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| How shall I live, knowing I will die? Part 1Knowing that the duration of life is limited, that we are going to die, an important question to ask is “do we want to live habitually, mechanically, automatically, not questioning—in many ways being “a chip off the old block?” Carrying old ideas about who we are, the ways we are supposed to be, or not be, drive us to live stale and stagnate lives. We are strongly influenced by family, church, school, community and culture and it is difficult to sort out who we really are versus who we think we are when we try to fit into society. So the question “how shall I live” begins to examine all the unquestioned assumptions that drive or motive our choices and lifestyles. Our acquired personality, the one we arrive into adulthood with, is built around sets of expectations and assumptions about how we are supposed to be as men and women. We can most easily access these subconscious forces by addressing the shoulds of our lives.
If we want freedom and more capacity to be responsive and creative with life, we need to open up the layers of the personality that cover or mask our true nature. |
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Some—Shoulds, Musts, Ought to’s and Supposed to do’s.
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Be Nice
Be Kind Be Good Be Considerate Be Loving Be Friendly Be Polite Be Patient Be Helpful Be Selfless Be Happy Be Sociable Be Pleasant Be Caring Be Productive Be Intelligent Be Wise Be Frugal Be Conservative |
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Be Attentive
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Be Devoted
Be Understanding Be Sympathetic Be Thoughtful Be Compassionate Be Gentle Be Modest Be Respectable Be Tolerant Be Decent Be Courteous Be Supportive Be Cheerful Be Moral Be Liberal Be Generous Be Careful |
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For Gods sake just be yourself, But:
Don’t Look—Don’t Stare—Don’t Yawn—Don’t Fart—Don’t Fidget—Don’t Smile and Don’t cry or I will really give you something to cry about. Cutting through the layers of “shoulds” opens us up to: Aliveness—Spontaneity—Presence—Immediacy of Life—Inner Peace—Stillness—Spaciousness Beingness—Substantialness—Being Real—Not Knowing—An Ease in Life Fuller Experience—The Now Originality—Creativity—Wisdom—Vitality—Appreciation—A Fresh Start Relief from the Past—Freedom Energy—Freshness—Uniqueness—Richness—Liberation. Inquiry:
Inquiring into the fundamental questions of life is essential to being truly alive and awakening our full potential.
When we allow the deeper questions in life to live within our consciousness, they invoke wisdom and presence, giving us the clarity to live in ways that bring fulfillment and happiness. We allow these questions to enter into our awareness by giving them space and actively engaging to them. There are several ways to explore inquiry questions: We can journal our responses to them.We can work with a partner, giving a monologue on our thoughts for 10 minutes while our partner just listens without feedback.Or we can talk out loud to pet or plant. Inquiry Questions: What are the “shoulds” of how I live? What’s the effect of living shoulds? What is not lived when we live from shoulds? How would I live if I was free from shoulds? |
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