Monday, June 02, 2008

Doing life well


Over the years I have picked up various bits and pieces about life from friends, books and personal experience, I guess we all have.

When our parents were younger they lived in an achievement orientated society, it was about achieving, bettering oneself, going further than before, earning more, moving to bigger places, having more possesions. In many ways this is still part of our culture I guess you couldn't help but watch TV and realise that we are constantly being asked by the advertisers to buy more or to improve what we already have.

At the back of my mind I don't want to work to the bone and just achieve for the sake of achievement, I want to do life well.

Doing life well is more important than achieving, I want to have time for my family, time for my wife and time to take in and enjoy this beautiful planet that we live on.

In the end it will not be how big my bank balance or house is, but how well I have done life.

I once heard a guy called Rob Parsons say "No one has ever said on their death bed, 'I wish I had spent more time at work'!!!!"

I don't want to travel through this life merely as a consumer, I want to contribute, I want to put as much in as I get out. Maybe thats why I enjoy doing what we do here in Ibiza, I feel like I am contributing.

So heres to kicking back and enjoying what we have been given. I am trying not to focus on what I don't have and instead looking at what I do have and celebrating it.

As you can tell my mood is strangely light today, I hope it stays that way.

I know that sometimes work dictates to us what we should do and how we should spend our time, occasionaly I feel driven by circumstance, like my life is slightly out of control and I can't really handle it. Maybe I can't control all that happens to me but I am determined to enjoy the ride.

Sometimes I think we want to be happy, but what is happiness? What I do doesn't always make me happy, in fact last night as I took a phone call and had to drag myself from my bed to go and take home some 120 kilo drunk I wasn't happy. But it gives me life. having life, feeling alive, is more important than happiness, happiness is a by product of having life. When someone sails across the atlantic I bet they aren't always happy yet I guess they feel alive. It gives them life.

What gives you life?

Don't always look to do what makes you happy, do what gives you life!

Hope this makes sense?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

adventure & risk. good advice ... whilst in the midst of job applications (and obviously not distracted by websurfing!)

Hannah said...

I wrote something similar recently. Enjoy the journey and not just the destination. People who work to be able to buy an expensive car, a diamond ring or a tropical holiday are destination junkies. They are addicted to the reward and get no satisfaction from the actual work done.

I am lucky though as I love my work enormously. Some people hate their work so it's no wonder they look forward to the day they can buy themselves a treat.

I think the definition of happiness is having a peaceful mind.