Life style,  - painting an image for the world ?

Welcome.   I guess, if you read until finish, you are one of the brave persons who can admit that we sometimes fool ourselves, but see this as a necessary evil in our society.

For example: 

“Good morning madam/sir, how are you?”  “Thanks, I am fine”  - although this morning our teenager just wrecked his bike and had 5 stitches (Doctor’s bill still to be paid…) and on top we have this toothache on number six again and we absolutely do not feel like  “thank you - fine!”

Just knowing that others do not care too much about our dilemmas may lead to saying something which is just not true.

This is how it sometimes goes, right?

Today I invite you to think again about your lifestyle.

Why do we buy new clothing, when the one on the hanger at home still looks good?  Why not using the old suitcase for traveling, when the Samsonite fresh off the shop holds the same volume?  Most know the answer, but we choose not to be too aware of it, because thinking too much about our motives may end up in conflict. Soon more…

 

You see, every month I hope that we can go over some issues relating to our existence.  Of course, being the ’Real Estate guy, I like to relate to living in Bali and home or property investment. 

It happens, that on occasions I am being carried away and talk about unrelated things, just because life is so amazingly diverse and colorful, offering a rich menu of topics. 

However, my colleagues in the marketing department would not bring me lunch from the warung across the road any more, if I forget to mix in this real estate talk.  You can see where I come from? If have little choice here.

However, if you prefer to read over the occasional hint about what we do at UbudProperty, that is also OK; after all, property issues cannot be on every one’s daily agenda.

 

If property comes up in your planning, we’d be then delighted to talk about what is on your mind relating to  settling here or wanting to move. We truly enjoy passing on our bit of special local knowledge, tips and experience. Check us out.

Eventually to the point:     YOUR personal Life Style.

Let’s first find out how to tell apart life philosophy from life style; because although the wording seems related, there is really not much of a connection between both.

And quick, before going there, here is a thought which should put us into the right mood and be open minded for what follows soon  –

After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked—as I am surprisingly often—why I bother to get up in the mornings. ~Richard Dawkins

In my mind here we have someone who has his head screwed on the right way round.

(Try yourself!  Google: Richard  Dawkins, a  great scientist and impressive personality). He would certainly agree that we should more often stop to smell the roses and be aware of living out our life style philosophy – and doing so for mainly ourselves, not as often, for ’the others’.

The basics :

Life philosophy values secure a person’s sense of personal identity; they are held regardless of what anybody else thinks about his value choice.  

Life style values secure a person’s sense of social identity; they are precisely held because of what others think about his value choice. 

When trying to mix both values, people are running the risk of either getting into a social or personal identity crisis, and often also wasting money on the way.

Not holding any degree in psychology, I am not prepared to contribute much on life philosophy worth your while reading. However, about life style choices I know a thing or two from my own experience and some decades of observations in my personal and professional life.

There is a saying: 

’Most men make the voyage of life as if they carried sealed orders which they were not to open till they were fairly in mid-ocean’.

Should you not yet have reached mid-ocean, never mind. I myself would have much liked to come across some wisdom before being there half-way, but the feeling of knowing already enough when I was just about twenty, prevented me also from opening those sealed orders earlier.

I guess, most can do better today, because we receive a constant flow of useful and other knowledge via the internet. The difficulty is to quick decide, where to spend time and what is wasting it, you may agree.

Well, I am probably shoveling warm air over the fence, because statistically 85% UbudProperty clients are over 40 and therefore may be easonably clear about the value of their life and amongst other issues also about their life style preferences.

Again, - life philosophy values are such that a person who is living out of them is instilling a sense of integrity, a bit like anchoring the sense of his/her personal identity. Being clear about these values is crucial to wellbeing, as this awareness creates confidence.  We become those integrity causing personal values.

Whereas – life style is not about personal integrity or identity.

Developing a personal life style nourishes a person’s sense of social identity and social belonging. 

By making these choices we better fit into the social environment, which is quite an accomplishment indeed.

Many desire status so much and want to impress others by their achievements, which reveals how they want to be seen as valuable. By impressing other’s it seems that they are more valuable. In this sense life becomes more meaningful.

Now, if we go out and buy the car that is ’just us’, or buy the villa that ’they would be impressed with’, we make ourselves feel good for some time, - until the novelty feeling wears slowly off.

A life style can be expressed as any such socially determined practical behavior and attitude. And the full range of one’s life style equals the full range of publicly determined values that get expressed in behaviors and attitudes, all across one’s practical value decisions making life., like – our social relationships, work, avocations, use of money, preference of clothing, car, property . . .

Hardly any property agent in his standard frame of mind would advise: ”do not to purchase this ’wonderful place . . . “  (because overrated, too expensive for what it is and too imposing, - related to the perceived life philosophy of the buyer).

A fitting example:  Expecting an Armenian carpet dealer to be honest and fair to you, is like expecting the bull not to charge, because you are vegetarian.

However,  the group of professional and  responsible property agents, based on their experience and their integrity will advise you to the best of their knowledge and understanding of your situation.  Find them, they are worth to look for, in order to level any possible confusion between life philosophy and –style.

Finally on life philosophy: 

I say, if your knees aren’t green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes

On life style:

’I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.’ ~Jim Carrey

I hope we are still on the same page.  If not, please send me a line and correct me.  I cannot be right all of the time (learned in marriage).

 

Thank you again for joining and  -

cheers from the entire UbudProperty Team