and
taking phone calls and chatting on the Internet? Don't waste your days like
this. Break free from the cubicle environment, and do your work on a laptop, in
a coffee shop, or on a boat, or in a log cabin. This may require a change of
jobs, or becoming a freelancer. It's worth it.
Turn off the TV. How many hours will we waste away in front of the boob tube? How
many hours do we have to live? Do the math, then unplug the TV. Only plug it
back in when you have a DVD of a movie you love. Otherwise, keep it off and
find other stuff to do. Don't know what to do? Read further.
Pull away from Internet. You're reading something on the Internet right now. And, with
the exception of this article, it is just more wasting away of your precious
time. You cannot get these minutes back. Unplug the Internet, then get out of
your office or house. Right now! And go and do something.
Travel. Sure, you want to travel someday. When you have vacation time,
or when you're older. Well, what are you waiting for? Find a way to take a trip,
if not this month, then sometime soon. You may need to sell your car or stop
your cable bill and stop eating out to do it, but make it happen. You are too
young to not see the world. If need be, find a way to make a living by
freelancing, then work while you travel. Only work an hour or two a day. Don't
check email but once a week. Then use the rest of the time to see the world.
Rediscover what's important. Take an hour and make a list of everything that's important to
you. Add to it everything that you want to do in life. Now cut that list down
to 4-5 things. Just the most important things in your life. This is your core
list. This is what matters. Focus your life on these things. Make time for
them.
Eliminate everything else. What's going on in your life that's not on that short list? All
that stuff is wasting your time, pulling your attention from what's important.
As much as possible, simplify your life by eliminating the stuff that's not on
your short list, or minimizing it.
Exercise. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Eventually try running. Or
do some pushups and crunches. Or swim or bike or row. Or go for a hike.
Whatever you do, get active, and you'll love it. And life will be more alive.
Be positive. Learn to recognize the negative thoughts you have. These are the
self-doubts, the criticisms of others, the complaints, the reasons you can't do
something. Then stop yourself when you have these thoughts, and replace them
with positive thoughts. Solutions. You can do this!
Open your heart. Is your heart a closed bundle of scar tissue? Learn to open it,
have it ready to receive love, to give love unconditionally. If you have a
problem with this, talk to someone about it. And practice makes perfect.
Kiss in the rain. Seize the moment and be romantic. Raining outside? Grab your
lover and give her a passionate kiss. Driving home? Stop the car and pick some
wildflowers. Send her a love note. Dress sexy for him.
Face your fears. What are you most afraid of? What is holding you back? Whatever
it is, recognize it, and face it. Do what you are most afraid of. Afraid of
heights? Go to the tallest building, and look down over the edge. Only by
facing our fears can we be free of them.
When you suffer, suffer. Life isn't all about fun and games. Suffering is an inevitable
part of life. We lose our jobs. We lose our lovers. We lose our pets. We get
physically injured or sick. A loved one becomes sick. A parent dies. Learn to
feel the pain intensely, and really grieve. This is a part of life -- really
feel the pain. And when you're done, move on, and find joy.
Slow down. Life moves along at such a rapid pace these days. It's not
healthy, and it's not conducive to living. Practice doing everything slowly --
everything, from eating to walking to driving to working to reading. Enjoy what
you do. Learn to move at a snail's pace.
Touch humanity. Get out of your house and manicured neighborhoods, and find
those who live in worse conditions. Meet them, talk to them, and understand them. Live among them. Be one of
them. Give up your materialistic lifestyle.
Volunteer. Help at homeless soup kitchens. Learn compassion, and learn to
help ease the suffering of others. Help the sick, those with disabilities,
those who are dying.
Play with children. Children, more than anyone else, know how to live. They
experience everything in the moment, fully. When they get hurt, they really
cry. When they play, they really have fun. Learn from them, instead of thinking
you know so much more than them. Play with them, and learn to be joyful like
them.
Talk to old people. There is no one wiser, more experienced, more learned, than
those who have lived through life. They can tell you amazing stories. Give you
advice on making a marriage last or staying out of debt. Tell you about their
regrets, so you can learn from them and avoid the same mistakes. They are the
wisdom of our society -- take advantage of their existence while they're still
around.
Learn new skills. Constantly improve yourself instead of standing still -- not
because you're so imperfect now, but because it is gratifying and satisfying.
You should accept yourself as you are, and learn to love who you are, but still
try to improve -- if only because the process of improvement is life itself.
Find spirituality. For some, this means finding God or Jesus or Allah or Buddha.
For others, this means becoming in tune with the spirits of our ancestors, or
with nature. For still others, this just means an inner energy. Whatever
spirituality means for you, rediscover it, and its power.
Take mini-retirements. Don't leave the joy of retirement until you are too old to enjoy
it. Do it now, while you're young. It makes working that much more worth it.
Find ways to take a year off every few years. Save up, sell your home, your
possessions, and travel. Live simply, but live, without having to work. Enjoy
life, then go back to work and save up enough money to do it again in a couple
of years.
Do nothing. Despite the tip above that we should find excitement, there is
value in doing nothing as well. Not doing nothing as in reading, or taking a
nap, or watching TV, or meditating. Doing nothing as in sitting there, doing
nothing. Just learning to be still, in silence, to hear our inner voice, to be
in tune with life. Do this daily if possible.
Stop playing video games. They might be fun, but they can take up way too much time. If
you spend a lot of time playing online games, or computer solitaire, or Wii or
Gameboy or whatever, consider going a week without it. Then find something else
to do, outside.
Watch sunsets, daily. One of the most beautiful times of day. Make it a daily ritual
to find a good spot to watch the sunset, perhaps having a light dinner while
you do so.
Stop reading magazines. They're basically crap. And they waste your time and money.
Cancel your subscriptions and walk past them at the news stands. If you have to
read something, read a trashy novel or even better, read Dumb Little Man once a
day and be done.
Break out from ruts. Do you do things the same way every day? Change it up. Try something
new. Take a different route to work. Start your day out differently. Approach
work from a new angle. Look at things from new perspectives.
Stop watching the news. It's depressing and useless. If you're a news junky, this may be
difficult. I haven't watch TV news or read a newspaper regularly in about two
years. It hasn't hurt me a bit. Anything important, my mom tells me about.
Laugh till you cry. Laughing is one of the best ways to live. Tell jokes and laugh
your head off. Watch an awesome comedy. Learn to laugh at anything. Roll on the
ground laughing. You'll love it.
Lose control. Not only control over yourself, but control over others. It's a
bad habit to try to control others -- it will only lead to stress and
unhappiness for yourself and those you try to control. Let others live, and
live for yourself. And lose control of yourself now and then too.
Cry. Men, especially, tend to hold in our tears, but crying is an
amazing release. Cry at sad movies. Cry at a funeral. Cry when you are hurt, or
when somebody you love is hurt. It releases these emotions and allows us to
cleanse ourselves.
Make an awesome dessert. I like to make warm, soft chocolate cake. But even berries
dipped in chocolate, or crepes with ice cream and fruit, or fresh apple pie, or
homemade chocolate chip cookies or brownies, are great. This isn't an every day
thing, but an occasional treat thing. But it's wonderful.
Try something new, every
week. Ask yourself: "What new thing shall I try this week?"
Then be sure to do it. You don't have to learn a new language in one week, but
seek new experiences. Give it a try. You might decide you want to keep it in
your life.
Be in the moment. Instead of thinking about things you need to do, or things that
have happened to you, or worrying or planning or regretting, think about what
you are doing, right now. What is around you? What smells and sounds and sights
and feelings are you experiencing? Learn to do this as much as possible through
meditation, but also through bringing your focus back to the present as much as
you can in everything you do.”-- -- Jack London
[Leo
Babauta is a writer of
this article is a runner and a vegetarian, and the owner of Zen
Habits where this article
originally appeared.]
Read my articles to widen your Hindu-American Way of Life!
--April 30, 2022
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