Blog: Practicality. Daily Living. Happily & Less Stressed.

[BuzzCap7]

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you my friends.

I thought I would try my hand at a blog.

If this thread is in the wrong place, (Mods) kindly move it to a more appropriate location. Thank you.

Upon looking around Philosophy Now, what stands out the most to me is the complexity of the subject matter. Which of course is fine.

What I would like to bring here is more of a practical daily living orientation. More of a "bottom line" manner of thinking and living. More specifically, leaving out the endless (not that it is bad) but leaving out the endless philosophical compassions, debates, histories of ......... well, everything and "how" to live in the present to bring you happiness and a less stressed manner of living.

The orientation is more spiritual than philosophical. (If that is acceptable here.)

About me.: One needs to be careful here because it is a virtue to be humble and to bridle the ego. The content forthcoming can be misinterpreted as the opposite. As well, I do nitpick (anymore) so try to get the gist of what is being shared rather than to overanalyze what you read here.

If you are interested in "debating".......this is not the place. Or at least, not with me. I do not do that anymore. This is just a blog, sharing what I have learned to live happier and a less stressed life. Have question? Great. But nothing will be debated. (You can ask me why, if you are so inclined.)

Me......
* I am north of 70 yrs old
* Have 2 wonderful children (plus 2 unofficially adopted equally wonderful kids)
* Went to great schools. Have a Masters in Psychology
* Own (now) 3 companies
* Am addicted to riding my motorcycle (Harley-Davidson Ultra Ltd) literally daily
* Have gone into the spirit world (like you see on tv with James Van Praag, John Edwards, etc... do) but not to the extent they do it
* Have studied Stoicism and Spiritualism (etc.) and APPLIED it.
* I have been retired for about 17 or 18 years. The businesses I shared with you above are still in effect but they run themselves. I may actually work 1 hour a month. But basically retired.

One of the most wonderful things I found out about spirituality, being happy and living a less stressed life is that it is amazingly simple. We (as humans) make it complex. <-- This I have found to be pretty funny. It is certainly ok. And very much a commonplace activity. It is all a part of the learning.

Some basics...........

1. Live in the now

2. Do not judge

There are some great books I would like to share with you.......here is one of them.

"The Practice" by Barb Schmidt. <-- Short. Easy to read book. AWESOME! Power packed with "bottom line" book.

One of the most important things to share with you my friends is this.........if you read something and like it, from here or anywhere else.........then become it. <-- This is important.

If you say that you like the idea of not judging others or bridling the go; then become it. Stop judging others. Bridle your ego. too many times people seem to like something and then go onto something else. Huge error IMO. (Ooops, that is judging right?) Become what you like.

'luv you all! See you soon..........

Mark

[LuckyR]

Hey, nice post. But dude, you've got to try some judging, it so cathartic.

[BuzzCap7]

Hey, nice post. But dude, you've got to try some judging, it so cathartic.

Hi there my friend LuckyR.

So is pummeling someone's head with a baseball bat. But I would not recommend it. (Usually. Maybe an in-law. LOL!!!)

Yes, I agree with it being cathartic. But along with it comes 2 major things right off the top of my mind....

1. There is a tendency to inflate the "ego". <-- Tsk, tsk. Wrong direction.

2. If you knew why the other person appears wrong, if you knew why the other person did or did not do what they did, you may realize they are actually right. <-- Infact my friend, that is exactly what happened to me today.

What happened was this.....I was on my motorcycle on A1A southbound at a GREEN light STOPPED. Stopped. (Green light.) I was in the right lane going to make a right turn onto Hillsboro Beach Blvd westbound.

(Did I say I was STOPPED at a GREEN light? Good.)

Someone in a car several cars behind me must of thought I was an idiot. Or maybe, my bike died out. Or, well, or a million other things.

So this guy got OUT of line to turn right, went around several cars, cut in front of me to turn right onto Hillsboro Beach Blvd. westbound, then slammed his brakes on and STOPPED. Now, he is stopped in the intersection. He is mostly cutting me off. He is partially blocking anyone coming from the opposite side (north bound on A1A) from turning westward onto Hillsboro Beach Blvd.

The guy made a judgement call that went bad fast. I am not so sure this judgement call was cathartic. But likely more embarrassing stopped in the intersection with a green light.

I remember looking at him without judgement (to the best of my remembering without judgement). He is independent from me. He makes his own decisions. I just observed.

As the situation changed and we can now turn (or complete the turn as it were) he paused and let me go first.

The made a judgement call and it went bad.

Another thing about judgements.....in addition to the 2 items above....and that is you are disturbing your quiescence. When judging, you are vacillating. Right/wrong. Good/bad. He did not know everything about the situation. It is far better to observe. Relax. Know what you can and cannot control. The more you stay inline with the deeper you, non-vacillating, the happier and less stressed you would be.

I am sure if the guy I referenced above was more observant, he would not only see ALL the cars (again on a GREEN light) southbound were stopped, not going through the light and staying in place and ALL the cars on the northbound side were also STOPPED on a GREEN light..... he would not of felt like a jerk (if he felt like a jerk) cutting around everyone only to get nowhere and realizing everyone knew something he did not know. Or at least did not make a bad "judgement" call.

Judgement is an interesting thing. Like, when you go into an ice cream store and order vanilla rather than chocolate....isn't that judging? But that is another story.......

Stay well my friend LuckyR and great talking with you.

Talking? LOL. Ok, "typing" with you. Huh....

Mark

[iambiguous]

Yo, Mark, my friend!

You're up here: viewtopic.php?t=41867&start=120

[BuzzCap7]

Yo, Mark, my friend!

You're up here: viewtopic.php?t=41867&start=120

Good morning iambiguous,

Did I miss your point? Your linke above brought me to another location here in PhilosophyNow where I made a reply.

This, where you and I are right now, is my Blog in PhilosophyNow.

Mark

[BuzzCap7]

Eckhart Tolle (who is presently alive) wrote an entire book about "The Power of Now". How very, very important it is to live in the present moment and not let you mind flitter into the future or past so much.

Pythagoras (who passed away and lived in a totally different time) said, "The great science of living happily is to live only in the present."

What is intriguing is this....

1. How is it, two people who seem to be very smart, so many YEARS apart from one another and are like "sages" if you will, are saying the exact same thing.

2. Why does the mind even do that? Go into the past or future? The "why" part we may never really know.

Over the last several days, I made an effort to do just what Tolle and Pythagoras was saying to do.....stay in the present moment, the "now". What I found was so far is this my friends.:

1. A richness to the moment. To coffee. Food. The sights and sounds around me were amplified. I was not distracted into the "What if's..." moments of life. I was very "present" when my wife said something. It was as if someone turned up the dial on the "contrast" of my life. I felt a greater control over my life.

In addition (which I cannot explain) I got this feeling that I was/am important. <--- Really? Yes! I can't explain that. I just felt it. As well, my life was important. Worthy. Ummmmm ok.

2. I was (am) happier. Any unpleasantness the mind typically wanders off to and thinks about decreased hugely. Couple this with #1 above makes this all appear to be a good formula.

As I was typing the above my friends, the followin gpopped into my mind. My wife has on her wall (or someplace around here) and it goes like this.... "Be where you feet are." <-- That is saying the same thing as what Tolle and Pythagoras said.

In light of "If we don't change, become a better person....why bother living?" I will be continuing to stay in the present. There appears to be no harm in this. But a really nice upside. Sure, I will still plan out the future as needed like coordinate meeting some people later today, make a new list of "To Do's" etc... but other than those practical things, I'll be bathing in the joyment of the moment.

Thank you Tolle & Pythagoras.

Mark

[BuzzCap7]

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

Steve Jobs

[BuzzCap7]

How Never to Have a Problem Again in Your Life.

Honestly? Did he just say that? If you are thinking…."Absolutely impossible!", Then go with that.

If you would actually like to never have a problem again for the rest of your life, read on.

I would like to say the following came from me but it did not. Here is the answer. And as I have applied it and am still applying it every day in my life. It is like finding a magic pill. An awesome answer and assurance in being a happier person.

It is simply this. We as humans take on our own problems. Personalize them. When something happens, you allow the "event" into your personal being. You are not the "event". Events happen outside of you. (Even if it happens to your own body which I'll get to a moment.)

Events are just events. 99% of the time, things you have no control over so stop making them a problem stop making them a part of who you are.

Now, let's get more specific.

You wake up in the morning, go outside and find out that the window to your car was smashed to pieces and someone got into your car to look around for something valuable to steal.

The event above is not you. Think of what happened is solely an event. You had no control over. But you do have control over your reaction to the event. If you keep the event separate from you, the deeper you, there are certain steps you take to get everything fixed.

Of course you will be saddened by what happened. But you do not need to let it get to the deeper you. It is just one of those events that happen in life. Don't become the event. Don't let the event get the deeper you all upset. Even if it is a brand-new car one day old. It is only an event.

You deal with the event as an event and not as a personal problem that's the key thing.

Now get this… Recently I was in extreme pain. That was the event. I went to the emergency room and they took care of it. It was just a bodily event.

My wife about 1 1/2 years ago had an extreme medical issue where she almost died. I brought her to the emergency room and wound up with a temporary ileostomy. It has since been reversed. Her attitude of treating an issue that almost killed her in dealing with a temporary ileostomy was mind blowing only healthy. The truly dealt with it as an event as I am sharing with you above. Her attitude was incredibly good about the entire scenario of almost dying. Several people commented that her attitude helped her tremendously in her recovery.

One of the interesting things about events, is that they pass. The events, pass. And typically we forget about all of these events in our lives. But when you allow the event to become a part of you and allow the event to take a toll on you, this is where you are working against yourself.

When you keep events separate from you and of course you still deal with the event but not become the event, you are protecting your sanity, you will be happier and you will feel dramatically more empowered or in control when you do not allow events to take over who you are.

This is one of the biggest lessons I have learned in my personal life. It does not matter what the event is. You just don't incorporate it into the deeper part of who you are.

As it is said, "shit happens". Just do not allow shit into the deeper being of who you are.

When you incorporate the above line of thinking, the above way to be, you will find they are no longer "problems". There simply events that happen in the world that you solve. We are not playing a game of semantics here. Were not playing a game of trickery. We are not deceiving ourselves. Bad things happen. You are just not allowing it to become who you are. You do not allow other people or happenings in general control you. You are keeping those "life happens" events where they belong. Outside of you and you reacting to them.

Mark

[iambiguous]

Yo, Mark, my friend!

You're up here: viewtopic.php?t=41867&start=120

Good morning iambiguous,

Did I miss your point? Your linke above brought me to another location here in PhilosophyNow where I made a reply.

Another location? Or am I missing your point?

This, where you and I are right now, is my Blog in PhilosophyNow.

Mark

Blog or not, my main interest in exchanging philosophy still revolves around the points I made on the other thread. The distinction between philosophy as an exchange of viewpoints in the is/ought world and the extent to which, as with science, philosophy can encompass objective reality. With philosophy however this tends to revolve more around language itself. Logical and illogical assessments. And, epistemologically, exploring possible limitations of human knowledge.

[LuckyR]

Hey, nice post. But dude, you've got to try some judging, it so cathartic.

Hi there my friend LuckyR.

So is pummeling someone's head with a baseball bat. But I would not recommend it. (Usually. Maybe an in-law. LOL!!!)

Yes, I agree with it being cathartic. But along with it comes 2 major things right off the top of my mind....

1. There is a tendency to inflate the "ego". <-- Tsk, tsk. Wrong direction.

2. If you knew why the other person appears wrong, if you knew why the other person did or did not do what they did, you may realize they are actually right. <-- Infact my friend, that is exactly what happened to me today.

What happened was this.....I was on my motorcycle on A1A southbound at a GREEN light STOPPED. Stopped. (Green light.) I was in the right lane going to make a right turn onto Hillsboro Beach Blvd westbound.

(Did I say I was STOPPED at a GREEN light? Good.)

Someone in a car several cars behind me must of thought I was an idiot. Or maybe, my bike died out. Or, well, or a million other things.

So this guy got OUT of line to turn right, went around several cars, cut in front of me to turn right onto Hillsboro Beach Blvd. westbound, then slammed his brakes on and STOPPED. Now, he is stopped in the intersection. He is mostly cutting me off. He is partially blocking anyone coming from the opposite side (north bound on A1A) from turning westward onto Hillsboro Beach Blvd.

The guy made a judgement call that went bad fast. I am not so sure this judgement call was cathartic. But likely more embarrassing stopped in the intersection with a green light.

I remember looking at him without judgement (to the best of my remembering without judgement). He is independent from me. He makes his own decisions. I just observed.

As the situation changed and we can now turn (or complete the turn as it were) he paused and let me go first.

The made a judgement call and it went bad.

Another thing about judgements.....in addition to the 2 items above....and that is you are disturbing your quiescence. When judging, you are vacillating. Right/wrong. Good/bad. He did not know everything about the situation. It is far better to observe. Relax. Know what you can and cannot control. The more you stay inline with the deeper you, non-vacillating, the happier and less stressed you would be.

I am sure if the guy I referenced above was more observant, he would not only see ALL the cars (again on a GREEN light) southbound were stopped, not going through the light and staying in place and ALL the cars on the northbound side were also STOPPED on a GREEN light..... he would not of felt like a jerk (if he felt like a jerk) cutting around everyone only to get nowhere and realizing everyone knew something he did not know. Or at least did not make a bad "judgement" call.

Judgement is an interesting thing. Like, when you go into an ice cream store and order vanilla rather than chocolate....isn't that judging? But that is another story.......

Stay well my friend LuckyR and great talking with you.

Talking? LOL. Ok, "typing" with you. Huh....

Mark

Perhaps I misunderstood. I thought "judging" was judging people, not traffic situations. So I meant the guy in the car judging you (based on your action, or in this case: inaction). I absolutely agree the act of judging others implies you're better than them, which is ego inflating. I also agree that in most examples of casual judging, you don't have enough information on which to make accurate predictions, which is part of the entertainment value of the practice, that is, seeing how close you came to the truth with your guess.

[BuzzCap7]

Blog or not, my main interest in exchanging philosophy still revolves around the points I made on the other thread. The distinction between philosophy as an exchange of viewpoints in the is/ought world and the extent to which, as with science, philosophy can encompass objective reality. With philosophy however this tends to revolve more around language itself. Logical and illogical assessments. And, epistemologically, exploring possible limitations of human knowledge.

Blog or not? Really? You want to disrespect this blog? Trying to be a bully? Good luck with that.

Then you say, "...my main interest...". Whatever your main interest is, you can discuss it in an appropriate thread. This thread is my blog. Not a sounding board for you and your subject matter(s) trying to bully your way into any thread anywhere where someone will listen to you.

In the "...other thread..." you referenced iambiguous, I decided not to participate in that discussion. To take that discussion in the other thread and bring it here where it does not fit nor am I interested to discuss here seems quite inappropriate.

Thanks but I'll pass on the subject matter. Especially here in my blog.

Stay well,

Mark

[BuzzCap7]

Perhaps I misunderstood. I thought "judging" was judging people, not traffic situations. So I meant the guy in the car judging you (based on your action, or in this case: inaction). I absolutely agree the act of judging others implies you're better than them, which is ego inflating. I also agree that in most examples of casual judging, you don't have enough information on which to make accurate predictions, which is part of the entertainment value of the practice, that is, seeing how close you came to the truth with your guess.

Excellent! You nailed it. HAPPY DANCE! HAPPY DANCE!

The judgement I was sharing in my example was my not judging him (the other driver) for what the driver did. Particularly when I said, "I remember looking at him without judgement...".

The traffic situation was the example. The judgement part was my not judging the driver for what he did.

Maybe I could have made it clearer.

It is never really about the situation. It is one's judgement about the situation.

e.g.: I remember as a kid, at a baseball game from where I sat the guy sliding into 2nd base was 100% CLEARLY out! I made a judgement call. It was RIGHT! I saw it from the 3rd base line. A camera angle from the 1st base line showed very CLEARLY the 2nd baseman did not tag the runner. The space between the runner and the 3rd baseman was HUGE. But not seeable from my angle. I never forgot that.

The above is really about my judgement call. Not the matter it was a baseball game.

e.g.: John and Mary McLaughlin's 5 year old son died. John and Mary were devout Christians. Yet they buried their son in a Jewish cemetery. What a stupid thing to do right? Makes no sense. You, being at the funeral said nothing. A few months later you asked John why he would bury his son at a Jewish cemetery. John shares with you, that his son was adopted. His son's biological parents made 2 requests. 1. The son to be bar mitzvahed and 2. Be buried in a Jewish cemetery

Again my friend, it is the matter about making a judgement call. Not the particular situation that caused the judgment call.

Makes sense now?

Mark

[iambiguous]

Blog or not, my main interest in exchanging philosophy still revolves around the points I made on the other thread. The distinction between philosophy as an exchange of viewpoints in the is/ought world and the extent to which, as with science, philosophy can encompass objective reality. With philosophy however this tends to revolve more around language itself. Logical and illogical assessments. And, epistemologically, exploring possible limitations of human knowledge.

Blog or not? Really? You want to disrespect this blog? Trying to be a bully? Good luck with that.

Then you say, "...my main interest...". Whatever your main interest is, you can discuss it in an appropriate thread. This thread is my blog. Not a sounding board for you and your subject matter(s) trying to bully your way into any thread anywhere where someone will listen to you.

In the "...other thread..." you referenced iambiguous, I decided not to participate in that discussion. To take that discussion in the other thread and bring it here where it does not fit nor am I interested to discuss here seems quite inappropriate.

Thanks but I'll pass on the subject matter. Especially here in my blog.

Stay well,

Mark

Fine. It's your blog. I will steer clear of it. Above, however, you noted that "your link...brought me to another location here in PhilosophyNow where I made a reply."

What reply?

Anyway, the last thing I need here is close encounter with another Mr. Wiggle. Let alone another Stooge.

[LuckyR]

Perhaps I misunderstood. I thought "judging" was judging people, not traffic situations. So I meant the guy in the car judging you (based on your action, or in this case: inaction). I absolutely agree the act of judging others implies you're better than them, which is ego inflating. I also agree that in most examples of casual judging, you don't have enough information on which to make accurate predictions, which is part of the entertainment value of the practice, that is, seeing how close you came to the truth with your guess.

Excellent! You nailed it. HAPPY DANCE! HAPPY DANCE!

The judgement I was sharing in my example was my not judging him (the other driver) for what the driver did. Particularly when I said, "I remember looking at him without judgement...".

The traffic situation was the example. The judgement part was my not judging the driver for what he did.

Maybe I could have made it clearer.

It is never really about the situation. It is one's judgement about the situation.

e.g.: I remember as a kid, at a baseball game from where I sat the guy sliding into 2nd base was 100% CLEARLY out! I made a judgement call. It was RIGHT! I saw it from the 3rd base line. A camera angle from the 1st base line showed very CLEARLY the 2nd baseman did not tag the runner. The space between the runner and the 3rd baseman was HUGE. But not seeable from my angle. I never forgot that.

The above is really about my judgement call. Not the matter it was a baseball game.

e.g.: John and Mary McLaughlin's 5 year old son died. John and Mary were devout Christians. Yet they buried their son in a Jewish cemetery. What a stupid thing to do right? Makes no sense. You, being at the funeral said nothing. A few months later you asked John why he would bury his son at a Jewish cemetery. John shares with you, that his son was adopted. His son's biological parents made 2 requests. 1. The son to be bar mitzvahed and 2. Be buried in a Jewish cemetery

Again my friend, it is the matter about making a judgement call. Not the particular situation that caused the judgment call.

Makes sense now?

Mark

Makes sense if the primary goal is getting it right (that is, accuracy). However, especially in casual situations, I'm more interested in the entertainment value in seeing how close to accurate I can be given imperfect and incomplete information.

[BuzzCap7]

Makes sense if the primary goal is getting it right (that is, accuracy). However, especially in casual situations, I'm more interested in the entertainment value in seeing how close to accurate I can be given imperfect and incomplete information.

I'd say the primary goal is making oneself and therefore others better souls.

It appears being nonjudgmental is a valuable attribute to have. That is how I interpret the concept (or virtue) of being nonjudgmental.

Mark