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Takeaways:

• To not try is to live authentically, tap into the energies of your soul and pursue a life you truly want.

• Please don’t do things for praise or esteem; we need to do things because we’re internally driven to do them. If we’re internally driven, we’re far more likely to succeed.

• Think with your heart over your mind. Your heart tells you the truth. Get in touch with your intuition.

Don’t Try.

The late Charles Bukowski wrote many books, including Post Office and Ham on Rye.

Throughout his life he worked mediocre jobs but always wanted to become a writer.

It took him decades to get a book published.

But throughout his life he consistently would sit down and write.

His secret was the fact that he didn’t try.

Charles lead his life by following the don’t try mantra.

So much so that he had the words “don’t try” put on his headstone.

I believe the secret to life is not to try.

It’s the ultimate truth.

It doesn’t mean we need to be lazy.

It means we must live authentically and pursue lives we’re drawn to.

Take writing, for instance. I love it and always feel better after writing.

I don’t get paid for it; I do it out of love.

Or, take working out. I always feel great afterwards, and I do it for its own sake. I never have to try.

This advice isn’t easy to follow primarily because we live in a materialistic culture seeped in philistinism.

We’re told to keep up with the Joneses, make more money, get a better car, and max out our credit cards.

Last year, I lived a life I hated. I compared myself to others and tried to improve my status in the hierarchy.

At the expense of my own happiness.

What happened was I killed myself doing overtime, gave all my time to a girlfriend who didn’t care about me and above all, I was trying extremely hard for nothing.

When we try at life, we’re trying for someone else dreams, not our own.

If we truly love something and want our lives to be a certain way, we’ll naturally gravitate towards what we want out of life.

But the biggest thing I want you to take away from this is:

Whatever you do, don’t get in your own way.

Life is very easy, but our minds make it more complicated.

In reality we need to get in touch with our true selves.

And then life won’t feel like an uphill battle. Because when we love our lives, we don’t try.

Why would you try to love your life?

You either love it or you don’t.

And trying makes you aim for something external. Something false.

The truth of life:

We need to live a life we love so much that if someone forced us to live our lives, we’d bite their hand off.

Below is a picture of Charles Bukowski’s “ don’t try” headstone.

Think With Your Heart More Than Your Head

In the book Man In Search Of A Soul By Carl Jung, he writes about a time he spoke with the Pueblo Indians, and they told him that:

“Americans were mad because they believed their thoughts were in their heads, whereas any sensible man knows that he thinks with his heart”.

To not try means to be in touch with our intuitions, our hearts, and God.

The Concept Of Dukkha

In Buddhism, Dukkha is the concept of dissatisfaction, suffering, or imperfection.

It’s a natural part of life.

And it arises in the mind.

You and I will experience Dukkha.

But if we can think with our hearts rather than our minds and be in touch with our authentic selves.

Then, we can limit the amount of Dukkha we experience.

But whatever you do, don’t get caught in your mind.

Detach.

And embrace Bukowski’s don’t try philosophy.

Start today.

Takeaways:

To not try is to live authentically, tap into the energies of your soul and pursue a life you truly want.

Please don’t do things for praise or esteem; we need to do things because we’re internally driven to do them. If we’re internally driven, we’re far more likely to succeed.

Think with your heart over your mind. Your heart tells you the truth. Get in touch with your intuition.