The 5 Elements of Living A Good Life
Character, Health, Love, Purpose, & Wealth.
Have you ever pondered on the question of what constitutes a good life? It seems like life is complicated searching for endless meanings, experiences, questions, uncertainties, struggles, solutions…etc.
There is no single explanation that can distill all the important elements of what makes a good life.
So here is my take on this topic.
I believe it comes down to these five aspects to help us live a good life.
1. Character
I believe character is one of the most important elements for living a good life.
Everything we do is surrounded by a relationship with others, if we don’t have a good character, chances are people won’t enjoy good company with us.
A good character stems from a person with integrity. In other words, a person that acts honestly with strong moral principles.
If your heart always emits a bright burning light, then you won’t fear anything that is of the dark from anywhere externally or internally.
Because you got nothing to hide, you can be as transparent as you want and you are known as an ethical person where your reputation is based on it, and you will tend to think in other people’s shoes.
When we start thinking about other people’s perspectives and less of ourselves, we are likely to cover the needs of others and create a win-win situation for everyone which can foster a deeper and better relationship.
As a business owner, we are not looking to maximize profit at the expense of the quality or the purity of the products provided to our customers. We prioritize the safety and the needs of customers, not compromising for anything below the standards if the end goal is a long sustainable business.
I love this sentence from the Bible,
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. (Luke 16:10)
If one is honest with small things, chances are one would also be honest and upright with bigger things and if one can’t be trusted with small things chances are one cannot be trusted with an important task.
Therefore it is important to have the fundamental down first that is having a good character in the first place, everything else will fall naturally later on.
Like building a house, if we don’t set our foundation right, chances are the house will fall and collapse if a severe earthquake were to hit.
Character is that foundation for us, if we have that foundation down, doesn’t matter where we go, we have strong roots that can’t be easily swayed by the opinions of others and the external circumstances we encounter in life.
“True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure — the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature.” — Robert McKee
2. Health
When we have a good character, we would always do good things; when we always do good things, we would always feel good, when we always feel good, our health would also turn out to be good because many illnesses stem from our own mind, from the worries and anxieties we imposed on ourselves.
We don’t need to rely on any medications where the majority of the pharmaceutical companies make their money from.
We are in control of our own health.
One time Jim Rohn asked his elderly father what is the secret for having good health, his dad simply told him “I eat an apple every night before I go to bed.” It seems so simple and works well for Jim’s dad, which is probably good advice for us to follow as well.
As Ben Franklin would say,
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” — Benjamin Franklin
Try eating an apple a day and have a positive mental attitude in everything you do, see if you still need to visit your family doctor, or local drug store every now and then.
We know that the death of Michael Jackson was due to his frequent contact with his personal physician, which could have been avoided.
“Conrad Robert Murray (born February 19, 1953) is a Grenadian former cardiologist who was the personal physician of Michael Jackson at the time of the singer’s death in 2009. Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for improperly administering the anesthetic drug that led to Jackson’s death and later served two years of a four-year prison sentence.”
We know best how our body is feeling. It will give us all kinds of signals, but we don’t need to visit doctors every single time when tiny bits of discomfort occurs because the doctors would just give us a prescription which only gives us a temporary surface treatment that might have other unknown side effects.
Here are some examples of things that would contribute to good health:
- Eat nutritious foods
- Drink 5 cups of water daily
- Exercise twice minimum weekly
- Get good sleep every night (8–10hrs)
- Read books on how to improve mental health
- Listen to audiobooks on how to establish sound physical health
- Laugh/smile is literally the best medicine
- Surround yourself with positive, encouraging, and uplifting friends
- Control your emotions, you always want to be in a good mood.
3. Love
Love is one of the most important ingredients for living a good life.
To want to be loved by others, we need to first love ourselves.
Doesn’t matter where you came from, what circumstances you have gone through; learn to love yourself, so you can develop love for other people.
“The laws of love are reciprocal. When we choose to love someone unconditionally by encouraging and believing in them, love comes back in full force through respect, admiration, trust, and loyalty.”
With love, we can imitate Jesus. He loves every one of us unconditionally, lived a perfect life without committing a single sin. And in the end, he chose to die for us to wash away our sins. Love him, and learn from Jesus as Benjamin Franklin have suggested imitating Jesus and Socrates if we want to live a good and fulfilled life.
Love is not affectionate feeling but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained. — C.S. Lewis
4. Purpose
A meaningful purpose gives us a direction of where we are headed for life.
Without a purpose, we tend to drift along through the event life throws at us.
If you haven’t found your purpose yet, it is okay.
I don’t know my purpose either, but I know I will find it eventually. We are the sailor of our own life, once we know where we are going, we have found a significant meaning for our life.
As Steve Jobs said it the best,
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.” — Steve Jobs
So keep looking, keep trying out different things, keep learning, keep asking yourself honest questions and you’ll find it eventually.
If you don’t like something, discard it.
And move on.
We all need a purpose to live a good life, so start finding one! (if you already found your purpose, bravos to you! :)
5. Wealth
Have you experienced what it felt like to be broke? I have had a taste of wealth and poverty. And I will tell you quite honestly that I will choose the former anytime over the latter.
Money is important, doesn’t matter what other people tell you.
Especially of the recent outbreak with Covid 19, if you don't have any savings, you might feel very insecure about your situation. And it can lead to many other unnecessary illnesses stem from the anxiety simply because you don’t have any money to be able to do anything.
I can’t stress this enough, it is important that we save for rainy days because they will inevitably come. Unexpected things would happen and emergency things will require us to have money or we are just doomed when the time comes.
A good way to arrange your money is to apply the Rule of thirds or 1/3 principle:
- Save 1/3 of your income,
- Invest 1/3 of your income,
- Then you are free to spend the rest 1/3 of your money.
It is a simple concept, but you have to apply it.
As Goethe would say,
“knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
To Recap
To live a good life, keep these 5 important elements in mind.
1. Cultivate a good character
2. Prioritize on building a good health
3. Love yourself and others
4. Find the purpose you’d like to fulfill during your lifetime
5. Maintain a good amount of wealth, save for the rainy day
Thank you for reading, have a phenomenal day! :)
