I’ve Got This Funny Feeling

[Pre-blog note: The documentary on my band, The Sid Hillman Quartet (called “Round About Way”) is now public on Vimeo. Check it out if for no other reason than to watch me smoke a cigarette. Fret not…the cigarette was 100% plant-based.]

On to the blog post….

I talk and write a ton about how knowing yourself, really knowing yourself, leads to a good and happy life.

Knowing what and whom you love, and keeping that knowledge clear and close by.

However….

Living a good life is also about knowing how you want to feel.

For example:

I want to feel like I feel when I eat healthy food.

I want to feel like I feel after I exercise.

I want to feel like I feel when I’m with my family (really with).

I want to feel how I feel when mundane crap doesn’t bother me.

I want to feel how I feel when I create.

And…

When you feel how these feel, you want more.

And then…

When you get even a small taste of those feelings, you can go one of two ways:

1. You’ll build habits to do more of the actions that make you feel those ways for real, OR…
2. You’ll try to simulate the feelings with “drugs” (junk food, alcohol, drugs) in order to avoid the hard work embodied in #1.

Allow me to highlight the (hopefully) obvious.

You can’t actually stimulate these feelings with ‘drugs.’

You just can’t.

Here’s why:

These are the feelings owned solely by people who aim to be happy, vibrant, healthy, and strong.

And these feelings are way, way better than any that come from a drug .

That’s precisely why these people will continue to exercise, eat well, create, meditate, journal, and socialize.

And here’s the trick. You only need a taste of the feeling to get you going.

And…

You can get the taste of what it feels like to eat healthy, even by starting with a single stalk of celery.

You can get the taste of what it feels like to exercise, even by starting with 5 squats.

You can get the taste of what it feels like to create something, even by drawing on a post-it-note for 3 minutes.

All you need is a taste of how it feels to know how YOU want to feel.

All you need are the little moments when things just ‘feel’ right.

When things feel like, well, you.

And perhaps the best part of knowing how good it feels to be the real you?

You will work to feel it more. You will take care of yourself in ways that avoid militancy, rigidity, and big stress. You will be able to change course when things don’t feel as good. You will avoid being guided by some nutty nut nut guru because you know how you want to feel better than she/he ever will.

You.