I was thinking today about if
I was the sort of person to follow a recipe? Or do I like to bend the rules to
life? For the last couple of months I feel as if I have been in a slump, not
moving forward stressing too much about the what if and could have and should
haves. I will say things to myself like “I will do X as soon as I sort out Y”.
But who says I should wait? Why can’t I bring myself to do X now? What is Y
never happens?
Images have nothing really to do with this post. They are just some experiments I have done with film.
My best moments in life have happened when I have done things "My Way", I have lost my own life motto of "Fight Living the Ordinary Life". It is time to get myself out of this slump and move forward.
Being such an OCD person I
love lists, even more I love crossing things off lists. So I am writing myself
a “to do list” and giving myself to my birthday to achieve all ten things. Why
ten? Because I am OCD! And ten is such a neat number.
I am not yet ready to share my list, they are sitting in a post waiting for me to publish when I feel emotionally stronger.
Along with my to do list I am going to re-read and think about a book I read not so long ago. The Ten Golden Rules: Ancient Wisdom from the Greek Philosophers on Living the Good Life. It is written by M. A. Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas.
In short the Golden Rules
are:
1. Examine life, engage life
with vengeance; always search for new pleasures and new destines to reach with
your mind.
2. Worry only about the
things that are in your control, the things that can be influenced and
changed by your actions, not about the things that are beyond your capacity to
direct or alter.
3. Treasure Friendship,
the reciprocal attachment that fills the need for affiliation. Friendship
cannot be acquired in the market place, but must be nurtured and treasured in
relations imbued with trust and amity.
4. Experience True
Pleasure. Avoid shallow and transient pleasures. Keep your life simple.
Seek calming pleasures that contribute to peace of mind. True pleasure is
disciplined and restrained.
5. Master Yourself. Resist
any external force that might delimit thought and action; stop deceiving
yourself, believing only what is personally useful and convenient; complete
liberty necessitates a struggle within, a battle to subdue negative psychological
and spiritual forces that preclude a healthy existence; self mastery requires
ruthless candor.
6. Avoid Excess. Live life in
harmony and balance. Avoid excesses. Even good things, pursued or attained
without moderation, can become a source of misery and suffering.
7. Be a Responsible
Human Being. Approach yourself with honesty and thoroughness; maintain a
kind of spiritual hygiene; stop the blame-shifting for your errors and
shortcomings.
8. Don’t Be a Prosperous
Fool. Prosperity by itself, is not a cure-all against an ill-led life, and may
be a source of dangerous foolishness. Money is a necessary but not a sufficient
condition for the good life, for happiness and wisdom.
9. Don’t Do Evil to Others.
Evildoing is a dangerous habit, a kind of reflex too quickly resorted to and
too easily justified that has a lasting and damaging effect upon the quest for
the good life. Harming others claims two victims—the receiver of the harm, and
the victimizer, the one who does harm.
10. Kindness towards others
tends to be rewarded. Kindness to others is a good habit that supports and
reinforces the quest for the good life. Helping others bestows a sense of
satisfaction that has two beneficiaries—the beneficiary, the receiver of the help,
and the benefactor, the one who provides the help.