What is 'The Good Life' & Why do you want it?

When you read, hear or say the phrase, 'the good life,' what does it mean to you?  Is there a particular vision that comes to your mind?  If so, what is that vision and what inspired it?

The good life is most often portrayed in media messages that illustrate the life that money, material wealth and social status can acquire; the kind of life that the source of the message will implicitly or explicitly suggest will be obtained once their particular product or service is obtained.

Given just a moment of thought, isn't almost every media message, at its root, a call to action for you to seek the so-called good life?  After repeated exposure (in the hundreds or even thousands of times per day) these message have the cumulative effect of indoctrinating the masses that happiness is something created from sources outside of the self.

"Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty." ~ Socrates

Think of how many times you've seen images like these:

• A hand in the air firmly grasping a wad of money.
• People laughing while wearing expensive clothing or accessories. 
• A male celebrity on a yacht surrounded by scantily clad females looking at him adoringly.
• A view of two people sitting in lounge chairs, sipping on ice-cold drinks in the shade of palm trees on a beach overlooking a crystal-clear ocean under unbelievably blue skies.

What is 'the good life' and why do you want it?

Could it be that the good life is a lifestyle that social conventions have taught you to seek?  Do you believe that a person living in a third world country would dream of owning a yacht and a designer watch; or would they dream of a refrigerator full of food and a reliable source of clean running water?  How do blind people define the good life?  What do they 'see?'

"I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a man-made world." ~ Helen Keller

If you see a person driving a newer car, wearing nicer clothes, or living in a larger house in a "better" neighborhood than you, how does that influence your self-worth, your self-image?

It is important to be aware of how you see yourself and that your self image is not a reflection of how you perceive others see you.  If your perception is your reality, you must make it one of your highest priorities to limit false perceptions.  These perceptions almost always begin with a message from an outside source that is then translated into self-defeating messages--false perceptions--within your own mind:

• She looks better in that dress than I do.
• If I had that [insert product here], I would be attractive to others.
• Once I have X amount of dollars, things will be better.
• Those people are happy.  If I do what they do, if I have what they have, I will also be happy.

Life is What You Make It

If you think about it, the things that truly bring happiness are not purchased with money:  A special relationship, a walk in your favorite park, the laugh of a child, the love of your pet. 

An extreme lack of money, in some circumstances, can certainly make the good life harder to obtain, but if you create your own definition of the good life, absent of financial terms, and find ways to be happy with what you already have now, you might find that your are already living it...

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Related:

Curing Affluenza

Why the Blind Can See

The Diminishing Marginal Utility of Wealth

The Experience-Stretching Hypothesis

Comments

[Thanks]

I have detected some people who is what the people think they are.

Exagerated example: an explosive blonde. An explosive blonde must have a really good education for not be an idiot and become only that pretty girl all men see in her.

But my question is. How can we detect if we are seeing ourself by others eyes?

Maybe I talk about blondes, but I can´t see myself.

Any trick?

[Kent @ The Financial Philosopher]

Thanks:

Your question: "How can we detect if we are seeing ourselves by others' eyes?"

If you could change anything about yourself what would it be? If it is something about your outward appearance, this may tell you that you care too much about how others see you.

This particular post was primarily about perception. If there is one thing that we can all change about ourselves, the most healthy change would likely be perception.

As I suggested in the post, if perception is reality (and your reality is negative), you must do your best to find ways to adjust your perceptions to positive.

In essence, this is part of the art of contentment: Finding ways to be happy with what you already have and with who you are...

[Thanks]

Change the perception is very very dificult. As far as I know I can´t wake up one morning and say "I´m gonna see the world diferent today"

I know what is try to change perception. I´m enough clever to understand I´m perceiving a lot of things in the world with not the best "glasses". I know if I can view the world from other angle I can be more happy.

But you know what? It´s not in my hand. Only time, the years, change perception, o lets say an external event, but it´s very dificult change perception only with our will. Even if you intelectually understand something in a diferent way today, you will need time to efectivelly change your perception.

If I´m not right, maybe you can convince me and help me to be more happy being able to evolve faster in my perception changes.

Regards

[Kent @ The Financial Philosopher]

Thanks:

Intellectual and spiritual (perceptual) change is not different than physical change.

For example, if you were 100 pounds overweight, an attempt to lose 100 pounds quickly would be destined for failure.

You are what you think; therefore it is healthy to think well (or not think at all).

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." ~ Henry David Thoreau

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become." ~ Buddha

[Thanks]

Ok, good enough. The thought must be a good one, and also must be persistent. I recognize my more important thoughts started like a weak idea, but later become more persistent and stronger. And you are right, look reasonable to think in mental changes like physical changes.

I guess we are touching the Law of Atraction at this point.

Thank you for your explanations.