One part of my mind says I should chase my dreams, that I should be what I want to be, that I should do whatever makes me happy. It's like 'Go on, chase you dreams, life is short, don't worry about what others have to say'.

In another part of my mind resides, a 'nihilist', it's a voice in my head that says life doesn't really matter, my dreams are all make believe, I'm fooling myself. I should just quit, because in the end, there's no meaning to life, there's no purpose. 'What if I do succeed? What next? what does that success even mean when I'm dead?' This voice says everything I do or want to do is 'stupid and meaningless'. Life has no meaning.

AND.... There's another part of my head, that says

" Learn to Be happy with what you have, you ungrateful bastard"

This part of my head tells me that my search for 'happiness' is selfish, and I should quit being so shallow and materialistic. It tells me that I'm greedy if I look for any more than I already have.

The second and third voices in my brain often overwhelm the first voice.

[kawaiigurl1981]

Yeah life is kind of devoid of its own inherent meaning short of the biological imperatives to survive and reproduce but there is a bright side to that. To me it means that you get to give your life meaning you get to decide what is meaningful to you. Personally I like that idea.

Originally Posted by kawaiigurl1981

Yeah life is kind of devoid of its own inherent meaning short of the biological imperatives to survive and reproduce but there is a bright side to that. To me it means that you get to give your life meaning you get to decide what is meaningful to you. Personally I like that idea.

I try to think that way, but it just doesn't last for me.

[Thunder Bow]

Try this: The Universe gave you a Great Gift, it is called "Self". Please do not throw it away. Develop a deep connection to Self and the Universe around you. Forget cultural imprints about what "success" is.

Try this video I made on YouTube to get a feeling about what I am trying to say.

Cloud Warrior

Remember You are part of the Universe, and that makes you very important!

We all develop wants and desires as we grow. It doesn't make us any less grateful for what we have been given as children.

Part of growing is learning that we don't have to accept the status quo if we don't want to. We have the right to pursue happiness, whatever form that happiness takes.

I always look at life as if I were on my deathbed.....How will I feel about this? Will I regret doing/not doing it?
And that helps me make good decisions.

Hm-m-m-m-m... it's peculiar... those are the same voices I hear in my head! If one believes that there is nothing beyond the grave except non-existence, which I do, then it does tend to make it difficult to find much meaning in anything. So what if I don't accomplish anything in my life, either for myself or for someone else? We're all just "dust in the wind" anyway...

I suppose this is why religions developed to begin with. Human beings couldn't survive without some sort of faith in life beyond the grave & some reason not to just do whatever was useful at the moment, including: murder, pillage, rape & whatever else would get someone what they wanted. If someone's in my way, why not just off them? They're just another organism. It's not like we don't have a few to spare! (There are over 7 billion of us on the planet now. Actually, most of the other organisms living on the planet would be better off without us.)

I don't know what the answer to this is, Brokenentity. As I said, those same voices you hear in your head, I struggle with as well. As for me, I just try to ignore all of them & just focus on what needs to be accomplished each day... not saying that this is a good or bad way to handle it, it's just what I do. I'm going to be writing a post in the "Coping with Emotions" forum that may be of interest in this regard.