39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist. “The proper function of man is to live – not to exist.” — Jack LondonToo 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. It’s not fine. If you want to truly live life, to really experience it, to enjoy it to the fullest, instead of barely scraping by and only living a life of existence, then you need to find ways to break free from the mold and drink from life. 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. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. Ive learned .... Kurt Vonnegut explains drama. I was at a Kurt Vonnegut talk in New York a few years ago. Talking about writing, life, and everything.
He explained why people have such a need for drama in their life. He said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let's look at a few examples.” He drew an empty grid on the board, like this: Time moves from left to right. He said, “Let's look at a very common story arc. It starts with her awful life with evil stepsisters, scrubbing the fireplace. “People LOVE that story! He wiped the board clean and said, “Now let's look at another popular story arc: the disaster.” It's an ordinary day in an ordinary town. But the problem is, life is really like this... Our lives drifts along with normal things happening. “But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs!
That's why people invent fights. The Cab Ride I'll Never Forget | Zen Moments - StumbleUpon. “Great moments often catch us unawares….” By Kent Nerburn There was a time in my life twenty years ago when I was driving a cab for a living. It was a cowboy’s life, a gambler’s life, a life for someone who wanted no boss, constant movement and the thrill of a dice roll every time a new passenger got into the cab. What I didn’t count on when I took the job was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a rolling confessional. We were like strangers on a train, the passengers and I, hurtling through the night, revealing intimacies we would never have dreamed of sharing during the brighter light of day.
And none of those lives touched me more than that of a woman I picked up late on a warm August night. I was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a quiet part of town. When I arrived at the address, the building was dark except for a single light in a ground-floor window. So I walked to the door and knocked. After a long pause, the door opened. Marc and Angel Hack Life - Practical Tips for Productive Living. 88 Important Truths I've Learned About Life | Raptitude.com. Everyone gets drilled with certain lessons in life. Sometimes it takes repeated demonstrations of a given law of life to really get it into your skull, and other times one powerful experience drives the point home once forever.
Here are 88 things I’ve discovered about life, the world, and its inhabitants by this point in my short time on earth. 1. You can’t change other people, and it’s rude to try. 2. It is a hundred times more difficult to burn calories than to refrain from consuming them in the first place. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. Photo by Philgarlic Have a lot on your mind? Everyday mindfulness has transformed my life, and the lives of many others. Truisms. Daily Aphorisms from The School of Life. Daily Aphorisms from The School of Life.