Lesson 19: Find A Meaning To Life

Nature accepts no excuses for not doing what you really want in life.
~ Anonymous.

A big problem in our modern hectic world is that too many people just rush through life without taking a break at some point or another to think about:

• What am I doing here?
• What is my life goal?
• How do I get more meaning out of life?
• Am I supposed to sit in this traffic jam or packed underground every day?
• Do I really enjoy my current occupation?
• What would I do if money was not an issue?
• Am I satisfied with my relationships?
• Am I free?

Is the idealised competition-based model of life: school, job, marriage, car, kids, mortgage, pension, Alzheimer... really something to strive for? What about your freedom?

We think it is very important for your health to find out what you want to do with your life. Maybe you want to do something else than your parents, your neighbour or your closest friends.

You don't have to live your life the way other people expect you to.
~ Chris Guillebeau.

Do not worry if you do not know right now what path to take. The important thing is to look until you find, try out and eventually try something else if it is the wrong path.

Healfi believes that doing something with a higher social and moral purpose is one of the best recipes to feel good. So try and aim for a life goal or passion that somehow serves others and improve their lives.

Your main occupation in life should involve some creative aspect. That is what differentiates us from machines. Boring jobs are bad for your health, so discuss with your boss how you could include more variety and creativity in your daily tasks.

The Real Challenge

As we mentioned in the introduction, Healfi has not all the answers but want to start a positive debate so that we together can find the big-scale solutions needed for a healthy society.

The Real Challenge where we do not have a perfect answer yet, is to make sure that everybody enjoys their daily job or occupation.

One undeniable fact is that 60 to 80% of people are not happy with their work and it takes a tremendous amount of energy, creativity and self-confidence to break out of the system and start an income-generating occupation that one likes and that is balanced.

Healfi's view is that it is ethically questionable to imprison a human being in a regular 9-to-5 job. Mental freedom is very important for good health.

It is quite unrealistic that a large majority of people will be able to become great entrepreneurs all by themselves. So we need to find another solution.

If you look at the big picture of health, common sense tells us that you cannot resolve the health problem as long as people are unhappy with their jobs. Here lies the Real Challenge.

When you do a job that you do not like, frustration builds up in your body that sooner or later leads to some kind of disease. Inevitably.

So what are the options?

• Find a way to build corporations and workplaces where people are happy and do not stress.
• Automate all boring jobs so that people can focus on their purpose in life.

Whatever the case, big structural changes are needed for a healthy society. These changes will come anyway as more and more people are tired of B.S. and stop accepting things that go against common sense. People will start raise their voices and take positive initiatives for a better world.

So where are we heading?

We have so far found two interesting propositions for a new society:

1) The Russian model

This solution wants to promote eco-village types of living and makes a lot of sense because the most important to our survival is the availability of food and to grow our own is very healthy. Even the first lady has started a vegetable garden in the White House.

More information on ringingcedarsofrussia.org

2) The Venus Project

This solution promotes a resource-based society that aims at automating as much as possible and to optimise the use of resources.

More information on thevenusproject.com

The reality to strive for probably lies somewhere in-between these two solutions with a mix of other solutions as well. In any case, unwanted work time needs to decrease so that people can enjoy life much more, doing what they like, doing something positive for the world, be more creative, "working" with things they are passionate about.

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