the balance

in my philosophy 160 class, we read a book called The Road Less Traveled, which was like a spiritual enlightenment book and i must say, that book is probably the reason i feel very content with my life/faith right now.

1. i put this first because this has always been in the top 3 things i think about on a minute-minute basis- faith and God. i was always raised on a christian-based household, although i cannot recall going to church with my family once. and then my mom enrolled me into a catholic school for 4 years (3-6), which helped me out by telling me what my family never told me straight forward, but also gave me this notion of structure and strictness. After elementary school, i was never forced to go to church or even be religious, but i still kept my faith in one way or another. and then college came and i read The Road Less Traveled, and it confirmed a lot to me. it told me that, as long as i had faith and an inner feeling on the "higher entity," then it would all be good. God is inside all of us, and i can feel him. for a long portion of high school i felt guilty that my religion was more internal than going to church, but after a long time of thinking about it, i know that God knows i fully believe in him and that i love Him truly, and that's all that matters.

2. the unconscious vs. the conscious. who you truly are is considered your unconscious and it can be considered your "soul" if you wanna think about it that way. your conscious is more of what you think about yourself and what you make yourself to be by your actions. and basically, true happiness and content happens when these two are one. however, the only way to make this happen is to... be yourself i guess. listen to your gut feelings and let yourself be who it wants you to be. also, your dreams may be just a collection of random thoughts but they are a big window into what your unconscious is like. i feel that i am letting myself be myself and i am constantly doing what i can to make sure im not drifting too far away.

3. balance. boredom is the lack of duty in your life. stress is the abundance of duty in your life. find the balance, and happiness comes naturally. i have found the balance for now. i have a job, i skate, i hang out with my friends, but i dont feel like i have too much on my shoulders (until school comes around again haha).

and i felt i should post this so possibly someone will see something that i didnt see soon enough and it will help them out like it has helped me. but seriously, read the book. it's called The Road Less Traveled by (Scott?) Peck. God, listening to your unconscious, and balance are the top three reasons, in that order, that i feel my life has direction and am making progress without being too stressed.