A simple philosophy of living

After eighty-two years spent wandering through life and around this old planet of ours I, like the majority of older individuals I’m sure, have formulated some sort of philosophy about my way of life and what I believe to be right or wrong in the world. These are some of the thoughts I have come up with over the years:

I am perfectly happy in the company of other people, I don’t care if they are so-called white, or black, or yellow, to me they are all the same and I don’t discriminate about any of them. What I do discriminate against is the bad attitudes of some people, no matter what they look like – I want nothing to do with evil, pornography, child abuse, wife beating, stealing, dishonesty or even simple bad manners/lack of respect for other people.

I don’t believe there is anything called a God, far too many dreadful things go on around me for that and too many souls have been lost in the defence of one belief or another. Having said that I entirely respect anyone who holds whatever beliefs they may have, if they feel the need for them. But I don’t want them continually trying to force their beliefs onto me – their business is theirs and mine is mine. If I was to try to preach atheism to them they would be disgusted, and so am I in the reverse circumstances!

I do believe there is good and evil in the world, neither of which requires any belief in religion, these are simply facts of life, like having a talent for art or music, or having a strong body or a weak one. As such they will never go away and I realise I have to embrace the one and reject the other.

I know I need to look after my own body, especially if I want to reach my ultimate target of living until I get a card from the Queen! To that end I try to get a reasonable amount of exercise and I also accept the need to eat a sensible diet. Having said that, I don’t indulge in any of the freak fads some would have me on, I don’t take vitamin or herbal pills or potions because I know a good, normal diet provides everything I need in that direction, so purchase would simply be a waste of money. I am not a vegetarian, but I do enjoy an occasional vegetarian meal – I wouldn’t want to give up meat though. I get my doctor to give me a regular check-up, so that a quick response is possible if anything does go wrong, but apart from that I just get on with my life.

There is of course another form of exercise, which gets more and more important as we get older. That is exercise for the brain, something at least as important as the physical variety. I write silly blogs like this one as part of my ‘regime’ and I also paint quite extensively, especially having been a professional artist all my working life, as well as doing a lot of reading and puzzle solving. I may be totally wrong here of course, because I am well aware that some of our most brilliant minds have descended into dementia in their old age, but I feel it’s the only defence I have, so I make use of it, and fortunately it’s all stuff I’ve always enjoyed doing anyway – and up to now at least it all seems to be working!

There is an awful lot more I could write about regarding my personal philosophy, but room doesn’t permit a longer blog so it’s time to call a halt. I suppose, to summarise, my beliefs boil down to a simple rule. Live and let live, do the best you can, whatever your skill is, and look after your health.

You really can’t do much more than that!

What is your philosophy on living?

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