This is a very very good question.
It is related to what I have said for years...
One of the two or three big things in life to know is yourself.
When you learn and accept who you are by...
1. Recognizing what you like and don't like.
2. Recognize what you really want and really don't want.
3. Recognizing what you will tolerate and not tolerate.
4. Recognizing what you can do and can't do.
5. Recognizing what you will do, and won't do.
then you know how to predict how you are going to feel about a situation and what this does is help eliminate sadness or anger because, often, these are rooted in disappointment due to failed expectations.Here's an example:
A very nice young woman came to my house about 3 weeks ago talking about selling us a solar power system. The price wasn't too high and our property was good for it and I've wanted solar and to live off the grid since the 1970s. Also, I want a way to be able to charge my eventual electric car at home and not worry about a blackout. However, I am 60 and my wife is 65 and we have enough debt. The amount of debt that we would have to take on is not smart to take on the debt, but not that bad either. But, there's something called "return on investment" - how long it takes before what you invested in will have made enough money for you beyond what you have spent. I've got an electric bill about $200/month. A $60,000 solar power system with 3 batteries means 300 months of electric bills. Well, 300 months is 25 years. So, neglecting inflation and any interest on loans, it would take me 25 years before having a solar power system is saving me money. Well, 25 years from now I'll likely be dead and I'd still be paying the loan for this system for 10-15 years after purchase. So, realistically, it's not worth it for us. If I was 35, that would be a different story.
But, you see, I knew myself and recognized what I could do and couldn't do. Sure, it squashed my dream, but I won't have the disappointment of failure and debt from gambling that I could do it all. That's what knowing yourself does - it sets you up to prevent yourself from getting involved with unrealistic things that will just lead to disappointment or worse.
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No.
On one hand, I am currently in an era of true self-discovery concerning doing and action, not just thinking and believing as formerly. On another hand, I am also coming to livingly understand that thinking and believing are pretty much determined by the individual himself and can be even determined according to their own will. This makes the whole wanting from life thing subject to interpretation and relativization.
However, to understand and truly feel that a human being is an empty shell that is filling itself with whatever it wants to fill itself and according to whatever rules it wants to impose on the contents and on the filling process and to become it, which is basically the same in this case, a human will necessarily destroy all of his inner grounds of being and all his rooting in beliefs, opinions, feelings, perceptions etc. Hence, the illusion of being is pretty solid and in modern times when even deep is a new superficial probably even unbreakable.
Well, in view of that what do I want? I want the truth from life. That eternal truth about myself and all things in existence that Socrates sought without seeking. And that I am not seeking without not seeking it. But not expressed in thoughts or humanly accessible means as they turned out to be inherently self-determinable as I mentioned, but instead in terms of overarching ways and constructions of life composing many levels of placing oneself within different structures existing in the world of things, world of entities and further still conceivable worlds.
Well, this answer must read like a cryptic tale with beatiful pictures and no feasible ties to any perceived or known reality :D However, many a (hu) man, those who first seek emptiness then seek fulfillment and then seek truth of being - inherently due to their ways of existence and not due to some imposed or self-imposed ideas, ideologies, cultism, or fanciness or likes - those might see glimpses of that path in their own reflection of life that share nature of mine, for those glimpses of commonnality can be found in everything that is striving for the final truth from within itself.
Not at all, on the one hand the idea of making a mark and getting famous and spreading my influence around sounds really cool but I also don't know how well I'd handle the attention or what it would do to me mentally. The idea of financial success sounds great, but I know I'm not much of a hard worker. I currently work part time just to have a 4 day work week. I barely get by most days but I'm content with it. At this point, I'm alive and that's all I'm really getting out of life and so far, I have no complaints.
Yeah but with some I still have to figure out how to get it
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I believe that I do.
In one word: Fulfillment.
With everything that I do in life, especially any big decisions, I always ask myself whether or not I will feel fulfilled after pursuing and obtaining this or that thing.
And going through life teaches me and confirms what I truly find fulfilling, refining my understanding of how my own heart and mind works.
I often go through thought-exercises, thinking about what would be important to me on my deathbed, what would be important to me if I lost everything, what would be important to me if I had everything, etc.
Young or old, rich or poor, powerful or powerless… What would be important to me and why?
I believe to know yourself and to know what you want in life is one of the most important things to figure out in life.
It has been my North Star and guiding light amidst all the chaos in life.I understand how life works and i know what i want, i am almost there. All i want is to be left in peace, let do my farming and sneakers collecting, cooking and using my sexy PC, far from all other people, and some wine 🍷🤣. I live close to the countey side bit i have a lot of neighbors and dome of them are just pain in the ass. Just leave me all alone please
Yes but frustratingly I do have to be realistic. There have sadly been things I've wanted but never really got. Because I was either too poor, too shy, too low self esteemed, too old, etc.
It's life. It's unfair and sometimes, I HATE that fact! ... But what can I do? !
I fully understand what I want. I just dont always know how to get there
rigjt now i just want to get out of tgis house because i'm inder medication and i'm feeling well but i cannot because i'm being controlled bu someone who is following my sister who keep appearing on my dreams if not dancing, naked so... fuck you dude
Life is a never-ending journey. It's okay to want different things as you shed older versions of yourself. There's always going to be something to discover, lessons to learn, decisions to make. Give yourself grace and choose joy through the ups and downs.
Yes I do. I’m glad I know it. No stresses in trying to know, but even if I didn’t know. Discovering it should always be fun.
Peace and quiet, a home and food and heating, for as little hazzle as possible. So I can enjoy the remainder of my time.
I do, I really do. I just know that it's going to take a long time to get there and it won't be easy...
Nope. I feel so lost, thinking about things without being able to get to the answer, overthinking is making me feel like i am loosing it, no goor night rests from not knowing what to do about things. Hopefully i will be able to relax soon
You can't understand what you want from your life , coz every phase has a different goals
They don't know what they want. Very few people do. But if you ask everyone they say they do. They don't. Ask them questions about what they want and it's never very definite.
I know some things I know I want, like to live a happy and prosperous life. But life is still a mystery to me
I reached my goal a year ago. Life is great. It's now about refining the little things. I am currently drawing me a path on the map to reach those checkpoints.
I've always known and understood exactly what I want from life.
No, it has been a dynamic process as I get older.
Yes I want to be beautiful and have a good relationship
Do a lot of meditation, listen to relax music all the time.
I want to be free, that's it
I wasn't dealt that card though, so I'll never have itNot really, I know what I want but that's not what I need in life.
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