Way of Life

A lot of things float through my mind from day to day, and most importantly is my own way of life. I spend a great deal of time considering how I am, how I live, and how I want to be. In times like this, a large number of people turn to religion, and while I don't subscribe to any particular religion, the way I live tends to follow the majority of moral and ethical codes they provide. This is where I feel the guidance comes from, and that you can find direction from them even without following the beliefs they support. For example, I may not believe in the Jewish or Christian God, yet I follow their ten commandments by my own moral compass. (I think I do, I haven't actually read up on them recently) Now, I'm not very religiously educated, what I do know I was taught in school and consisted of learning the in's and out's of Christianity and Judaism, instead of getting a basic overview of the majority of religions. As a result, I had heard little about Buddhism and was under the impression it's primarily based on understanding your own life through meditation, which isn't a million miles from the truth.

Either way, I took a quick look around the internet and did some good old-fashioned self-education on the subject. As I investigated, I discovered the 'Noble Eightfold Path', which may not speak to me in terms of escaping a Re-birthing cycle, they are hugely sound in terms of looking for the best in life:

'Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.'

All my thinking and pondering about my life is bringing me towards having the 'right view' on my life, as I work out what I actually want from life. The intention is there to make those wants happen, and my version of 'right speech' would be social interactions. As far as they go, I am pushing myself to do what's not only morally right, but also to come out of my shell, to talk to people and have a social life like I actually want to. Similarly, my actions follow suite, and while I'm having to make conscious decisions to do what's best for me, it's slowly becoming a reaction. Now, livelihood's a tricky one, but I'm wasting less and less time on worthless entertainment, and focusing on things that don't just take my mind off of boredom, but actually fully engage me. Putting in the right effort is my hardest battle so far, and seems steeply uphill due to my lazy nature, but I'm pushing myself to overcome that, and making ground slowly. Now, mindfulness is what to pay attention to, what to think about and what not to dwell on. Here's my strong point, I know my goal is to become happy in myself, and I focus on that, reflect on it and evolve and don't fill my mind with mediocre entertainment that doesn't actually captivate me. Finally, there's concentration, which to Buddhism refers to Meditation. Now, I'd not thought meditation was for me, but the more I think on it and read into the concept of it, it becomes more and more inviting. I already, to some degree, meditate on my thoughts, in as much as it's not unknown for me to lose myself in thought for hours on end. Giving meditation a try is now on my to-do list, and I leave with another Gandhi quote that just about sums up my current life goal.