The best place where we've so far lived
While walking the dogs this evening Yumiko and I discussed where, of all the places we've lived, was our favorite. We both agreed it was the little granny flat we rented in the mid-90s for $700 a month behind an old house on Del Monte Street in Santa Barbara. That tiny, one bedroom place simply overflowed with charm and character (which was 100% Yumiko's doing). The house wasn't in the best part of town, though there was a tiny market just around the corner and it was pretty close to downtown. Joel and Siobhan and Glen and others were our friends then, and we had lots of fun parties here with games and food and laughter. This was the time of our lives just before young adults decide to become parents, when Yumiko and I were about thirty years old and Emily was roughly five years away. This is also where we picked up our dear stray cat Neko-chan, who came with us when we moved to Japan and is interred there now in a Buddhist cemetery. This was also a time, like now, when I went to the sea every day and in every season to swim - only stopping that routine after a scary meeting with a big shark in deep water a hundred meters off Leadbetter beach.
I told Yumiko while we finished our dog walk that I have a feeling our current little Navy officer's quarters here in Huntington Beach has good potential to give the Del Monte cottage a run for its money. As there is something very similar about these two homes, including the fact that they effectively bookend our most active years of parenting, providing transition and segue between important life stages. They are places of fruition, and change, and settlement and being done.
The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference. Learn more about The Good Life at my website GoingAlone.org or by reading my book Going Alone. And visit our Discord at: https://lnkd.in/gFgfGmY6
OBJECTIVES: 1. Be Always Ready to Die 2. Make Good Use of Time and Resources 3. Develop Good and Sound Life Principles 4. Cultivate Good Emotional Reactions 5. Perform Good Actions 6. Recognize True Limits and Opportunity 7. One Thing Slowly
PRINCIPLES: 1. Principle of War 2. Principle of Reason 3. Homunculus 4. Anchorhold 5. Home of Good and Evil 6. Principle of Purpose 7. Atomic Principle 8. Principle of Nature 9. The Pirate Ride 10. Principle of Maturity 11. Social Principle 12. Public Speaking 13. Temperance 14. Life Will Not Go Well 15. The Horror Show 16. That Which Must Be Borne 17. The Feast of Offal 18. Distraction 19. Agency and The Great Indifference 20. The Best Seat in the House 21. The Restless Man 22. The Path of Wildness 23. The Great Life Adventure 24. The Risk of Avoiding Risk 25. Sin and Damnation 26. Complete Oblivion 27. The Season of Philosophy 28. Bullseye Aim 29. The Uphill Climb 30. Arena and Utility 31. Nothing IS enough 32. The Principle of Fun
#Stoic #Stoicism #StoicPhilosophy
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.