I was awake again last night. But it was different. Instead of worrying over work, or fretting I wasn’t getting enough sleep, I simply lay there in the dark enjoying the night, hearing night sounds, and measuring the distant cadence of waves upon the beach. This is good, I thought. I can live with a sleeplessness like this. I’m pretty sure the change is do to our decision to leave. Because everything now is like the set of a Shakespeare drama being pulled apart after the show. Workers are dismantling the set, pulling down props and putting away costumes, storing gear and sweeping the stage. The drama feels done. The spectacle complete. How can I take my lines seriously now with the theater lights on and the audience filtering away?
Yesterday, a problem struck at work. A pretty serious problem. But nothing the team and I can’t handle. Immediately, we met to assess and plan a response and then dispatched to our tasks of remediation. We got this. After the meeting though, I began to get upset that this problem had occurred. I felt the old familiar upset begin to rise. But then I caught myself. This upset would do nothing good. It was just one more work drama to fill my time. But my time isn’t about this anymore. I have better uses in mind now for my days. And then the upset left. And I carried on with my task. I finished my day. Finished it strong. And then I went for an evening walk with my wife, and we enjoyed dinner together and watched our show, and then I went to bed and fell asleep quickly and slept deep ‘till a few hours before dawn, when I woke to feel the cool air through the window, and listened to the dark sounds outside, and thought of nothing—hardly work—and wondered if this is what life might be like on the other side.
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. Principle of Family 13. Public Speaking 14. Temperance 15. Life Will Not Go Well 16. The Horror Show 17. That Which Must Be Borne 18. The Feast of Offal 19. Distraction 20. Agency and The Great Indifference 21. The Best Seat in the House 22. The Restless Man 23. The Path of Wildness 24. The Great Life Adventure 25. The Risk of Avoiding Risk 26. Sin and Damnation 27. Complete Oblivion 28. The Season of Philosophy
29. Scriptwriting 30. Bullseye Aim 31. The Uphill Climb 32. Arena and Utility 33. Nothing IS enough 34. The Principle of Fun
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.