Everyone desires to live a good life. What is a good life? When this question comes up, people usually have the idea of the ideal life of comfort, with comfortable home, enough wealth to last a lifetime and loving wife and children to grace one’s life. These ideals are not only desirable, but they also often seem within reach, yet they always elude us. Why is this so? Could it be because we do not know what the good life is all about? When Jesus said “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10), what was He really talking about? Is it about possessing the greatest of riches? Was He talking about success at business, or victory over our enemies? Is it about having a good wife and good children? What does it mean to attain the good life? The American dream that we chase today is all about the good life. In this regard, people often point to comfortable life made possible by good job, good salary, the beautiful home they possess along with nice vehicles and the comforts of life readily available. Are these the things that make up the good life or is there more to it?

There must be more to the good life than possession because we have seen people who have gotten it all and are not happy. Then, we see those who have nothing and yet are happy. The good life then is not in human possession, it is not about wealth, it is about our overall attitude to life. It is about the goodness of our heart. The person with a good heart sees light and not darkness, is filled with hope not doubt. He sees goodness and goodness follows him or her. He enjoys the good life even when life is filled with other challenges. A person with a good heart lives simply, desires little and appreciates all. How does one attain this state of blessedness in this life if it is not about what we possess? We are human beings, not human possessions. Our attitude towards the things around us determines a lot of things. If we locate our happiness in God, then we will accept and use the things of life in the right manner, by seeing them as just instruments. They are not the sources of our joy, nor do they cause them, they are instruments that God has used to engender them. They are channels. Our experiences can make an ordinary life a beautiful life, yet another person’s experience can make  a certain life, dead end. Friends bring joy, but they also bring pain. Food gladden our stomach, but they also bring upsets. Hence we must come to life with the right intentions and perspectives. We must live each day with the right disposition and determination.

According to  L. Ron Hubbard, “Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” Life happens and we are not prepared, by the time we are ready, lie has gone by. Enjoy the moment and live simply. No wonder, Aristotle  had taught that to achieve the good life, one must cultivate virtue through habit. That is, by constantly doing the good. He also remarked that one must use reason to find the “golden mean” between extremes. Another way propounded by Aristotle to attain the good life  is by engaging in intellectual pursuits and strong friendships. For him, these activities lead to the flourishing of life, true happiness  and not just temporary pleasure that is the bane of modern life. The key words for the attainment of the good life according to Aristotle include virtue, excellence, fulfilment and happiness. How many people truly pursue these ideals? Society blinded by materialism continues to push in our faces on unbridle pleasure and  dangerous individualism, personal accomplishment and utilitarianism as desirable ideals and in the process, many people are left with bloated egos that are easily punctured, and bruised individualism that is unsuited for the community of people. What is left then is a collective people that is angry and depressed, agonizing and clueless people who have been left behind and isolated in the scheme of things, including the flourishing of life and the attainment of the good life. Good life is possible when we fashion  a better future for ourselves. Indeed, the saying is true that we are not given a good life, we are given life, it is up to us to make it good or bad. And we make it good by making it easier for people to live a meaningful life, then in the process, we find out that our life is filled with meaning  and life suddenly feels good.

In the final analysis, the six ethics of life offer us good help in pursuing the good life: “Before you pray, believe; before you speak, listen; before you spend, earn; before  you write, think; before you quit, try and before you die, live.” Then, life will be good to you, and you would have attained the good life.