How to start living better now. What does it mean to live well? What to do in order to live well

I am not rich, I do not fly around the world, I do not drink in the company famous people in exotic places, I have neither a sports car, nor a jeep, nor a yacht. And I am very happy.

Much happier than seven years ago, when I ate a lot of fried, sweet and constantly felt unhealthy and overweight, when I watched TV and was out of shape, when I shopped a lot and was in debt when I worked for permanent work, on which he received quite a lot and did not have time for himself and his loved ones. How did I achieve this? With little tricks.

The truth is, you don't need much to live well - you just need the right attitude.

Here's what I've learned about how to live well with little need:

You need very little to be happy.

Some simple, plant-based food, a humble dwelling, a couple of sets of clothes, good book, a laptop that means something for you work, and your loved ones.

Wish for less and you won't be poor

You may have a lot of money and possessions, but if you always want more, you are poorer than the guy who owns little and wants nothing.

Focus on the present

Stop worrying about the future and hold on to the past. How much time each day do you spend thinking about the things that you are doing physically in the present moment? How often do you drive away thoughts of other things? Live now and you will live fully.

Be happy with what you have and where you are

Too often we want to be somewhere else, to do something else, with other people, and no matter what the circumstances are now, we would like to get things that are different from what we have now. But where we are now - a wonderful place! Those with whom we are now (including ourselves) are already flawless. What we have is enough. What we are already doing is amazing.

Be grateful for the little pleasures in life.

Berries, dark chocolate bars, tea are simple pleasures that are much better than complex desserts, sugary drinks, fried foods, if you learn to enjoy them to the fullest.

A good book borrowed from the library, a walk with your beloved in the park, pleasant tension after a short, hard workout, wonderful things your children say, a stranger's smile, a barefoot walk on the grass, a moment of silence in the early morning when the rest of the world is still asleep. These are small pleasures for a good life, without the need for anything more.

Move with joy, not fear

People go through life under the influence of fear of loss, fear of change, fear of missing something. These are bad reasons to do something. Instead, do things that bring joy to you and those around you. Do your job, not because you need to maintain your lifestyle and you are afraid to change it, but because you enjoy doing something creative, meaningful, valuable.

Practice compassion

Compassion for others creates love that rewards the relationship. Self-compassion means forgiving yourself for past mistakes, “heal” yourself correctly (this includes healthy eating and exercise), and love yourself for who you are.

Forget productivity and numbers

They don't matter everywhere. If you do something to achieve a certain number (goals), then you have lost the understanding of what is really important. If you strive to be productive and fill your days with all sorts of things just to be, it's a waste of time. This day is a gift, and it doesn't have to be overwhelmed with all the possible things - spend time enjoying it and what you do.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't fall into the trap of dogma that tells you to live with other people's thoughts. Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your inner voice. Most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know who you really want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Steve Jobs

We offer 100 ways how to live your life 100%, so that you can fill every day with drive, pleasure and achievements in areas of interest to you.

1. Every day is a fresh start. Don't get attached to what happened yesterday, the day before yesterday, or later. Today new life, and even if something was wrong before, then you will definitely try again and again.

2. Be real yourself. Stop trying to please the people around you and be someone else. It is much more interesting to become a unique version of yourself, and not someone else's duplicate.

28. Be positive. The glass is really half full. :)

Think of life as an adventure and a game. Exude optimism and make people smile.

29. Don't talk bad about others. If you don't like something about the other person, tell them to their face. In any other case, don't say anything.

30. Put yourself in someone else's place. Try to see life from the perspective of another person. The janitor may have been rude to you this morning, but why did he? Probably, no one pays attention to him, he is considered service and unnecessary personnel and his work is not appreciated at all. Think about how to make sure that next time he greets you with a smile.

31. Show compassion. Really sympathize with someone else's problem.

32. Develop unconditional faith in yourself. Believing in yourself is to keep moving forward, even when everyone is discouraging you from doing so.

Analyze your small victories, remember how you went against the tide, remember the pleasure that you were right and still not. If you have something in mind, be sure that everything will work out.

33. Let go of the unhappy past.

34. Forgive those who ask for forgiveness. Do not hold a grudge against people, but know their weaknesses and accept them as they are.

35. Take away the unimportant. Understand the short-term nature of things like status, fame, recognition. Everything will work out if you focus on self-realization, and not on social recognition.

36. End a relationship that doesn't help you.

Remove from your environment people who add unnecessary pessimism to your life.

37. Spend more time with people who inspire and support you. Try to create a circle of active and active like-minded people. It's really great when you came up with something together and after 10 minutes started implementing it.

38. Build genuine relationships with the people around you: strangers, family, loved ones. Spend time strengthening and improving your relationship.

39. Reunite with your old friend. No matter what they say, the number of friends is unlimited. Meet people from your past.

40. Have a day of bounty. Consider what you can do today that can make the world a little better.

Doing good to others is The best way improve your mood.

41. Help people when they need it. Think of this step as a long term investment. Someday you will receive help without expecting it.

42. Go on a date.

43. Fall in love.

44. Put your life in order. Analyze your progress and progress towards what you have planned once a week, month, six months. Adjust your actions based on the results obtained.

45. Do not over tighten. Get rid of the habit of procrastinating with. Nine out of ten opportunities are missed due to delay in taking action.

46. Help complete strangers. This can determine your destiny in the future.

47. Meditate.

48. Make acquaintances. New opportunities come from new people. Do not be afraid to force yourself into the circle of people you are interested in and make friends with them.

49. Build strong relationships.

50. Become your advisor from the future. Imagine yourself 10 years from now and mentally ask yourself for the best advice about difficult decisions. What would you do if you were 10 years wiser?

51. Write a letter to your future self. Believe that in 5-10 years you will laugh even louder from yourself today.

52. Remove excess. From your desk, from your apartment, hobbies, life. Free up space for more important things.

53. Continue. Why do people stop learning when they graduate educational institution? Studying doesn't mean sitting at books. You can learn to drive, learn to dance, learn rhetoric, and so on.

The main goal is to keep the brain in constant tension.

54. Develop yourself. Try to define your weak sides and develop them. If you are too shy, practice being more sociable and facing fear.

55. Make a constant upgrade of yourself. Deepen the already acquired knowledge and experience, become an expert in many areas.

56. Try new things constantly. You just have no idea how much more new and interesting you can experience and feel (do you know what a watsu massage is?).

57. Travel. Get yourself out of your work-home, home-work routine. Discover, of which there are many even in your city. Any journey is always something new.

58. Don't stay in one place. Always live dynamically and try to bind yourself with repair loans as late as possible.

59. Be the best at what you do. If you realize that you are good in the corporate field, but are far from a star, leave from there into an area where the chances of becoming the best and achieving more are much higher. If you have found your calling, become the best there.

60. Break your boundaries. Set the most impossible goal, achieve your plan and think of something even more impossible for yourself. All the clamps are from what someone once told you what is possible and what is not.

61. Soak up and try to bring unusual ideas to life.

62. Create your own place for inspiration. It can be a corner where all your inspirational things (books, photos, videos) are located, or a park, cafe, or your favorite bench. Create your own paradise.

63. Behave to get closer to your ideal version of yourself.

64. Create roles in life. Try to act as if you were Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, or some famous and successful person.

65. Find a mentor or guru. Study your guru's life and try not to repeat his mistakes. Seek advice from a more experienced mentor.

66. Find your previously unseen strengths.

67. Try to be more conscious.

68. Ask for constructive criticism and advice. You can always see better from the outside.

69. Try to create a flow passive income... It can be interest in the bank, income from renting an apartment, or something else.

Passive income will give you the opportunity to be freer in your experiments in life and build on what you want, not what you need.

70. Help others to live their best lives. If you see that you can help a person improve their life, be sure to help them find the right path.

71. Get married and have kids.

72. Improve the world. Help the poor, unhealthy, people deprived of the opportunity to live normally.

73. Participate in the humanitarian aid program.

74. Give more than you receive. When you continually give more, you begin to receive a lot more in return over time.

75. Try to see the big picture. Focus on the 20% that generates 80% of the result.

76. Your final goal should be clear. What is it like? Does what you are doing really help you achieve your goals?

As long as you think about the things that bring you closer to your goal, you are on the right track.

77. Always try to find the 20/80 path. Minimum effort, but maximum result.

78. Prioritize. Sometimes it is more convenient to move by inertia and it is difficult to switch to a more important task, but it is this property that will make your life much more efficient.

79. Enjoy the moment. Stop. Take a look. Thank fate for the pleasant things that you have at the moment.

80. Have fun with the little things. A cup of coffee in the morning, 15 minutes of sleep in the afternoon, a pleasant conversation with a dear person - all this can be by the way, but try to pay attention to all the small pleasant moments.

81. Take a break. It can be 15 minutes or 15 days.

Life is not a marathon, but a pleasure walk.

82. Try to avoid mutually exclusive goals.

83. Focus on creating. You should be interested in the process of creating - a game, a new business, and so on - when you get candy out of nothing.

84. Don't judge others. Respect others for who they are.

85. The only person you have to change is you.

Concentrate on your development and growth, not on changing those around you.

86. Be grateful for every day you live.

87. Express your gratitude to the people you love.

88. Have fun. You are lucky if you have such friends who laugh non-stop, with whom you forget about everything. Allow yourself such an experiment and you!

89. Be in nature often.

90 ... There is always a choice. There are always several ways out of any situation.

91. Laugh often and louder.

92. Get ready for change - this is the essence of life.

93. Prepare to be disappointed - it's part of life.

94. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Think of them as lessons, but try not to go through the same lesson several times.

95. Don't be afraid to take risks. Risk is a state where all your senses are at the limit and you know your limits.

96. Fight your fears. Every day you need to do something of what you are afraid of. It is very difficult, but important.

97. Do it. Don't let your body rust.

98. Develop your intuition and follow it, even if logic tells you not to.

99. Love yourself.

100. Love those around you.

Almost always the question "How are you?" we answer "Good" or "Normal". By saying this, we all mean approximately the same thing: at the moment, in the main areas of our life, everything is in order - no negative events, changes for the worse, etc. have taken place.

But if you ask "more globally" - "What is for you a good life? What is good for you to live? " - we will receive hundreds of possible answers. Each of these "good" will be exclusively their own, individual, not like the others.

So what does living well mean to me? The first thing that asks to write is material well-being... In general, of course, money is one of the main aspects of an adult's life. In our society, everything is built on a material and monetary basis, this is even said in the textbooks of philosophy. It is impossible to exist without money, they are a material expression of a person's social significance, his professionalism, his energy, in the end, which he spends on benefiting society.

Thus, money is not only a person's material security, his status, but an indicator of his professional achievements... And this is very important, especially, as it seems to me, for a man. Besides, money, of course, gives freedom and independence. And without this, in my opinion, one cannot “live well”.

But on the other hand, living well for me means living happily. And having only money, I, alas, cannot be happy. For this I need "intangible" components.

I really hope that I will do what I love, realize myself in the profession, grow there and reach the top. “Life's work”, a favorite profession, in my opinion, are very important, because here a person manifests himself as a creator, as a creative person. And create in the very broad sense this word is one of the vital needs and distinctive features of Homo sapiens.

But, as my mother says, in addition to work, a person should have a personal life. Perhaps, while I'm not really thinking about it very seriously, but in the future, of course, I want me to have a family - a wife and children.

I have always dreamed of a big family in which important role grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, cousins etc. Of course, I understand that it is important to observe the measure, not to violate the personal boundaries of the family, but a large number of people who love each other is wonderful. This is happiness for me.

But family for me is not only relatives, but also close friends. They are an essential part of my “good life”. As far back as I can remember, warm companies of friends and like-minded people always gathered in my parents' house. Interesting conversations, soul-saving conversations were held here, songs were sung, the latest news was discussed, etc. There has always been a spiritual unity between my parents and friends, which they have carried throughout their lives. I think in relationships with friends I imitate my mom and dad.

Everything I have written about is the "personal components" of my good life. But there are also "public" ones. In order for me to live well, my country must live well. No matter how pretentious it may sound, my fate is closely connected with the fate of Russia, and this is a given. Therefore, it is very important for me what is happening with my country. Moreover, I believe that every adult should participate in the fate of his homeland, try to make common life better. And then the life of each individual person will become better.

Thus, a “good life” for me includes many components, material and spiritual, personal and social. These components are simple and even banal, but at the same time, they are very important. It is they, in my opinion, who are able to make me happy.

A good life depends on what's important to you. Take the time to define your values, priorities, and goals in life. Work on fulfilling your desires. Develop relationships and be a good family member and friend. Serve your community and humanity, and stay true to yourself.

Steps

Part 1

Emphasize what you want

Make a list of what people or things matter to you. When making a plan for life, it can be helpful to prioritize certain areas. List everything that you value in your life. You can include family, friends, a specific hobby, nature, or career. Take time to think carefully about what things you can't imagine your life without.

For example, if you enjoy playing basketball, is that one of the most important things in life for you? Maybe yes. If not, chances are it's just a hobby.

Find your calling. Each person has their own talents and strengths. Strive to live life in your unique calling. Seeking your calling does not mean walking on someone else's path. Instead, try to identify what you are good at and how you can use your virtues in life and help other people.
- For example, you may be a talented teacher and musician. Your vocation is probably teaching children to play the piano.
- On the other hand, you may be a great listener and care about helping others. You may well become a psychologist.
- If you are very passionate about dinosaur bones, you can pursue paleontology or share your knowledge of dinosaurs and environmental change with the new generation.
Set your goals. Thanks to this, you will be able to live with a specific mission. Keep in mind that your goals may change at any time. You can modify them throughout your life. However, if you have some kind of structure, it will be a little easier for you to live.
- For example, you might want to become a doctor. Small goals in this case can be the following steps: graduate from high school, go to a medical university, get a diploma, and start a medical practice. Each of these goals will have subgoals.
- On the other hand, if your goal is to have children, first think about how you want to have them. Do you need a partner with whom you can raise them? Do you want to take a child from an orphanage? What different strategies can you use to achieve this goal?
Set priorities. Once you've identified which people are important to you, as well as your values and goals, create priorities. At different times in your life, you are likely to have different aspects come to the fore. For example, during school times, study will be of prime importance. Later, the focus may shift to relationships or children. Keeping your priorities in mind can help you plan your life better.
- Check out the article "How to prioritize" for more tips.
Strive to eat right. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables and buy whole grain pasta and breads. Include in your diet more birds and fish (unless you're a vegetarian). Legumes, nuts and eggs are also rich in nutrients. Don't overdo your sodium, carbohydrate, or saturated fat intake.

Exercise in moderation. Try to do moderate (2.5 hours) or vigorous (1.25 hours) cardio workouts per week. To strengthen your muscles, lift weights twice a week. By exercising regularly, you are more likely to live longer and healthy life... Your heart, muscles and bones will all benefit from this.
- Moderate workouts include walking, yoga, dancing, and swimming.
- Intensive workouts include jogging and stationary cycling.
Connect with your spiritual side. Whether you follow a particular religion or not, find something that gives your life meaning. Why are you on this earth? What is feeding your soul? The spiritual side is especially helpful when we are faced with difficult moments in life. It also helps us to forgive other people.

Part 4

Be grateful to life

Reflect on gratitude. Express gratitude for three things every day after you wake up. Perhaps you have a favorite job. Perhaps you have a partner who supports you in everything. Or maybe you are completely healthy. It is very helpful to always take time to reflect on the things for which you are grateful.

Don't see problems as tragedies. In part, in order to live a good life, it's important not to get bogged down in the day-to-day problems we all face. While dealing with problems is important, take time to reflect on what is good in your life. You may have seen someone guide an elderly woman across the road. Maybe the kids from the local school are collecting food for the homeless. You still have good health? You have money? Do you still have close people? Even if you can not check the box next to each of these points, it is important not to take problems too personally.

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