The Best Things Are Still Free, So Live!

We are living in a world where we are being misled to believe that the purpose of our lives is mainly to earn money and that the latest innovations in technology, food industry, automotive, fashion and medicine will make us happy.

Try this experiment, observe. Observe yourself, how you live, look around your room, or your house, take notice of the things you have accumulated so far. Go to your closet, how many clothes do you really need?
How many shoes?  We are not an octopus to carry all those mobile phones having different network affiliations around always. Does one really need one too many? Do we need all those gadgets just to be "in" like everyone else?
Do we need to shop for something we don't really need? We are creatures of HABIT, collecting anything? Do you really have to? Yeah, you may say you can eventually sell these collections when the need arises, but seriously, can you part with them? We are also creatures of ATTACHMENTS, we harbor things for sentimental values.

We spend hours watching television where these media moguls and rich companies spend millions just to convince everyone that WE NEED what they sell, what they offer, what they show...and they are convincing. We see giant billboards all around the city, we read them in papers and magazine, we are being "hypnotized" to understand that these things will make us happy, will make our lives better, but there's a catch, we have to BUY them, and in order to do that, we have to WORK our ass off. WE need to slave ourselves to our deskjobs, stations, market places, for that convincing advertisement. From an early age we are "programmed" with colorful and catchy information on TV, Magazines, Newspapers, Movies, Internet, and grew up believing all of them.

Observe, look at other people, your co-workers, watch them how they parade themselves with whatever NEW thing they have, everyone is guilty with pride, we want attention, we want to be the center of notice by everyone, it boost our EGOS masquerading as self confidence. But is it that important? DO WE REALLY HAVE TO?

Believe it or not we can live without all these things, we can be learn to be content with what we ALREADY HAVE, we don't need much to be enjoy our life, and the BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE STILL FREE. I don't need to elaborate much on that, because I am sure we still know what are these best things, we are just made into ZOMBIES to think that our life cycles should go around like this: SCHOOL - WORK - EARN MONEY - BUY THINGS - SHOWED WHAT'S NEW - EARN MORE MONEY- BUY WHAT'S NEW - SHOWED WHAT'S NEW AGAIN - SLAVE TO WORK - and it goes on and on...

I was blinded before, and guilty as charged too. BUT now, I know better, because I was told to look at myself, OBSERVED myself, to go out of my self and look at my habits, my attachments, and what I think are my "needs." Slowly, I started to see the picture, I begin to evaluate myself and asked the question, "DO I REALLY NEED TO?" "DO I HAVE TO?" I used to love the feeling of having admired or even envied for what I have, and when I saw myself like that, I felt a bit ashamed, sad and humiliated, and  I looked at my closet, I have enough clothes to dress up 50 men, twice! I have 30 pairs of shoes, excluding those I've already given away. I have a variety of gadgets that I don't even know all of their functions! All these, before I was reminded to look beyond myself. I realized too that I am better than this, that these things cannot be the source of my happiness.

We have to awaken from a deep sleep, we have to understand the importance of contentment, we have to realize that our happiness cannot be found in material accumulations but from knowing that, and we hear it over and over again, but seemed not to take heed of it, happiness can be found on simple things.WE don't NEED to WORK HARD for our happiness, we don't have to.

BUT, of course we have to have something to catch up with the times, right? We only need to have enough to not to compromise our freedom and enjoyment of life. Live guys! Live!

Habits We Might Consider

There are times when we need to re-evaluate our lives and look forward to the future. It makes us look back at the choices that affects us in the past and gives opportunity to make some adjustments in the present, it may be too late for "resolutions", but we need adjustments to some of our habits, thought it may be "painful", but we need to get in "shape". We need to stop something or get our lives in order. Whatever we choose may relatively easy to do, or notice and are often supported by many.

However there are other, maybe worth improving that probably we often overlooked. But as the case maybe, they seemed to be just as important, even help us realize that there are some issues in our lives that leads to poor decisions or choices in the first place.

With that in mind, let's consider the following 12 habits as possible great "resolutions" to build our lives with:

1. Laugh everyday, intentionally. Laughter eases stress, lowers blood pressure and exercises muscles. It brings joy and hope. We should laugh everyday.

2. Have a solitude moment. Find some time by yourself, in peace and quiet on a regular basis. No everything, that will distract you. Just you alone with yourself. They say your life will never be the same (trust me, I know what it feels to be all by yourself most of the time. You become more creative.)

3. Say thank you all the time. Make it a habit to say thank you to someone or something everyday. It takes our attention away from what we don't have and leads us towards what we do. This may result to contentment and generosity.

4. Slow down.  Take your time. We can never outrun time. But we can be earlier so we can have time to take things slowly, enjoying each moment. Walking may lead to discovery of things around you, taking time in the shower relaxes and soothes, eating slowly makes us savor the flavors of food. Take time...no make time.

5. Try to fast once a month, we will not die if we skip a day without eating, in fact it is said that fasting "reboots" our body in order to function well. Also, if may teach us self-control, self-denial and sacrifice. It trains the mind to weather storms and temptations. It also heightens our senses. The purpose may sound like spiritual but it does not have to be.
6. "Do it Now! Instead of procrastinating about something we need to do, why not do it now. It may relieve the stress unnecessary in our lives. Just say it like a mantra, simply "do it now!"
7. Go fruits and veggies.  No need to elaborate on this. WE already know what it does and what these greens can do.
8. Read books. They contain wisdom.
9. Remove pornography. Say what?! Yes, it limits our capacity to appreciate what is real and the people in it. It shrouds the mind with unreal and unhealthy assumptions about sexuality and how we relate with others. Try to remove it and maybe life can be better, and we might appreciate more the simple joys of the people and our relationships at the moment.
10. Sleep early. We know the benefits of having a good night's sleep, right?
11. Try to give to charity. Ok, this may be kind of broad, try with the immediate people around you, you have something you have no use for? Without attachment, let go and give it away to someone who might have a better use for it.
12. Go out with your special someone. Make the relationship more fun and stronger by spending time together once in a while. Be creative, it need not be expensive.

I do try to make it a habit intentionally each of these, some I already did at some point, while others needs a bit more practice and one is still beyond my choice, lols! (no. 12). My desire is not that these list would be the secret to have a happy life, but rather simply consider each one in the hope to have a better life.