The Art of Living a Good Life
“Good life” is practically general and more on perspectives rather than universal
as many presume. Living a good life may be being wealthy, successful, traveling around
the world, being with family, surrounded with material things— it depends on the person.
There are three people in this world, as I have perceived: one who believes that they
need and should afford everything to live a good life; the other who believes the life that
they had now is what they already settled to have; and the other who believes they
need nothing but to be happy to live a good life. Thus, I’m the latter person because it
has been ingrained in me that we are all miserable in one way or another and it takes a
long time to see and realize it. The only way we can create happiness in living a ‘good
life’ is to have the courage to give everything up.
I stopped thinking that the concept or the art of living a good life is a goal. The
more I chase after something, the faster it goes away. It is inherently coming from the
love and forgiveness I give to myself and when I finally have the courage to let go of the
material things and choose to be at my own safe haven is the moment I could reward
myself with a good life. Life itself is good but sometimes, it isn’t good to us. Sometimes
we wonder, “Is this what I wanted to end up to be?” “Is this really what I wanted?” “Am I
living life?”--- Chasing after the ideal life that everybody wants to have as an imagery of
‘good’, not creating it on our own. Although chase could be exciting as exploring, it is
indubitably tiring in time.
On Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas’s book entitled The Ten Golden
Rules on Living a Good Life, it gives the idea of what the characteristic of a person
should have and should not have. The first one is about creating a reason to live such
as exploring the world, seeking pleasures and having goals. Yet pleasures have to be
permanent since people are filled with pleasure. Temporary pleasures are kinetic— brief
and fleeting, dissipating as soon as the act that produced them finishes. They are
frequently followed by a sense of emptiness as well as psychological sorrow and
suffering. Other pleasures are katastematic— they are deep and lasting, and they last
even after the act that produced them has ended; and it is these pleasures that ensure
a happy existence. For short, it recurs not long after being satisfied. Life is a process of
satisfying pleasures.
Most of the contents are what I approved of and characteristics I wanted to have
and engraved on my mind, soul and body in perpetuity. For instance, it is said to “Worry
only about the things that are in your control, the things that can be influenced and
changed by your actions, not about the things that are beyond your capacity to direct or
alter.”, to “Treasure Friendship, the reciprocal attachment that fills the need for affiliation.
Friendship cannot be acquired in the marketplace, but must be nurtured and treasured
in relations imbued with trust and amity.”, Master Yourself, Avoid Excess, Be Kind, and
Don’t be a Prosperous Fool. To own these characteristics is to own your own life,
because sometimes, there are people who are born to live but not all people have
conceived to ‘live’.
Its context and my personal ideas meet each other more than I expected, as
what I had in mind is the concept of 'good life’ itself and not the characteristics of a
person living the art or concept of ‘good life’. A person has to have a reason to live a
good life— creating a goal, seeking pleasures, making it happen but from my
standpoint, the idea of a good life itself is not a goal, but the act is. It’s not about
chasing, but creating.
A statement to be agreed upon between the article and my own was having a
good life is not about the material things. In the end, “good life” is something abstract,
forgiving ourselves and others, happiness, learning to let go, and acceptance. The true
meaning of goodness in life is creating the ‘abstractness’ of it. The concept that is hard
to learn and cut deep inside of us; learning that life is about living, not just surviving.
There are three people in this world, as I have perceived: one who believes that they
need and should afford everything to live a good life; the other who believes the life that
they had now is what they already settled to have; and the other who believes they
need nothing but to be happy to live a good life. Which one are you?
