Ok, it's so stressful to live nowadays. I mean, ok i'm 16, but it's so boring. It's so dangerous and so much pressure to go to school and college and be rich. It sucks how money rules everything. And technolgy is so weird nowadays too, it's so hard to catch up! And I used to be all caught up in todays living, but I don't want to anymore. I just want to be free. How can I do that?? I certaintly don't feel free. I just want to be free, and happy and loving. I also feel so bad about all the useless junk I buy and keep, I just want to get rid of some of it, and I feel so bad for wasting alot of stuff. Like, about the enviroment, like all the paper from trees I waste, and I'm sure I waste tons of other stuff that come from the earth. How can I help to do my part to save the planet? I know there is alot to do , I just dont know how to get involved? Ideas on both things? Thank you.
i was born in the wrong decade too. What a crap world this is now, isnt it? some say it's always been like this.. but what can we do?
to be free you have to let go, really let go! if you are sincerely interested in helping the planet, perhaps i can help you. but i kind of doubt you are.
You are never powerless to help heal the world. It is just the modern world that can make us feel powerless at times. You were not born in the wrong decade. If you study history you will find that we have never had it so good. Of course there are things that need sorting out but we are getting there. The 1980s was the best time to be born! Perhaps the 1990s will prove better?
I think you need to free your mind a little first. Try contemplating deeply on everything you see, feel experience, try meditating. Look to live a more sustainable life. Buy fair trade and organic products, recycle, don't buy things simply for material reasons, try to live in harmony with the world. Close your mind to the poisionous messages of government, and seek to live outside the system. Open your mind to new possibilities. Don't vote George Bush! Alas, unless you're living on a commune, money does dictate many things. But you can try to be responsible with it. Source things ethically. Don't allow yourself to be pulled into a career job if you can help it. Try to make money with your talents. Can you write, sing, act, play an instrument? Educating yourself is important I think. School doesn't have to be part of the system if you engage with it on the right level and see it for what it is. It is an institution, but simply take from it what you need, and resist the authoritative structure that it seeks to impose. The same in the real world. Protest against what you see to be wrong. Engage in civil disobedience whereever you can. And above all, try to make a difference in the world, then you'll see the difference in yourself....
Peace pretty much covered everything I was going to say. I know how you feel, but the whole wrong decade thing is an illusion. There was no perfect time in the past (The sixties had some crap; racism, sexism etc) the best time to live is the beautiful future you create. As for helping the planet. Think deeply about what you need and get rid of the other things. Don't throw them away, instead give them to a charity shop or recycle. I recently found a great site (www.care2.com) which has loads of great info on all aspects of being enviromentally friendly. TTFN Sage
um, here's an idea. to start out, try getting rid of ALL the stuff you have but know you really DON'T need. and don't just throw it away. Recycle it and give stuff to the salvation army or something like that. that's what I did to start and I felt so much better afterwards. I didn't know it would have the kind of affect that it did. how 'bout that?
when this happened to me not so long ago, the best thing i did to free all of me, was to spend time alone. its amazing what meditating can do for you
Here's what I do to be free, sounds crazy, but it works! We got rid of everything we didn't absolutely need, bought a bunch of land from what we sold, and cleared out just enough to slide in our '72 Silver Streak Camper trailer, put in a well and septic tank, and turned our camper into solar power. When we feel the need to jet off, we hook up the trailer, and go! My partner and I are self employed (which is a *big* thing that made us free!), so it makes it easier. We make less of a footprint whereever we go.
All of these suggestions are great. I just want to add that there's nothing wrong with prospering financially as long as it doesn't become your God (your sole focus in life, in other words) and what you do benefits the world. If you want true freedom in your life later on, as a working adult, try to examine your talents and interests, your ideals, etc. and think about what you'd like to do as a profession. Whether we all like it or not, we mostly all have to do something to earn a living and it takes up an absolutely enormous amount of our daily lives. Make it something you love to do, that you are good at, and that will earn you a living. Buddhism says to do "right work", which is what I'm getting at. If you plan now at 16 or at least think about it, it'll be easier for you later. And don't get me wrong, this is really hard to do!!! But so many people just hate their jobs so much and have to spend at least 8hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week or even more, doing something they can't stand just to survive. HORRIBLE!! So don't let that happen to you. You have choices. Loving your work will bring you so much joy and satisfaction, but it takes thought and planning to make it happen. I always suggest to the younger people in these forums to hold off on the heavy partying until they're a little older so they'll have more options and won't have to sell out just to survive later on.
NAMASTE I am older and i still at times go threw that.I have learned threw the years that it starts inside.There you are the trest for of freedom.
hey thank you to everyone who replied...i will try your suggestions! yeah, i defienly do not want to end up in a job i dont like.. i jus want to help people i just wanted to travel to diff countries and help the kids and the animals there. i don't know if doing that has a specific name or anything, and i dont know if doing that will make tons of money, but it doesnt matter. i'm also going to set my mind free and dont buy things i dont need! thank u
do stuff you want to do. it is important that you work, and are self sufficient (how else can you be truly free), but also take time out to go to places which you want to go, train for marathons you want to achieve, and raise money for what you consider to be important. don't just go from box to box, if you do you will never be free. most people work hard so that they can have a bigger brick box, a faster tin box and a more prestigious office box.
Yes I agree with you deeply .... Doesn't this world suck nowadays! I'm 15 and i absolutely hate it...its so depressing...I say we need another hippie movement! That would be perfect. I hate the idea of conforming to a money-loving society. I wish that I grew up in the 60s!!! Theres so much pressure today to go to college and get a good job and make money, I wish that people could just do what they want without being called a slacker or a good for nothing.
well, the only way to have another "hippie movement" is to stop wishing and start doing. and for the name calling, you have to ascend that.
"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free." Jim Morrison need I say more?
The best thing to do is just take it one day at a time. If you keep worrying about what may or may not happen then you freak out for no reason and a lot of time is wasted... so just relax....
Yes' it took 25 years of eating veggie burgs, before Green Giant started making them. Thats the POWER of the consumer. Live 'Moment to Moment', the Zen way. Find a mate to love and be loved. Two heads are better than one. Stevo
