Do You Enjoy Life?

[Samael_Khan]

I could have seen myself writing something very similar.

Fairly early on I found that the only reason I ever felt "down" was when other people around me were behaving certain negative ways, otherwise, I was always completely fine either on my own or around people who weren't being negative. "Content" is a good word for it. Ultimately, I even stopped letting much of what other people feel affect my mood, even when I am around them. Someone can be a complete sour-puss, or intent on complaining about everything, and I'll just stay even-keel, because I came to understand about myself that other people could affect me negatively, and I didn't like it... so I shut it off. It is interesting being able to control a thing, that would otherwise probably be involuntary, because you understand why it is happening.

I am glad to know that someone else can relate, because for a period I was around people who were trying to get me to socialise often and I was feeling like something was wrong with me which made me feel depressed. After coming to terms with it I am feeling like my best self.

Like you I was around people who had negative ways and avoiding them was for the best. But whereas you shut it off, I am largely oblivious to it besides when I start picking up their traits and have to do some self reflection. It just goes to show that knowledge of ourselves is a very powerful thing and can change our lives.

Maybe the motto should be "Know thyself".

 

[Kenny]

Having been married 51+ years, I agree.

The fire image is apt. I describe some of our early years as holding on to a red hot poker and refusing to let go. Some might call it commitment. I call it pure, unadulterated stubbornness.

Someone must have told you about my life

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Not really.

 

[ChristineM]

Life is a weird ride to say the least. It seems the older I become, the more enjoyable life becomes. I don't know. I suppose I'm curious where everyone else is on this thing called life.

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I've found life to be addictive, the more you have the more you want, but it always kills you.

 

[Salty Booger]

I've found life to be addictive, the more you have the more you want, but it always kills you.

Yes, it is deadly.

 

[Yerda]

Life is a weird ride to say the least. It seems the older I become, the more enjoyable life becomes. I don't know. I suppose I'm curious where everyone else is on this thing called life.

I'm mostly quite chill and happy. I had some pretty mad years (late teens-mid 20s) where I was either drunk, high, and with groups of friends or really depressed and angry at the state of the world and feeling life was just something happening to me. Then I settled down and by the time I turned 30 I was probably as happy as I've ever been.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I am grateful for and do enjoy the opportunities that come with life here. I enjoy my hobbies and I am in no hurry to find out for certain what is on the other side of death. But there are times when life palls deeply upon me. A sense that much of what we do here is pointless. A mild to moderate sense of dukkha pervades my existence.

You were dead once before. Same ole' thing happens again but with different faces, different places.

 

[Rival]

No.

 

[Yerda]

No.

Is this because you don't have a Jewish community near you? I remember you made a journal post along those lines.

 

[Rival]

Is this because you don't have a Jewish community near you? I remember you made a journal post along those lines.

Even if I did, if I can't convert, it's unlikely I'll find a marriage partner or other Noahide friends. I refuse to intermarry so I'm up the creek, really. If I lived in a Jewish community without converting, it's not as though I could marry a Jew, not being Jewish.

 

[Yerda]

Even if I did, if I can't convert, it's unlikely I'll find a marriage partner or other Noahide friends. I refuse to intermarry so I'm up the creek, really. If I lived in a Jewish community without converting, it's not as though I could marry a Jew, not being Jewish.

Obviously your choices are yours but if you find someone you love then you hang on to them like they're made of cheesecake and live the life the hell out of whatever the world flings at you. That would be my advice.

 

[Straw Dog]

Yes, I am enjoying life now. I wasn’t really enjoying life in my 20s, but I have finally learned how to enjoy life in my 30s. I had more physical pleasure in my 20s but more mental confusion too. It’s not enjoyment now in a hedonistic sense. Physical pleasure is welcome whenever it comes and whenever it goes, but it’s very shallow compared to the level of satisfaction that I’m beginning to experience from the basic state of being.

 

[metis]

And if you didn't have those people in your life, would it still be good?

Probably, but not as good.

 

[Vinayaka]

Life is a weird ride to say the least. It seems the older I become, the more enjoyable life becomes. I don't know. I suppose I'm curious where everyone else is on this thing called life.

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Boss and I had a practically unstoppable giggling session the other night, like some 14 year old girls on a sleepover.

I enjoy life, but it sure helps to be free to make choices.

 

[metis]

Another thing that I believe is important is that happiness more comes from our inside than from the outside, and the single best book I've read on that by far is "The Art of Happiness" by the Dalai Lama.