Life Framework v0.3

It has been six months since I shared the last versions of my 'life framework'.

These 'life frameworks' are the synthesis of lots of research and what I practice in every-day life.

My goal for version v0.2 was to simplify, and I'm happy to report that this new version simplifies things even further.

Instead of 11 practices, I now only have 4.

These are:

1. Gift Your Presence: Instead of being distracted, be truly there in the moment for yourself, others and the world.
2. Enfold with Tenderness: Instead of judging, hold yourself, others and the world with patience, understanding and love.
3. Move True: Instead of pointless striving, let actions manifests naturally; then act with your whole being.
4. Die Gracefully: Instead of falling for the delusion of self-importance, live with humility as a small part of the whole.

I will go into each of these in the next sections.

But before we start, I want to acknowledge that these are not my original ideas, I shamelessly stole them, for the most part from my favorite teacher, Thích Nhất Hạnh.

Gift Your Presence

I race through life, and that's stupid.

Because only when I slow down can I be present.

And without being present, I am poor company and likely do more harm than good despite my best intentions.

Life needs me to be there, to listen, to see and to give the greatest gift of all I have to give: my time and undivided attention.

Enfold with Tenderness

Once I give my full attention to something, I quickly start to judge harshly.

I see the faults in other persons. I see the faults in myself. I see the faults in the world.

Judging thus, does not give me joy. It does not make the world better. We have no shortage of judgment.

So, whenever I feel judgment raising in myself, I replace it with tenderness.

If I have back pain, instead of feeling resentment towards my back, towards myself for not looking after my back well enough, I embrace my back, I embrace the pain.

I gently hold it like a mother would a newborn.

Judgement is easy, but it hurts.

Understanding and compassion are hard, but they heal.

Move True

I have been raised in a culture that values busyness for its own sake and despises idleness.

We are all so terribly busy, but are we getting any place that is better than where we are now?

I think not.

Thus I want to do things not for the sake of being busy but only when it deeply feels true.

To do this, I pause before I act. In pausing, I seek deep understanding.

I trust that the right action emerges from within once I am ready.

Do not be tense, just be ready, [...] quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.

-- Bruce Lee

Die Gracefully

I live as if I would never die.

I have been conditioned to ignore the fact of my inevitable death.

That is very dangerous, since death is a very important truth of my life.

I live like a fool if I ignore this truth.

Instead, I want to live with grace.

That is simply acknowledge, not to be ignorant of, what is coming and live accordingly.

I think what that means is different for everyone but for me it is: to gently lean into the wave of my life, to enjoy my travel across the ocean, to do as little harm as possible, to send out some good vibrations, and to gladly dissolve once the end of my time comes.

. . .

I very much doubt this will be the last version of this framework. If you want to see how my thoughts have developed so far, feel free to check out v0.2 and v0.1.

In the meantime, very happy for your thoughts - please feel free to reach out 🤗