Archive for June 20th, 2007

39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist

Posted June 20, 2007 * Comments(2)

I stumbled upon this the other day on Dumb Little Man, and was really impressed and moved by it.  Please follow the link and read the whole article, as I have truncated it somewhat (removing the explanations of each of the 39 items, which are worth the read).  Some of these I do pretty well with, others I fail miserably.  REALLY miserably.  All in all, I could be doing better.

http://www.dumblittleman.com

“The proper function of man is to live - not to exist.” — Jack London

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.

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. If you find this useful, print it out, and start using it. Today.

  1. Love.
  2. Get outside. 
  3. Savor food. 
  4. Create a morning ritual.
  5. Take chances.
  6. Follow excitement.
  7. Find your passion.
  8. Get out of your cubicle.
  9. Turn off the TV.
  10. Pull away from Internet. 
  11. Travel.
  12. Rediscover what’s important.
  13. Eliminate everything else.
  14. Exercise.
  15. Be positive.
  16. Open your heart.
  17. Kiss in the rain.
  18. Face your fears.
  19. When you suffer, suffer.
  20. Slow down.
  21. Touch humanity.
  22. Volunteer.
  23. Play with children.
  24. Talk to old people.
  25. Learn new skills.
  26. Find spirituality.
  27. Take mini-retirements.
  28. Do nothing.
  29. Stop playing video games.
  30. Watch sunsets, daily.
  31. Stop reading magazines.
  32. Break out from ruts. 
  33. Stop watching the news.
  34. Laugh till you cry.
  35. Lose control. 
  36. Cry.
  37. Make an awesome dessert.
  38. Try something new, every week. 
  39. Be in the moment.

- Leo Babauta

Items I pass - A few

Items I fail - Too many

Items that could use work - All of them