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How to Live as a Human

The world must know this for us to have a chance at universal happiness.

Human beings are actually made up of a combination of an animal and a ‘spiritual self’.

The animal side of us comprises our mind and physical body, whereas the ‘spiritual self’ would comprise of who we really are.

Unfortunately, a large majority of people in the world today still think that the mind and body are what entirely make up who we are. In other words, that we’re just animals.

This is why a lot of us are suffering or feel that life is empty no matter what we do or how much we accomplish.

After all, how many of us can be genuinely happy when we don’t feel connected with ourselves, or when our genuine intentions and actions don’t match?

Therefore, having the maturity to acknowledge the depth of what makes a human being is crucial for us to get closer to happiness.

Because many of us have thought of ourselves as the mind and body, we’ve built our world around the same concept. So it’s not a surprise when the majority of us living today are suffering as we try to fit into society, or remain unhappy even when we seem to have everything our mind and body desire.

After all, what do we expect when we don’t really know who we are, and are living our lives satisfying everything else except for the wishes of our real self?

So if you want to be happy, the first thing you must do is to know how to live. And to know how to live, you must first know what you really wish for.

The question is:

“To know what you really wish for, should you ask your mind and body, or should you ask your real self for the answer?”

It’s a rhetorical question — but herein also lies the greatest obstacle that human beings face on the path to achieving happiness!

It’s a great obstacle not because it’s difficult to solve, but rather because the mind is tricky and many today still don’t have enough clarity to see through its plays.

To give you the sharpest sword to cut through this obstacle, remember this:

The mind and body provide answers to pleasure, but your real self provides answers to lasting happiness.

So as a general guide, if you want to be genuinely happy — always live and act according to your real self rather than your mind and body!

When we can acknowledge that a human being is formed of an animalistic (comprising the mind and body) and real self, our perspective on self-management can then take on a new light.

Seeing these two different forms of the self is incredibly important, but many have yet to have the awareness to recognize them. Is it our fault? Not at all. After all, it’s part of the beauty and nature of the mind and body to preserve their survival through our attention.

Unfortunately, survivability and happiness are two entirely different matters.

With the mind and body screaming for our attention, it’s natural for many of us to be lost in their noise.

However, like being in the midst of a massive cheering crowd, one can always choose to engage the noise and be negatively affected by it, or remain calm, centered and quiet inside while appreciating all that’s happening outside.

To remain calm, centered and quiet internally as the world hurricanes outside is to regain your power again as the owner of the mind and body. It’s also very easy to do so — almost as easy as snapping your fingers.

How you ask?

Contrary to popular belief, spiritual growth actually involves doing less, not more. Whenever we’re affected by circumstances, it’s often a result of us actively engaging with them.

So what do you think would happen when we stopped actively engaging with the stimulations that our mind and body are demanding our attention for?

Chances are — we’d regain our full freedom to decide what we wish to see, think or do within any circumstance.

The cost of this freedom?

In this context — doing less.

Why do we need this freedom?

The mind is an amazing storage and processing unit for data, whereas the body is the sole vehicle that allows us to live and function in this world.

When we choose to stop actively engaging them, we should do so because as tools with a self-preserving nature, they will prioritize themselves over us and as a result may work in the opposite direction of what we genuinely wish for.

Like a good knife that can help us with kitchen work, the mind and body can also help us to complete tasks that we wish to accomplish in the world.

But just like how the knife should be wisely handled, we should know how to wisely manage our mind and body as well!

A product of the mind and body, emotions can be seen as just another form of data that is communicated by the mind and expressed within the body.

However, many people today have overly identified themselves with their emotions. As a result, rather than viewing emotions as just another play of the mind, they gave their feelings too much power. They allowed their emotions to take over them.

This is why we need to recognize the presence of our genuine self.

Without clarifying what makes us who we are, we might assume ourselves to be the sole combination of our mind and body and forever be at their mercy.

But when we do see the mind and body for what they are, freeing ourselves from the control of our emotions can be as easy as taking a candy from a baby.

How?

By seeing emotions as they are as well, mind chatter or pure data — none of which requires us to respond to if we don’t wish to do so.

When used right, emotions can, in fact, help us get closer to what we wish for.

Yes — we can use them.

For example, if we were to list out all the emotions relevant to what we genuinely want, we might have a list like love, warmth, kindness, gratitude, compassion, fulfillment, and so on.

On the flip side, if we were to list out all the emotions relevant to the causes of suffering, we might have a list like fear, greed, anger, pride, jealousy, hatred, and so on.

By identifying which side of the list an emotion belongs to, we’d be able to better recognize where it would lead us to if we empowered it.

As a result, we can then choose whether to engage it or reroute our attention to other emotions, which can lead us closer to where we want to be.

Despite how autonomously wild the mind and body might behave, remember that they’re tools and mechanisms within us at the end of the day. Without our empowerment, all that emotions — a product of these tools and mechanisms — can do, would be to stay right where they are.

So the next time an emotion fills up your body, always first observe whether it can lead you closer to the happiness you seek.

If it can’t, know that you’re always free to disempower it, and choose from the list of emotions that can lead you closer to what you really wish for, another emotion that you can use to instruct your mind on how it should think!

One of the most beautiful things about life is differences.

However, many do not understand their beauty.

As a result, they fight differences and turn events which can give them a lot of happiness into matters that fill their lives with suffering.

As usual, this happens because of the mind and body. Due to their self-preserving nature, they might perceive differences as a threat, and trigger what’s called a fight or flight response within us. This means that they’ll encourage us to fight a threat or flee from it.

For our survival in the past, the fight or flight response has proven to be reliable in keeping our ancestors alive from unknown threats. Because of that, they’re still ingrained in most of us and would trigger whenever we perceive something unfamiliar.

Unfortunately, while they may be reliable in preserving the mind and body, they might not serve as suitable responses when it comes to matters relevant to our happiness.

So is there an alternative to them?

There is. For people who find happiness from differences — it’s usually because they were able to choose a 3rd option in the place of fight or flight which is called embrace.

While embrace might not be a primary response of the mind and body when it comes to what’s different, it’s a preferred response of our real self when it comes to it.

It’s an action that can enable us to feel more connected to all that’s around us, and which, as a result, also leads us closer to the experience of genuine happiness.

Some might then ask:

“If I were to embrace everything for happiness, wouldn’t that make me unable to determine right from wrong?”

To short answer is no.

After all, your mind and body wouldn’t just disappear because you introduced embrace as an alternative to your fight or flight response.

Intead, what will change is the outcome of your responses, even when what you do might technically be considered the same.

For example, when people wrong us, we can choose to either forgive or punish them. When we forgive or punish out of fight or flight, our actions might be motivated by negative emotions like greed, fear, pride, anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, etc. and cause further distance between ourselves and others.

However, when we choose to forgive or punish out of embrace, our actions might be motivated by positive emotions like love, gratitude, empathy, care, kindness, etc. and result in people being able to love us more.

Determining right from wrong also depends on how many people we take into consideration in a particular circumstance, and can vary depending on how wide or narrow our view is. Therefore, it’s valuable to acknowledge that right or wrong is often subjective.

There is a type of right that’s always right however.

Want to know what it is?

It’s the kind of right that can allow us to feel more connected to each other — and the way to achieving it is not by fighting or running away, but by embracing each other!

What is the purpose of life?

It’s to be you.

Each of us has a different set of personalities, gifts, and upbringing.

And since differences are supposed to be beautiful, we’re supposed to live out who we are.

You see, conventional measurements of success like money, fame, and power are attractive things to strive for when it comes to the temporary satisfaction of our mind and body.

However, if you’re striving for them at the cost of drowning out your real self — how long do you think you can remain positively motivated on your path of striving for them?

We’ve talked about the mind, body and real self extensively above.

Have you figured out why?

While the term “just be you” can be frequently thrown around in conversations these days, many don’t actually know the steps to do so.

A human being is comprised of various levels of depth in identity, so with the noise that the mind and body constantly generate, it’s natural that many of us might be confused with how exactly we should be ourselves.

If the mind and body are making noises that tend towards the negative and we identify ourselves with them, wouldn’t the choices we make also become negatively motivated? And if the choices we make tend towards the negative, wouldn’t the outcomes we get also be negative?

When the things happening in our life are always negative, how then can we be genuinely happy?

If you want to experience the positive empowerment of being you, then you must have the courage to actively disengage from your mind and body, and retrieve all decision-making power back from them.

You’re not going to take absolute control of your mind and body since they have an autonomous nature, and they’ll still interfere with your decisions.

However, if you don’t diligently disengage from them, you’ll often mix your real self up with them, and make decisions that are somehow conditioned into them by external factors such as social environment and upbringing.

In their absence, how then can we know when we’re functioning as our true self?

To be you requires courage.

It requires you to be firm in choices that can lead you closer to lasting happiness — not temporary pleasures, even when the people and circumstances around you might signal threats to your mind and body for doing so.

It requires you to be clear about what you wish for, and courageously live in a manner that can lead you closer to it.

Our real self would also always wish to pursue after genuine happiness not just for ourselves, but for others too. So whenever you wish to know how you should “be yourself” in any circumstances –

Quiet your mind and body, and ask yourself about what you can do in the present moment that can lead you closer to genuine and lasting happiness.

If you follow through on the answer you get, not only will you be fulfilling your purpose in life, you’d also never have to be in doubt again about how to really be you ever again!

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