Quote:
Originally Posted by ElSapo
Poetically on point and true.
Unfortunately, one thing I've realized is you can't really shortcut any of this stuff. The stuff you figure out as you get older, that was really the only way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by foatie
The adults that "influenced me" while young, are wrong about everything.
Good answers, fellow stoners. I disagree somewhat with Sapo though. I started reading about the regrets of the old in my 20s in order to accelerate my life experience. I try to make choices to avoid the most common regrets which tend to be that they worked too hard/much along with not keeping up solid relationships with family and friends.
Foatie, wow. I will never forget being a kid living on my McMansioned street and thinking "how in the **** did these morons get all this ****?" It was like they were all dumb. And they were. They just happened to be born at the right time in the right country.
As for me, I'd go with:
1. How beneficial meditation and being present is. It is the antidote to the dull ache. To the feeling that some little puzzle piece is out of place in your life. To the sensation that their is some sliver beneath your skin that precludes you from being fully and completely satisfied. I am not full Tommy Angelo yet, but I am going that way more and more.
2. That happiness is a choice. It is not some ultimate destination. I feel happy to have realized this by my young 30s. Research shows that aggressively pursuing happiness is counter-productive. I remember being a shy, fat kid thinking that if I only get have success with girls, I'd be happy. ****ing lol. Extrinsic phenomenon will never bring lasting fulfillment. This should be obvious given that humans keep acquiring more and more resources and comfort, and yet, we don't become happier or more satisfied.
3. Olds can't cook. Just can't do it. Your grandma's sauce is probably straight out of Betty Crocker. I can't believe I relied on their tastes to feed me.
4. Much of our life outcomes, and even our own decisions, are not our own. Even choices as simple as your outfit today. Did everyone just independently decide to wear denim jeans? No, they became culturally popular a long time ago and now we wear them to occasions that range from casual to somewhat dressy, but not super formal, because that is what society has guided us towards. And we haven't even touched luck/variance yet. Skill and effort are much less important than is commonly believed, which is why I believe some level of resource redistribution to be perfectly just.
I'll stop there, but love the thread idea.
Last edited by cannabusto; 12-11-2018 at 01:22 PM.