A Good Life essay

The Good Life Denise West April 14, 2013 Siena heights University Gail Ryder Introduction A good spiritedness is what either peerless desires. But what is actually a good brio? Many people imbibe their accept exposition of what a good tone is. Society to sidereal day has a diverse outlook on what is an acceptable lifestyle. Many people argon influenced with the wisdom of how an several(prenominal) should live their life. Some a lot picture themselves estimateing to sue their triumph through Americas perception on how they should live. so angiotensin converting enzymer they become disappointed with the disapproval of others and often forget what gladness truly means to them.A good life consists of maximizing happiness. Many believe wealth, power, and assess im cabbage outs happiness. I happen to dis check up on. I believe wealth and power bring sorrow and problems. The philosopher Socrates did non approve happiness was result of affluence and actual consumption . He believed a rich and active mind is happier than a consumer of fine foods and expansive clothing (De Botton, 2000). Whether it is confident(p) or negative, as long is the individual accepts and is happy of his or her own life, then they ar living a good life.My life r develops around a combination of these six themes procreation, civilize, ethics, races, spirituality, and success. In my essay, I depart give my expertise of a good life. I go forth share thoughts of my life and give examples of each theme of wherefore live the way I do. Education I believe education is a lifelong process that consists of two formal and informal experiences that mavin to the individual learning something. The setting could be a home, a school, a pee-pee stead, a volunteer position, or an internship learning experience.Education is an ongoing mix of experiences I think an meliorate individual is a star who has made the around of each experience and intimate from it. sensation shoul d possess the general familiarity wanted for making informed rational decisions and inferences on familiar and myth situations in individualal and intellectual life. An educated person should also noble of the general thinking abilities required for making informed intelligent decisions, estimates, assessments, and inferences. Philosopher Montaigne was an educated man with gigantic wisdom. He spent most of his spear measure in a circular library reading books (De Botton, 2000).I was raised by a family who is very educated. My mother and father hand master degrees. My baby is a graduate student at Kansas State University. My father pushed my sister and I our entire lives of the importance of education. I receive a marvellous amount of support from my parents, family and friends. They continuously motivate me to be thriving in completing and continuing my education. My plans for education are to act up to graduate school. by and by in life, I am interested in teaching sec ondary winding education. I convey a lot of inspiration and support from others and I am determined to succeed.I instill the importance of intelligence to my children. I agree with Montaignes two categories of knowledge learning and wisdom. In the learning course of instruction his placed logic, etymology, grammar, Latin and Greek. And in the wisdom category he places a far broader, much valuable kind of knowledge, everything that could help a person to live well Montaignes intentions were to assist people live happily and morally (De Botton, p 153, 2000). These are two categories that keep me hungry for much. I often find myself harder on my son, because the graduation rate has dropped tremendously and it continues to decline.Depending on what aspiration a person has, having an education qualifies for great employment. Work The will power, motivation, and education are a good start in acting the ideal short letter in the move aroundplace. The ambition and excitement of comm uting to work perfunctory is great feeling. A good work environment improves expiation and convergenceivity. When a person is unhappy in the workplace, it is a drag light up each day to return to that place of business. Philosopher Epicurus believed the tension starts to doom at home and we often point the finger at work (De Botton, 2000).It is big to be able to balance work and home to neck a positive work environment. Having a stress free ensnare-on as well having fun and believe in your work is part of the good life. A good working environment is important for employee morale. It builds unfaltering relationships between associates and among the biggest motivating factors in the workplace. I enjoy the work I do on a daily basis. It is a challenging job that requires an outgoing personality, sales drive, and patience. The down fall of my workplace is the associates and environment. We lack colloquy and the ability to coach each other to improve the workplace.The location in an urban area limits the opportunity of sales growth, variety customer base, as well as deepening relationships. At times, I matte the identical pain as Epicurus. We both started to wonder if were on the correct public life path. One thing I lack in the workplace is empathy. I meet a lot of people each day. Many customers have personal problems they choose to share with me. Many times I give the sackt relate, because I have not experienced it. I bet my employer, and I am branded by them. I have to follow a certain image and give great impressions. My supervisor has coached me on empathizing with my customers.We role play each week, and he has given me different communion tools to better assist my customers. I want to give my customers a great experience each time they visit. To minimize tension, and misinterpretation, I will start utilizing 360 coaching. This is a tool recommended by my employer. Associates coach each including management. We give positive feedback to eac h other on how we could improve. This should help my team with any disagreements one may have with another associate. After disperseing up with one another and sharing each other differences, the company is great place work.Communication is the key to every success. With our recent suggestions and improvement, I believe everything will work out great. Ethics Ethics is a concept of morality principles. It defines the touchstone behavior which tells us the most common way of society good, bad, by remunerates and wrong. The book Affluenza written by authors Graff, Wann, and Naylor have great information on living a good life daily minimizing consumption. Affluenza is a painful, contagious, kindly transmitted condition of overload, deft, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of to a greater extent (Degraff, Wann, Naylor, p. , 2001). Afflenza prise those perfectly human desires, and seeks to create ways to make comfort, elegance, and enjoyment more genuine and lasti ngs than purchasable, perishable commodities (Degraff, Wann, Naylor, 2001). Unfortunately, I struggle with Affuenza. My finance and I live a certain lifestyle. Our lifestyles boil down to become expansive. We often find ourselves caught up in what we feel we have to have or hire, such as hair, nails, brand name clothing, jewelry, and restaurants. We also have destiny of un infallible bills only because they are available resources to us.We are not utilizing the product or service for what it is worth. We have more stuff, less time, and our quality of life seems to be deteriorating (Degraff, Wann, Naylor, 2001). As we move forward in our lives, I try to educate my finance of Affluenza and suggested a variety of ways will fucking uphold time and money. I plan to start tracking our daily spending habits more closely. If we cut back on luxury habits we could save thousands a category. We are coming to together and taking it one day at time. It is difficult to change some things you are accustomed to.Overcoming this infirmity is important to us, because we are embarking on a higher level in our relationship. We are currently testing our new ideas to happiness in our lives. hopefully the results give us some leeway to plan what matters most to us, and how we will cherish our eld to come. Relationships One of my biggest challenges of my life is my relationship. There is nothing more important than the quality of my relationship. My relationship influences the major(ip) decisions I make and is a large part of my happiness. Relationships stinker be very stressful at times. They require at lot of listening, effort, and compromising.Both parties have to be willing to collapse in order to move forward. A fundamental to a fast(a) relationship is commitment. Commitment to making a relationship strong and legal is the basis on which it will mature. Relationships take plenty work and effort. Compared to life itself, relationships are aggressive and intense because we are forever changing. A durable relationship need continuous nurturing and that takes commitment from both parties. Our commitment to the relationship is unconditional caring about maintaining and improving our relationship, even during times of vexation or disappointment.There may be times when I am not even sure I like him, but I am committed. My strong commitment reminds me of Epicurus views of friendship. At first he thought enjoyment brought him happiness. He eventually had a change of heart and found that the loyalty of friendship is what matters most (De Botton, 2000). I will spend the effort to bewilder relationship during tough times. The motivation of keeping our family together saved us. We put our differences aside and our children first. Their security is most important. Our determination led us to our engagement. We are set to wed next summer. Spirituality One doesnt need either the controvertion to instruct one in prudence nor the headache of divine retribut ion to provide the incentive (De Bottom, 2000). Epicurus shows us how morality potentiometer be founded upon prudent self-interest. I was raised a Christian. Philosopher Nietzsche called Christianity the piety of comforter (De Bottom, p. 238, 2000). Until my grandmother died in 1993, my family and I attended church regularly. As an adult, continue to believe in the Christian Religion however I do not practice it. I currently do not the bible for a number of reasons. I do not want to be put in a category as a hypocrite.I am uncomfortable in committing to a religion if I am not ready to live righteously. I dont want to find myself going back and forth and continuously repenting to the Lord for sins I have committed. The second reason I do not practice Christianity is because I do have a church home. I have not find a church where I felt comfortable worshiping. In the past, I found myself visiting a variety of churches and none felt right to me. I started to wonder, I am looking in the right religion? Maybe in that locations another religion that makes more sense to me and has a place where I could worship and feel comfortable.The message of any religion lies simply in the answer to the question why do I exist, and what is my relationship to the infinite universe that surrounds me? It is impossible for thither to be a person with no religion as it is for there to be a person without a heart. He may not know that he has a religion, just as a person may not know that he has a heart, but it is no more possible for a person to exist without a religion than without a hear (Leo Tolstoy, 1879). As I read this statement from Tolstoy Confession, I thought about my current situation.Tolstoy was a philosopher who came to believe that he had double-dyed(a) nothing and his life was meaningless (Patterson, p. 5, 1983). The third reason I do not practice Christianity is because my finance studys another religion. I have taken in to consideration to research his religion a nd to a common ground and regulate which religion is crush for me. Either way, we both have to agree on the alike religion. It is important we raise our children with the same values to live a good and happy life. Success The meaning of Success comes in some(prenominal) forms, and a variety of meanings.It defines what you are trenchant for in life. It is within the perception of the individual. A large portion of ones life is spent working to become successful. People are told during the upbringing to work hard so they earn make dozens of money. People have a variety of interpretations of what success means to them. Socrates says, One who understands the limits of the good life knows that what eliminates the pains brought on by need and what makes the safe and sound of life perfect is easily obtained, so that there is no need for enterprises that entail the struggle for success (De Botton, 2000).Success is often measured by social status and wealth. I determined success by t he amount of happiness one feels. I live my life by planning. This is task that I put in place to organization my life. Time management is important to me. I currently have a blue print for my life. It is divide in four categories which are terce weeks, three months, one year, and three years. This is a tool used to set oddments and manage my life. Each year I review my blue print to ensure each goal is accomplished. My goals are similar to the six themes I have discussed.I consider myself to be a successful person. I have managed to complete every major task I have set forth. I have an smashing family with two beautiful children. I am scheduled to graduate in December 2010, and I have an awesome job. I am in process of simplifying consumption, and we are working toward spirituality. These are important goals that I and my family discuss on a regular basis. I continue to stay open for suggestions and constructive criticism. I am willing to look for whatever is necessary to work toward a wonderful and happy life. This year is a successful year.Conclusion We think happiness is good, therefore we seek it. The search for happiness can be endless if you do not know what you are searching for. Individuals find themselves never accomplishing their goals. We can choose to enjoy the adventure and explore as much as possible. Try to make a apprised resolution to be content. By having a peace of mind and satisfaction means you are happy with what you have and what you are. I received my results of a good life with a history of effectiveness and success. I have a general sense of what I feel are the best ways to get things done.I set of process and principles that has worked well for me over many years. I am a detailed person who manages time, plans for the future, and a yellowish brown of great strategy. I choose to ignore the setbacks and I look at the big picture in order to guide myself and my organization to uttermost results. A good life is a combination of many things. Everyone has their own interpretation of what a good life is. It starts with self development within individual. Many philosophers such as Epicurus and Socrates believe pleasure brings forth happiness (De Botton, 2000). I happen to agree.Nothing matter to me more than my happiness. It is up to the individual to decide what pleasures them most. My life has had its many shares of a rollercoaster. I have made and learned from my mistakes. There is not anything that I regret nor wished didnt happen during the years of my life. Without my mistakes, I would not have the opportunity to learn and grow. As a whole, I cherish my life I believe it is great. I am thankful for awaking each morning and for blessing me each day I have no reason to complain. I have experienced more than I ever dreamed of.Most importantly, I am blessed in being a mother. My family is extremely important to me. They complete each and every accomplishment. In combination of each principle, task, and them e they all relate and evolve around one specific goal which is my family. What a great life References De Botton, A. (2000). The Consolations of Philosophy. New York Pantheon Books. Graaf, J. , Naylor, T. , & Wann, D. (2001). Affluenza. San Francisco Brerrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Tolstoy, L. (1993). Confession. Translated by David Patterson. New York W. W. Norton & Company.