The Cost Of Living Today
How many subscriptions do you have? How many different credit cards? I had to cancel some subscriptions, like Gaia which is an online video site that streams spiritual documentaries etc. And this website called MeetMindful, in which you supposedly meet
As for the dating site, I'm not sure if I'm looking for someone who is as hippie as I am. As for Gaia, it turns out I don't want to watch shows about spirituality. I think I would rather read about inspiration than watch people talk about it. I like my shows to be entertaining. But recently I've been entertained by my subscription to The New York Times. I'm addicted.
I've read opinion articles on everything from Trans people to sleep disorders, I try to avoid the articles on Trump but how can you avoid them really? Every now and then I let myself read one. I don't read hard news, I just don't find it very interesting usually. All those facts.
Trump actually calls The New York Times the Failing paper. He's of course, just upset that most of their journalists write negative stories about him. But that is not the best part of this world-renowned newspaper. It has articles on any topic you can think of, I have only begun to dig into this wealth of information.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I spend more than three hours a day on my phone. I would like to spend that time reading about the world. I can't seem to find interesting blogs.
I am also interested in any recommendations for Netflix shows. That is another subscription I have, and there are many people who are using my account as well. I probably should not admit that. Netflix might cut me off. I heard somewhere that they have developed an AI program to figure out when people are sharing their password. I hope they don't bust me.
You can subscribe to anything. There is literally subscriptions for random stuff on Amazon. Do you want a delivery once a month? I did a subscription for a makeup kit once and then forgot to cancel it, which is what they are betting you will do.
But you know this, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. So what am I going to tell you? I don't know, but if you are like me, there are forces deducting money from your bank account every month.
However, the best thing that I have ever invested in is The New York Times, and I got a deal for like a dollar a week or something. It is literally one of the best investments I've ever made. Think of all the things you are paying for. Are they worth your hard earned money?
Since the advent of the Internet there are more and more things you can possibly pay for. It seems like there are more things that you can have. And now you know about them. Was life better without all this stuff, even the virtual stuff?
What I need is a subscription to the moment. I know this metaphor might sound like a stretch, but I want to own the moment, I will buy it if I have to. What is happening right now? Am I really here? Is maybe the most important thing in life actually having the experience of life? Being here.
They say the best things in life are free. What is the moment going to cost you? It's going to cost you your attention. Pay attention to your life. That is what it costs to have a real one. We are paying rent on reality with our awareness of it.
There are all these things we pay for, then there are all the things we forget we must pay for. Everything has a cost, not all of it is monetary. Love, the thing we want the most, has the probably the biggest price. What does love cost us?
Love is a rollercoaster, all love. Whether it be a friendship, family, or a significant other. We think we are owed love, but we actually owe the world love. The price of love is love. You have to give it to get it. And what a price we pay.
Is anything in this life free? It's like we have to pay rent to exist. None of it makes any sense. The world and life don't make sense. I don't even know if I am really here. I am sitting here, on the couch even though there feels like a part of me that flies.
What does this have to do with my Netflix subscription? I share my Netflix subscription just like I share myself. There are a lot of good shows on Netflix, there are a lot of good moments in life. I am paying very little for what I get out of Netflix and out of life.
I am tired of watching the same show over and over again, just like I'm tired of the same things happening to me over and over again. Is there a way to make this easier? Sometimes my connection is bad on Netflix. Sometimes I cannot also connect in life.
I have found that nothing really, makes any sense. That any sense there is in anything, we are making. The truth is senseless. Beauty does not have a rhyme or reason. But it seems everything is working on some barter system or it has a price.
It might be a stretch, to compare your monthly bills on material stuff to your emotional bills in life. But it seems as though everything has a cost. What would you pay for happiness? What do you think it costs?
I think to get true long lasting happiness, you must pay with momentary unhappiness at times. For example, it makes me happy to overall to lose weight, but at the moment of exercising, I'm miserable.
The old adage, no pain no gain, is actually true. I have only found happiness by doing things even when they make me unhappy at the moment. Happiness can be had even in moments of despair.
Happiness is not this feeling that makes you smile all the time. It is an overall satisfaction in life that sometimes only occurs when you do things you don't want to do when you don't want to do them. I'm not even sure that happiness is a feeling, but rather a state of mind that doesn't always feel good.
Like for example, right now at this moment, my legs are aching from working out yesterday. My head is foggy from a restless sleep. I feel like I have nothing new to say to the universe. I don't really want to write this right now. But I know, in a little while, when I'm done, I will feel better for doing this. I always do.
I am a Sikh by religion. The word 'Sikh' means disciple or in other words a learner or a person who practices discipline. I never used to be that person. I never liked
There is now a rhythm to my life as there is to all life. Like how the sun comes up every morning, every morning I do the same things over and over again. You would think that might be boring, but in fact, it has perfected my life.
I don't mean to suggest that my life is perfect now. It is far from it. However, there is perfection in the harmony I feel by knowing what will make me happy overall and doing those things every single day. The price I pay for peace is simply that I must do the work. The labor is the cost.
And trust me it is a lot of work to be content. You don't just wake up satisfied with your life for no reason. It takes a very methodical approach in which you are aware of what you need to do and you do it.
I'm telling you the price is worth it. You will never regret what you get and what you paid for if you simply invoke discipline on a moment by moment and day by day basis.
Just do the thing and you'll get the thing.
It's the best deal in town.
nina