I think this list of people are very like minded. The majority of emails are about people's life stories and advice. I thought I'd do the same and also teach you something crazy at the end anyone can learn to do.
I don't think life needs to complicated. Keep people in your life you enjoy being with who support you to pursue opportunities that allow you to live closer to the life you want to live. In turn you do the same for them.
I'm 24 years old and deep into the "experience and learn as much as possible" time of my life. This is all with boundaries of course (I don't want to experience what it's like to take Heroin). I feel very fortunate to have experienced things like winning a national soccer championship in University, having an amazing connected intimate relationship, and experiencing different cultures through travelling. I've learned a lot so far and I'm excited to experience and learn more in the coming years.
I remember having a conversation with an older man (about 50 years old) who has a very good understanding of the state of the world and how it works. He basically said our generation was screwed and there was no way to fix things like rising global temperatures and the economic systems of countries like the USA. I thought that was a very pessimistic way of looking at it, but I could understand why he thought that way. He doesn't know what our generation knows about the potential of technology.
I've come to the conclusion that the world is going to be a very different place in the next 30 years because of technology. I see it as a good kind of change that brings more abundance and freedom into people's lives. Soon we will be able to print anything that needs replacing in our bodies (we've done a heart). More small businesses will start and be be successful due to the vast amount of public information they are able to analyze and make better decisions from. Jobs will become more enjoyable and fulfilling as the monotonous, repetitive tasks are taken care of by machines and software. Staying connected with the people you want in your life will be even easier. I could be wrong (I'm only 24 years old), but it makes me excited for what's to come and the opportunity to take part and build some of it. There's already a plan to start the colonization of Mars in 2023 with the Mars One reality show, so not many other things seem too crazy.
I'll leave you with something you can take away. About 6 years ago I started learning about something called lucid dreaming. Those who don't know it's the ability to realize your in a dream and then experience the dream world as if you're awake. At first I thought it was just some ridiculous thing hippies said they could do...I'm a logical engineer after all. For the hell of it I did some research, practiced some techniques, and within 2 months I started having them. Being able to recreate scenes and fly around them while shooting fireballs out of your hands is a lot more fun than just going to sleep and waking up. The craziest thing I tried was asking someone in a dream what it was like to be in a dream (you'll have to learn how to lucid dream to see how that worked out). Here's a guide on how to start learning http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_Dreaming/Induction_Techniques#Reality_checks. You really just have to take 20 seconds out of your day to build up the habits (it takes 2 weeks to form a habit).
Steve Reid
Calgary, Alberta
[email protected]