Thumbs up, and keep it going!

Cheers
Christian, iwspo.net

I agree a lot with what Kathleen said, however the word I would choose would be ‘experiences.’

I believe new experiences is what nurtures a person’s soul. These experiences can be adventurous, religious, spiritual (I do believe the two are separate), social, etc. I believe that discontent with one’s life comes from falling too deep within one’s comfort zones, hence missing out on all the world has to offer. I do believe in God, and I believe his greatest gift is this world and everything it has to offer. I also believe that these experiences have criteria.

They cannot impede on another individual’s ability to experience this world. However, enhancing an individual’s ability to experience can be a truly rewarding experience for yourself. I think it’s important to focus on the latter. This is where one can improve their own life by searching for opportunities to help others. I believe this is not only important, but absolutely necessary. Why? Because if everyone was focused on themselves, we would end up impeding each other’s abilities to enjoy this world. Obviously this happens everyday. Summed up, I think people just need to be good to each other. From there people will feel better about themselves, their lives, and the people in their lives. When hard times come, and they will, the individual will have a strong base both in mind, spirit, and family in order to cope. Plus, if everyone else is focusing on helping others, that individual can count on the support from their community that they’ve invested in.

I know many would classify this as idealist. However, many realities today were at one time ‘just’ ideals. Equal rights, democracy, women’s suffrage, etc. Yes, many of these still are in the works around the globe. However, they are in a better state than they were 200 years ago. The only way to achieve big things is to dream big things.

That’s a lot, and it’s a work in progress. I believe it will be my whole life, as it should be. However simply put…

1) we should always strive for new experiences, this enriches the soul, body, and mind
2) many of these experiences should focus on helping others, at the very least, not impeding other’s abilities to enjoy the world
3) one needs to invest in the people around him, both for his sake and theirs
4) I believe that a belief in a higher power that entails a doctrine of basic moral ethics is important, it makes the world more mysterious and controls our tendency to inflate our own self-importance, however rational thinking should not be thrown to the wind in the name of religious ideologies (hence the difference in personal spiritual contemplation and subscription to religious doctrines whether or not they make sense) faith should be simple, love for ones self, others, and God, people have always made too many rules…it’s hard for me to spend quality time with my family and friends or spend time exploring the great outdoors and not believe that there’s something bigger than myself in this world

I look forward to discussing this further in April.

Nick