Some time ago now I came to realize that how we define particular words - success, happiness, love, etc - can have a major impact on the way in which we live our life. One term that I hear thrown around often is “good life”, eg “he lived a good life” . But what is a good life exactly? This term will mean different things to different people, and yet I believe there are some ingredients that all “good lives” share. Here are a some of these ingredients:

Being present in the moment

Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed. - Corita Kent

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. - Oscar Wilde

Gratefulness

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy - because we will always want to have something else or something more. - Brother David Steindl-Rast

Love

Love doesn’t make the world go ’round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile. - Franklin P. Jones

Life is the flower for which love is the honey. - Victor Hugo

A life lived for others

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill

Squeezing the most out of our time

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln

… we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless. - Paul Bowles

Living with purpose

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. - Robert Byrne

Acceptance that life will bring sadness

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. - Carl Jung

Living without fear

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. - Dorothy Thompson

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

Not taking life too seriously

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. - Elbert Hubbard

Do you have a quote that you would like to share? Or perhaps even your own definition of what a “good life” is? Please share it in the comments below…

不久前，我认识到我们如何定义一些特定的词－成功，快乐，爱等，就会对我们生活的方式产生重要的影响。我经常听到的一个词就是美好的生活，比如他有一个美好的生活，但究竟什么才算是一个美好的生活？虽然不同的人对此有不同的理解，但我相信所有的“美好的生活”中均分享着一些要素，以下就是这些要素。

活在当下

生命是时刻的连续，而活在每一刻就是成功。－柯利塔•肯特

活着是世上最珍贵的，大多数人只是存在，仅此而已。－奥斯卡•王尔德

感恩

感恩是我们握在手中的开启快乐生活的钥匙，因为如果我们不懂感恩，那么不管我们拥有多少，我们也不会开心－因为我们总会想要拥有其他东西或者想得到更多。－布拉德•大卫••斯泰德•赖斯特

爱

爱没有使世界转动，但正是它，使周游世界变得有价值。－富兰克林•本杰明

人生是花朵，爱情是花蜜。－雨果

一种为了他人而活着的生活

我们靠获得的东西生存，但我们靠给予的东西生活。－温斯顿•丘吉尔

最大地压榨我们的时间

生命，不在乎享受多少年，只在乎真正活过多少年。-亚伯拉罕•林肯

我们可以把生命视为取之不尽，用之不竭的。然而，这一切仅发生在一定数量的时代，且仅占一个很小的数目，这是真的。有多少次你会记得你童年的某一个下午，而那个下午已经成为你生命里最深的一部分以至于你认为你甚至不能设想你的生活没有它？也许你会想起它4次到5次以上，也许甚至没有。有多少次你会观赏月亮的升起？也许是20次。然而，这一切似乎是无限的。-保罗•鲍尔斯

有目的地活着

生活的目的就是过一种有目的的生活。-罗伯特•拜恩

接受生活也会带来悲伤

有多少个夜晚，就有多少个白天，并且在一年当中，这两个的时间长度是一样的。即使是一个愉快的生活也要有阴暗的衡量，而“快乐”如果没有“悲伤”的对照，它也会失去了它的意义，-卡尔荣

无畏地活着

我们唯有不再害怕我们才能开始生活。-桃乐丝•托马森

二十年后，当你回顾你所经历的事情时，你将为没有尝试的事情而感到后悔。所以从现在起，仍掉你的安全套结，从安全的港口启航，和信风一起航行，开始探险，去追求你的梦想吧！-马克•吐温

不要对生活太认真

别对生活太认真，否则你将永远不能摆脱它活着。-艾伯特哈伯德

你有你想要分享的谚语吗？或者是你自己对“美好生活”的定义？有的话请吧这些写在下面的评注栏里…