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106: Reader Mailbag (XII)

Your responses re: living a "good life".

Jeremy Finch
Jeremy Finch
3 min read
106: Reader Mailbag (XII)

In the last post, I shared some reflections on parenting.

At the end, a question :

What makes a "good life"?
I got some great replies.


What Fire Jar readers said :


For me, the “good life" comes down to showing up and paying attention.

Curiosity, listening, and learning are central.




Love.




I'm not sure. But I'd like to think that a "good life" is one lived with meaning and purpose.

A life where you can be free (in whatever construct of freedom that exists in your mind).




In no particular order:
- Humor (especially about the absurdity of life)
- Music
- Listening
- Suspending judgment
- Understanding context
- Asking good questions
- Staying off the soapbox
- Empathy for suffering (of others and of ourselves)




Kindness, connection, presence.




Making the most of every piece of the human experience between birth and death. Love. Loss. Being rich. Being poor. Being single. Being coupled. Having a pet. Going to the sea and the wilderness alike.

Getting to grow old having used your body and mind for everything it could’ve possibly done and given you and the world.




When you can smile and feel content at quiet moments.




Simply, being kind to - and interested in - others and ourselves.




Cooking, making music, making art, making friends, keeping friends, deepening friendships, spending time in nature, freedom, being the creative director of your own life. Balance.




Babies do ground us to the moment.
They know when you're present!




All organic things decay and die.

Having a compost has helped me realize that.




Maybe a "good life" is about being able to be content with opposites like simplicity and complexity, peace and chaos, productivity and stasis.

This requires an ability to be flexible with your perspective and relinquish control.

Luck and timing are also important.




Thanks for the mail!


I love learning from you.


📬

hi@thefirejar.com






Crowdsourced posts :

Mailbag - The Fire Jar
Letters to the editor. Readers respond! 📫



Related :

073: Pain vs. Suffering
How are pain and suffering different?
033: Exponential Patience
On going backwards to move forwards.
064: Top Regrets
The top regrets of the dying.
027: Life is a Jumble
The stories we tell are the ones we believe.
078: Mind Palace
The Method of Loci (aka Memory Palace).



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