In an intellectual moment, I thought about ten important philosophies that I've learned in life and do my best to live by, and I wanted to share them with everyone in the hopes that they make a positive impact on peoples' lives like they do with mine. Here are my ten philosophies:
1) Live more naturally - In this day and age, technology has come along so far to the point that pretty much every person, regardless of age, now carries a cellphone on them at all times, equipped with a camera and an internet connection anytime they want to use it. In many cases, people typically spend too much time on their devices and end up living more in virtual reality than they do in the real world. In other words, society has become too artificial. When's the last time you went outside and enjoyed nature or admired the stars at night? How often do you get out now compared to when you used to in the past? Or have you ever taken a moment to admire the natural beauty of the world? Kids don't play outside as often as they used to. Adults choose technology over hanging out with their friends. As humans who crave dopamine, we are far too susceptible to technology's addicting hold it can have over us. Scrolling endlessly on social media, arguing personal beliefs with strangers online, streaming video after video... before we know it, we've spent hours on the internet with our eyes glued to our phones and computers. It doesn't take a doctor to tell us this isn't healthy. 2) Think logically with an open mind - Humans are the dominant species of Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs. We were given this planet, and through evolution, our brains have grown to give us the intelligence to survive longer and create the most cutting-edge inventions to aid us in our existence. But having larger brains comes with a price. You have to maintain control over your thoughts and not fall victim to manipulation. My major point of this is don't become affected by fear-mongering or misled by the supernatural. Have you noticed that headlines in the news are mostly negative? When you watch the news on TV or read headlines on the internet, the emotions you tend to feel afterward are fear, anger, and sadness. These aren't emotions that we like to feel, so why continue subjecting yourself to these negative emotions? You have the free will to watch, read, and listen to whatever you like, so do your mental health a favor and stop watching the news, and instead watch things that make you feel good. Some people these days also live restricted lives due to outdated dogmas. You don't need to choose a religion or political side if you don't want to. To me, these things are too divisive and result in the same negative feelings that watching the news will give me. They call it "divide and conquer" for a reason. People didn't have the world figured out over 2,000 years ago so there's no way that they could have written a universal guide that all people should live their life by with the fear of eternal punishment for not complying. Think about it: why would they need to scare you into compliance? It's because fear is stronger than love, and there is no love in telling you how to live your life, telling you what to think, and telling you how you should feel about things instead of letting you think for yourself. Turn off the news and don't allow supernatural beliefs to mislead you. 3) Walk your own path - Many people go through life wondering if it has a purpose, or wondering what their purpose in life is. What are they destined to do? How will they fit in with society? What you should be asking yourself is how you would like to fit in with society in your own way. As in, by being yourself and standing out from the crowd instead of trying to be like other people. Think for yourself. In other words, don't follow the herd. You're a unique individual, and you don't need to spend your life trying to be like other people because that person you're trying to be is already themselves. And if you don't be yourself, then who's going to be you? People follow trends all the time in human society in an effort to fit in and join an existing identity instead of finding their own. While I get many compliments in person and online about my hairstyle, I also sometimes get comments online from people along the lines of "what's up with your hair?" The reason is because I dare to be different and cut my own hair in a unique mohawk instead of going to a barber and asking for a modern mohawk with a fade like everyone else does. I don't want to look like everyone else, I want to be my own person, and the worst advice anyone could give me is to conform to trends and change my hairstyle to a "modern" one. Comment sections in YouTube videos are overrun with people repeating the same modern slang in place of leaving their own intelligent comments. It seems some people will go out of their way to make sure phrases like "not gonna lie," "low key," "unironically," "on God," etc are injected into their comments in an effort to make them seem cool because "everyone is saying it." Do you want to be just another NPC carbon copy with a fade spouting Gen-Z buzz words all the time, or would you rather be your own unique individual? The choice is yours to make. 4) Realize you're a product of your environment - When we're young, we can't help what family we're born into or what kind of parents we have. Will our parents be there for us, take care of us and love us, or will they abandon us and abuse us? We unfortunately have no control over this situation, and the worst part about it is that childhood plays such a crucial role in the rest of our lives. When we grow up, we become a product of our childhood environment. People who grow up in loving homes with parents who stay together tend to be emotionally balanced as they get older. People who grow up in broken and abusive homes tend to develop mental and emotional issues and act out by committing crimes and abusing substances. It's statistically a psychological fact. Then when they act out, they get judged by society as worthless criminals and drug addicts. So not only did they have it bad as a child, they now have it rough as an adult until they manage to tear down those walls and turn their life around as best they can. After all, this is the only life we get to live. Childhood trauma is known to remain with you for your entire life, and it's simply a matter of how well you're able to keep it under control. It can easily control you if you let it, and in worse cases it leads to suicide. Don't let past abuse lead you down a destructive path. Reshape your environment. 5) Never live in regret - The past is called the past for reason, and that's because the events in it have already passed. You should never live in the past. Living in regret has a profound negative effect on your psyche. Everyone makes mistakes and you shouldn't let yours haunt you. As humans, we have the ability to learn from our mistakes and become better versions of ourselves. Learn from the past, live in the present, and plan for the future. Unfortunately figures of society today have begun a trend of hunting people for their pasts and using it to try to destroy their entire livelihoods, and this is a horrible stain on human culture. We should be educating people on their mistakes instead of destroying their lives for them since we're all humans with our own flaws. We aren't karma and we shouldn't try to be. 6) Accept who you are and stay true to yourself - The core message of my No Deo Hero show is to always be yourself and not let the chains of society cause you to feel shame or embarrassment for who you are. There are unfortunately a lot of stigmas in our society that lead to people feeling the need to hide and live discreetly or in denial. While there has been progress made, people still face oppression and intolerance due to these outdated stigmas, many of which are rooted in political and religious dogmas. An example of this would be a person who is homosexual being raised by religious parents who believe it's a "sin" to be this way, causing the person to live in secrecy and try to "pray the gay away." Imprinting is a common phenomenon in humans which occurs during childhood and follows them throughout their entire life. For example, a child may enjoy watching anthropomorphic shows during their youth and this could possibly wire their brain to the point that they identify as a furry as they age and derive sexual pleasure from seeing these characters. With this being a harmless fetish, there's no reason to feel ashamed about it. We can't "undo" these imprinted hard-wirings of our brains; they are with us forever, so we need to accept them and not let anyone cause us to feel shame for them. This goes for any harmless imprinted interests, whether they be common interests like feet or more obscure ones. While we shouldn't feel ashamed about them, so long as they are harmless, we also must remember to keep them under control and not them consume our lives. 7) Spend your time wisely and productively - Like all living things on this planet, we accept that one day we must die. Arguments about reincarnation aside, we all understand that the body we're confined to will eventually cease to exist, and all the memories contained in our brain will go with it. You only live once and we need to live our lives wisely. Not only is this our only life we get to live, but we're also only young once. Your youth plays a crucial role in your adulthood so don't throw it away. If you feel you already wasted your youth, don't live in regret about it because you still have time in life to enjoy the rest of your days. Spend your time being productive and doing things you enjoy to keep you happy. With the knowledge that all life ends in death, that doesn't mean that life is pointless. We're all capable of experiencing happiness and love, and living our lives productively will bring us those feelings as a reward for it. Work hard and leave your mark on the planet for generations after you to be inspired by and benefit from. If not to leave a legacy, at least live the best life you can live so your own life will be as enjoyable as possible. 8) Look at things from the "big picture" perspective - A major philosophy I live my live by is what I call the "big picture" perspective. In other words, avoid small-minded thinking. We have plenty of time to think before we make decisions, and hasty decisions tend to have negative effects. Stop and take a moment to analyze the situation fully before you act. Look at if from the outside as a whole instead of just a small, personal standpoint. Don't make every decision about yourself or only your interests. Think about the impact your decision may have from a larger scale and the effects it could have on the future. Now that you've actually taken a moment and given it some thought, do you still see things the same way? You can even research something just to be sure that you're right about it and going to make a responsible decision. Another major philosophy I live by is "the bright side of suffering." Similar to the one mentioned above, this one means having the ability to use critical thinking to find something positive in a negative situation. For example, you may have been bullied as a kid, but it taught you to stand up for yourself and be tougher. Instead of dwelling on the hurt you felt, find the bright side of that suffering and realize you used the experience to your advantage. This could also be similar to when people say "when one door closes, another will open." You may have lost a job and been upset about it, but the next job you find might end up being much better for you. Or the relationship that ended in a painful way could lead to you finding someone you're more of a match with. 9) Enjoy your pleasures in moderation - Everyone enjoys the feeling of pleasure, and there are different ways to experience pleasure. Seeing as this is naturally such a sought-out feeling, some people become addicted to experiencing pleasure and will develop unhealthy habits to feel it as often as possible. Masturbation is a prime example of pleasure. Contrary to what religious dogmas and false "semen retention" trends of today claim, masturbation is very normal and healthy for you. However, it wouldn't be considered healthy if you were masturbating 20 times a day. The advancement of technology allows us to pull up something we enjoy on the internet at any given time and pleasure ourselves to it, but it's important that we learn to enjoy these pleasures in moderation. After all, what starts to happen once we do it too much? It doesn't feel as good after a while and it will even start to hurt, which is an obvious indication that you're doing it too much. The same can be said for people who enjoy drinking alcohol or taking drugs. There's a difference between being a social drinker and an alcoholic, as well as between being a recreational drug user and a drug addict. Unfortunately it's very easy for recreational users of any substance to become addicts because they begin to crave the pleasurable feeling they get from the substances more and more. And just like with the example of masturbation, after a while it doesn't feel as good anymore and you become addicted to chasing the original feeling you used to get all the time. 10) Always follow your instincts - Through evolution, your body is programmed to do many things for you on its own. You automatically breathe, your heart beats on its own, and so on. Your body also comes equipped with its own instincts, and these are something you should always listen to and follow. Some people call this their "gut feeling," or "following their heart." This could be the first impression you get from someone, or that sinking feeling you get that something isn't right. These are your instincts speaking to you and you really should listen to them. Have you ever paid close attention to someone when you're talking to them? Watching their facial expressions, their eye contact, their body language, and listening for changes in their tone of voice? Maybe you even did this while watching someone in a video online. Without realizing it, people will send signals when they are being deceptive that we can pick up on. We can also pick up on when people are being genuine in the same manner. We're also able to read and feel the energy that people put out. People will also be affected by the energy we put out. Have you ever been around someone who got really angry and you "feel" their anger in your chest? It gives you an uncomfortable feeling, and that's the reaction to their energy. What about the warmer feeling we get inside when we experience love from another? We can even feel energy from other animals, like a barking dog. Is it a friendly bark with its tail wagging, or is it an angry snarl that we can feel and react differently to? The "fight or flight" instinct even exists in humans. Never fight your instincts though; follow them because they're in you for a reason and won't mislead you. That's all I have to share for now about these philosophies that are important to me. As a human myself, I try to remember and live by all of them, but I'm still flawed in ways and there's always room to better myself. Having the knowledge of them is having the power to know that you can become aware of your flaws and find the ways to better yourself, and I hope we can all learn and become better people 💚
1 Comment
Miguel Ángel
10/15/2023 01:42:23 am
Wised words!! Greetings from Spain
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