Tell me about inner peace and school

**Pheenix** · 12-13-2010 07:26 PM

In my pursuit of happiness, I find first and foremost that you must exclude things from your life that you do not like, and the only true kind of motivation is pure desire. So, whatever my future holds, it should be something I enjoy doing without needing any motivation boost.
But can you adopt this to the present? Take school and homework. I try to perfect my school-life in order to have all gates open in the future. But this is a very intangible goal, and those aren't motivating, according to most motivation theory. So, when I can't enjoy this, is there a flaw in my life and perception, or is it natural that even if you go for inner peace, situations such as these cause stress, so that you are entitled to add breaks with stuff you want to do in your routine?

**Maria92** · 12-13-2010 09:08 PM

You can't enjoy every moment of your life all the time...rather, the reason you continue to plow ahead and do things you don't particularly want to do is because you seek long-term happiness. Doing well in school keeps your options open, so that you have a much larger career field you may go into. This enables you to get a job you enjoy doing, and possibly a high-paying one that will afford you greater comfort and luxury further down the road. At the very least, it will provide a means to sustain yourself so that you don't end up homeless on the street.

So yeah, life is going to suck sometimes. You'll need to give yourself a motivation boost sometimes. It isn't perfect, but it is the world we live in.

**Pheenix** · 12-13-2010 11:37 PM

So you would say that I am allowed, perhaps even entitled to, spare time, on basis of this argument?
In that case I won't attempt to teach myself to keep going at nothing but school for the next three years.
Thanks for the reply.

**slash112** · 12-14-2010 12:00 AM

Maybe you need to just find a way to be happy with what you've got.

I don't mean just give up on trying to have a "good" future. I just mean that whatever happens, you can still be happy.
I think you'll find that good things come to you when you are happy. So maybe you don't need a "good life" to be happy; instead, be happy to have a good life.

That's just what I think.
Also, I'm not good at taking my own advice, so I'm not saying it's something I do.

**Pheenix** · 12-14-2010 12:47 AM

That is indeed something I am keeping in mind. Happiness comes from within. But it seem to be something you can't just cultivate, unless you believe in enlightenment. So I have to have something tangible running while I search for inner peace. That's what I am doing right now. Keeping my eyes open for... revelations about life.

**Maria92** · 12-14-2010 04:43 AM

Originally Posted by Pheenix

So you would say that I am allowed, perhaps even entitled to, spare time, on basis of this argument?
In that case I won't attempt to teach myself to keep going at nothing but school for the next three years.
Thanks for the reply.

LOL WUT

I'm saying that school may not be enjoyable, but that doesn't mean you can't have a life outside of it. The school part of your day can suck, but after that, go out and enjoy life. Leave the basement and go bowling or something. Don't quit school just because it isn't enjoyable, since it will bring you happiness down the road, but don't devote your entire life to misery for three years. Do well, keep your grades up (because as silly and arbitrary as they may be, they're still one of the first things colleges look toward when selecting applicants), and just have fun, man. You've got 8 hours a day, 5 days a week where you're gonna have to suck it up. Outside that, you are your own man. Do whatever sounds fun.

**Pheenix** · 12-14-2010 12:22 PM

Yup, that's what I meant.
I'm just talking extremes, whether or not it is possible from a productivity perspective to work on school 24/7. You went against that, and supported my theory that there are things in life that you have to have breaks from, even if you try to perfect your routine to be genuinely pleasurable.
We are talking constant homework vs 30-60 min of spare time each day, whatever I can fit in. I wasn't talking about leaving school, it was exactly the opposite, leaving my spare time. But I am not leaving my spare time with this conclusion.