It’s a rainy day. Good thing our housework and shopping are done. It’s tempting now to rest, to sit on the sofa and watch a movie. But I’ve never been very good at sitting, so maybe I’ll go walk in the rain. Perhaps a walk on the beach in the rain? I haven’t done that since Humboldt—since the days when youth propelled me out the door of my potato-chip truck at Moonstone Beach where I lived, to walk on rainy nights out over the sand past Karen Rock and then wade across the aptly named Little River, to start across the many miles of darkness and void upon the utterly flat sands where the great Pacific Ocean sends powerful, thin sheets of water spreading up against the land. I’d walk then for miles in the night rain, guided by an oscillating pathway of advancing and receding waters, hearing the roaring waves far out to sea, chased into running sometimes by an odd rogue wave nipping my heels like a bulldog; my body utterly wet without an umbrella, shivering of course if it was winter, reveling in my youth and strength and vitality, my mind and imagination on fire with active, random seeming thoughts.
Those were good days being young. But the days are better still now getting old. Though I can’t run well like I once did, and I get cold and start shivering a whole lot sooner. But my thoughts and thinking are since much improved, broken like a tamed horse, less wild or lost, reckless or so seemingly random. Quiet thoughts. More peaceful thinking. Yeah, if I go to walk alone on a rainy beach now, I still won’t bring an umbrella, and I’ll still shiver in the wet and cold; but I’ll see the world with a much quieter mind, less compelled to run for the sense of being chased—running instead for the simple fun of it, and the grateful joy and appreciation that I can still run.
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
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.