And To Share The Love …
written by Anne SkyvingtonJanuary 9, 2023
7 Points to Follow in Order to Achieve a Good Life
First A Note: Writing on Medium over the last year or so made me realise that Americans like to seek advice from their countrymen and women about how to lead their lives. So many of the topics on Medium were to do with How to Live a Good Life from fellow writers.
Here in Australia we refer to specialists or those with expertise when we want advice. We don’t like to set ourselves up as being fonts of wisdom and knowledge without qualifications. Remember Socrates’ claim about knowing that he knew nothing? We have a reputation for being laconic, low-key, reserved in this way. With an ironic sense of humour, not open to grandstanding…
Still, I have secretly kept lists of self-advice pointers to help me at certain difficult or breakthrough times in my life. I am going to share one with you now. This post has remained in draft form only on my personal blog for the above reasons. I am encouraged by the fact that Medium readers and writers are not shy in this way. They actually like and appreciate advice, and to be helped by supportive people in this way. Bravo!
The Seven Points
1. Keep physically fit and eat well
Fitness: There are so many ways one can manage to do this these days: go to the gym; find a lifestyle clinic; go bush walking; swim every day; jog; walk; go up and down stairs instead of using lifts; catch buses or walk instead of driving.
Regimes: Whatever foods keep you trim, healthy and full of energy is the way to go. For some it might be a ketogenic diet, for others it will be vegetarian or completely different. Engage a nutritional expert to help you here. Find what your own ‘poison’ is and avoid it or manage it. Run with the regime that suits you best. Putting on weight around the middle is a sure giveaway sign that you need professional help, as it can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
2. Find a passion in life
This is a sure pathway for sustaining interest in, and long-term love of, life and living. It can be investment in your work, or finding a hobby or pastime — such as gardening, reading books and traveling — or it can be spending quality time with your grandchildren or pets.
3. Do not knowingly harm another sentient being
In fact, caring for warm and furry creatures as pets is one way we all have of expressing our love and of developing faith in nature. Some people prefer showing love to animals rather than to humans. It is like a spiritual practice for them, as real as meditating or attending church.
4. Fix your emotional problems
This can be more difficult to achieve than getting fit, as many people find it threatening to admit to, and to seek help, for psychological or mental problems. But not many of us are the result of a perfect family background, and it is, therefore, unreasonable to expect to reach your true potential without huge personal investment in your growth, or assistance from professional therapists.
5. Read and share beautiful stories
Beautiful stories well told are life affirming. Keep away from dystopian literature, especially if you are in a sensitive and vulnerable state. Of course, once you are strong — and free of emotional illness — you can indulge in the darker side of life and literature, if you so choose. As my elderly, wise grandfather once told me: life is all about balance.
6. Develop faith and give something back
Try to know something greater than yourself, no matter what you decide to call IT, and communicate your thoughts, feelings and needs in silent prayer or in meditation, while offering to give back to the world something worthwhile that you are able to offer it.
7. Love is all you need
I know it sounds to some trivial, superficial and banal, but if you can truly achieve this seventh goal in a universal sense, then you have no need of following the steps.
A Final Note:
Do what you will with these. If nothing else, they will help you to find your own way. Remember that everyone is different and has a unique way of seeing things. This is my personal bag of tricks. Yours might be totally different from these. Each country and culture will require different approaches also.
Do Australians like to give advice about how to live?What are the spiritual points made in this post?Which physical points does the author make?