Yesterday was very nice. A lovely Christmas Day. In the evening, before dinner, Yumiko and I walked to the end of the pier to watch the sun go down where we enjoyed a very Southern California scene: There were happy, festive people crowding Main Street like Disneyland, and musicians playing on nearly every corner. A red glow of winter sunset lit and reflected off everything and everyone with a cold, natural warmth, promising night. There were barefoot surfers carrying their boards up and down the stairs to the sand, and families and couples wearing ice-skates laughing and coursing circles on an improbable ice-rink set up at the head of the pier. A hippie drum circle filled the air with a deep, rhythmic percussion, keeping pace to a lone Polynesian fire dancer writing fast circles in the air with his flaming five-foot staff.
As we reached the end of the pier, I told Yumiko we might see dolphin, just before we spotted some swimming and surfacing slowly a little further out. Leaning on the rail, Yumiko seemed astonished at the sheer beauty of the sun setting directly into the isthmus of Catalina Island, the light playing strange tricks with the moist air and causing that far away land to rise up like a flat table, while the same effect caused the more distant San Clemente Island to stand still taller from the sea, demanding its due attention.
After the sun had passed, we strained our eyes from forty feet above the water to watch the last surfer carefully choose his final wave of the day at the south side of the pier. And as we walked back towards home, I told Yumiko that if this was to be our last community in America, then we’d picked a good one, and a fine place to create unique and lasting final memories of our life and adventure together in the United States, remembrance to keep us company after we return to Japan, and something to smile about as we perhaps walk upon the beach at Atami before breakfast, talking of our former places in America as we gaze east across the vast sunrise Pacific towards what was once our home.
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.