How I Enjoy Life

Warning! The following post is being made as a stream of consciousness moment:

How I Enjoy Life
by Hopegiver

I think it starts with deep core values which have become ingrained in my soul.

1) Always have a smile & have a kind word for others
2) Never just be a sheep.
3) Never let them back you into a corner.
& 4) Have Fun!

1)In my brief 40 years on this planet, I have learned that laughter is truly the best medicine. When I smile and insist on a positive outlook, my days seem to always go better. When I am having a bad day, moment, or episode, I embrace it. I may not like it but I don't hide it. By feeling it and working through it, I can get on with it faster and back to myself. When I have a kind word for others (or just a smile) I know that I am making this world a more enjoyable place to be for someone else. This also re-energizes me and makes me smile.

2)I have followed others for too much of my life and have rarely enjoyed the outcome. So I try to remember that there is some truth in having "Master of my own fate" thinking. Whenever there is an 'expected' reaction, I often explore options to that. This keeps my thinking vibrant and helps me get through those moments where it seems like time to give up, run away, or get angry. From time to time when someone expects a certain reaction from me, I switch gears and investigate others responses not only to make life more interesting but also to stay true to myself. I try to be in a place where what others think of me in terms of how I live my life is secondary to my own feelings. As it should be.

3.)I make decisions everyday without thinking too hard, but at my center I am indeed probably thinking way too much. Like most of us I want to be in charge(even if I can't be, I WANT to be). If someone else is pushing, I began to believe I don't HAVE to push back, it is a decision to be made. If I don't push back I can find alternatives and steer clear of major problems. I suppose I really like what Louisiana Blues great Lazy Lester said back in the 1950s, "I'm a lover not a fighter." However, if I do decide to push back it will be because I have identified a path of resistance that I want to take like in a good argument. I hate to be reactionary, I much rather prefer to roll with it interactively or be proactive. Living a reactionary life is how you end up in a dark alley with no clue how you got there.

4)Who doesn't like to have fun? What I like to do is find what stimulates me and engage. Writing, Reading, Games, Chatting with Friends & Listening to Music! I am certainly aware of the consequences of over indulgence, afterall who I am today is the price I paid to get what I used to want. But we only go around once (that we are aware of - even the re-incarnationists usually agree that we are unaware of previous journeys), so why not enjoy it?

Through patience and understanding I have arrived at a place in my life where I can be in two or three moments at once and adjust my being to which one I prefer, or two at a time, or all at once. There is no real way to explain that, it just deep philosophical stuff here. Some people refer to it as being able to turn off a switch, moving from one emotion to the next. I much rather prefer the analogy of a train-yard. There are many tracks and you are usually only going one way, but there is beauty in the realization that you can back that engine up, uncouple the weight and reload as many times as you wish at least until the fuel runs out. Then of course you just need to grab a Dr. Pepper and blow the horn because it is time to roll on again, ALL ABOARD!!!

CJ