If I were able to live my life anew, In the next I would try to commit more errors. I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more. I would be more foolish than I've been, In fact, I would take few things seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would run more risks, take more vacations, contemplate more sunsets, climb more mountains, swim more rivers. I would go to more places where I've never been, I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans, I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones. I was one of those people that lived sensibly and prolifically each minute of his life; Of course I had moments of happiness. If I could go back I would try to have only good moments.

Because if you didn't know, of that is life made: only of moments; Don't lose the now.

I was one of those that never went anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, an umbrella, and a parachute; If I could live again, I would travel lighter. If I could live again, I would begin to walk barefoot from the beginning of spring and I would continue barefoot until autumn ends. I would take more cart rides, contemplate more dawns, and play with more children, If I had another life ahead of me.

But already you see, I am 85, and I know that I am dying.

I've spent my entire life trying to figure out how to make the most of life with the inevitability of death on my mind. It is still hard for me to imagine that most others really only consider their life within the context of death when death is 1, 5, maybe 10 years away.

I am moved by this video poem. I am in awe of the the beauty of Borges's words - it stopped my day in its tracks. However, on a discussion board amongst doers, builders and rationalist, I feel motivated to encourage more.

We live in a unique time in humanity - a time where our rationalization about death can extend beyond feel-good sentiments like 'make the most of your life'. We live in a time where we can extend our lives; we can use motivations like this to encourage our culture and society to put a greater emphasis on technologies that enable drastic life extension. Make the most of your life and others by working or influencing to extend our lifespans. Use this motivation to adopt the mindset that you can preserve all that is wonderful about life for hundreds, possibly thousands of years - influence your peers and hack longevity.

Actually, "Instantes" started life as a Reader's Digest (prose) article in 1953. Over time, it was transcribed by several anonymous scribes, rendered in free verse, and attributed to different authors. I remember seeing it published in an Argentinian newspaper as a Borges poem (Clarin? if I remember correctly) sometime in the '80s, shortly after Borges' death. I think that was the first time it was attributed to Borges.

For more information:

http://reelyredd.com/blog/2009/04/

http://www.borges.pitt.edu/bsol/iainst.php

Last link is a hyper-pedantic article in Spanish by a Borges scholar, with quote by Borges himself on the subject: "[If I was to live this life again] I would do the same things. Because one is like one is, no?"

    I could not love thee, dear, so much,
    Loved I not honor more.

The process by which I imagine attractive urban legends and inauthentic quotes being engineered is one of deliberate dishonesty (though of course some are honest errors), and it disgusts me. e.g. "you cannot fool all the people all the time, ..." - not Abraham Lincoln, "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance" - not Thomas Jefferson.

There's some step involved where a quoter thinks "this is beautiful/true; I want to share it" and then decides it would make more of a splash if it were branded with a Respected Name, and that repulses me.

I liked that submission because I could easily identify with most of the behaviors in that list. I too often have the urge to correct someone over something arguably unimportant. It's so strange.

http://books.google.com/books?id=4dPBlkL1dkIC

I miss the mountains.

Last summer, I also took my Dad on a trip where we rented a couple of Harleys and rode the PCH from S.F. to L.A. and then back to S.F on a more inland route (btw I am so jealous of those of you living in CA!). I can’t believe I waited so long to get back into something I loved so much...should have done it years ago.

Some time prior, this woman had an argument with her mother that escalated into all-out shouting, petty criticisms, damning accusations, anger. The last thing she yelled to her mother was "F* y!!"

The next morning her mother died suddenly. At the party, her friends were discussing how she regrets to the utmost of her life - that unfortunate and final send off. How she would give anything to undo what cannot be undone. How hard it is for this woman to try to forgive herself (the most important person of all to forgive).

I know it's a cliche but this is a true story. You may not see someone you love again - so don't part in anger. Don't curse out your parents or your significant other.

In fact, you might even view such a thing as a shining example of the way you and your parents loved each other: despite strong emotions, despite your mutual passions for life clashing, you know that you would still reconcile, because you loved each other.

Moreover, I don't think of my comment as a 'rational explanation'. I don't just think you can think about a situation in multiple ways, I am sure that you should feel about a situation in multiple ways.

Being able to see, and choosing to feel, the brightest side in each situation is the only thing that can help someone cope with an absurd, unjust, world. Otherwise, you're just a victim of the emotions society presses upon you. When the last thing you did was shout, you are supposed to feel guilty. Doesn't every magazine say that; don't movies depict it? Thinking freely and ridding yourself of the cultural baggage also enables you to feel differently. Still sad, but with a bright edge, remembering the promises that lay hidden in that last argument.

Her message is good, and I found it very moving like many of you, but I can't agree that 'doing' something is always the best thing for everyone. Do what you want, as long as you aren't hurting anyone else's ability to do what they want.

In it's purest form, I interpret her message as 'You should be actively pursuing your goals, NOW.' Couldn't it be said that goals are nothing more than dreams if we don't have a plan for achieving them? Wasted time in this sense would mean setting a goal for yourself, but then failing to act on it.

For example, it's easy for me to say 'I want to start my own business,' but then keep working my 9-to-5 without making any strides towards my goal. That's wasted time.

Now I've watched it and I know it would have been worth even if it lasted 100 hours.

Thank you very much for letting me know about it.

It's rational to say "forget about 10 years from now" if you have two years to live. It's not rational if you're expecting to live 50 or 60 more years, even if there is some standard deviation to your expectation.

What do you use to manage your life? I have at times put down my goals on paper, but those sheets of paper just got lost under the pile of other papers (bills, other plans and what not). Maybe daily checks would be the thing - just write a new plan every day, with adjustments from the daily experience?

Managing time requires some understanding of how our bodies work and personal motivation. The greater the change, the harder the work, the longer the ramp up, and the longer it will take. Not always the case, but usually. Once you fail, and many of us fail all the time, the further the regression the harder it will be to try again. Failure is easy to achieve, although denial may hide it from us, exacerbating the regression. Success is not so easy to achieve and even harder to identify.

The good news is that the hardest part is the first step. One small action makes the next action easier, and eventually if you persist the change will become routine. If the change takes too great a toll on the limited amount of willpower we all have, or on our physical body (lack of sleep, energy, etc) you'll hit a wall and probably regress because physics is an uncaring bitch. Nature doesn't care about what we want, you have to work on her terms. Figuring out what those terms are has been at least for me trial and error.

A Marine General once said to my battalion that you never stay static, you're either improving or deteriorating. You're either getting stronger or weaker, you're never not moving in one direction. My high school principal said, if you fall down, get back up again, and don't ever stop trying to get back up.

That's all I got. Anyone know better please let me know.

That may sound pathetic but the key is to do something consistently every day. So if you're in a hurry and don't feel like exercising, drop and do one push-up anyway.

Eventually those efforts compound, and soon enough you're doing your age in push-ups every day. But if a day comes when you don't feel like doing your age in push-ups, just do one. Don't do zero just because you can't meet your loftier goal.

I'm doing the same thing with one of my side projects (or trying to anyway). I'm tweeting about little updates, every step closer to a closed beta, and I plan on continuing to tweet about the ups and downs as they come. I have enough followers who I greatly respect that I'd feel pretty silly if I didn't follow through.

In the last 3 months I've lost 20 pounds, just by doing mainly these 3 things:

1. Eat breakfast every day, and make sure it has protein. 2. Eat only whole grains and no refined flour, pasta, and avoid simple carbs. 3. Eat plenty of fats, including nuts, avocadoes, olive oil, and other healthy fats.

I've done all of this while eating filling breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with snacks in between meals and even dessert like chocolate brownies, dark chocolate, etc.

Not only have I lost 20 pounds, I can eat this diet for the rest of my life and be completely healthy. This is the diet that humans evolved on, whole grains, fresh vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. The diet is very similar to Mediterranean or Asian diets.

Some other benefits, since I switched to this diet, I have more energy, my cholesterol is perfect, and my blood sugar levels don't spike.

The entire secret to this diet is that by eating whole grains and avoiding simple carbs, you avoid foods that turn into sugar in the blood and cause your blood sugar to spike. These foods like breads/pastas/etc give you quick energy, but then cause a crash later, causing you to eat even more food. Also, your body can't deal with that much sugar in the blood so it stores it as fat. By eating whole grains, your body takes longer to digest them, releasing blood sugar at a slow, even rate. Thus, you have energy all day and don't crash, or get hungry between meals.

edit: I also want to point out that the author of the book has done considerable scientific medical research, and his diet is based on empirical research, not pseudo-science like many diets.

I don't think that humans could evolve on whole grains because these only became available with the invention of agriculture sometime between 10 and 20 K years ago.

Also, some studies link the spread of agriculture to the huge drop in human health. That's why I personally removed all grains from my diet completely.

As for the rest of the post, I completely agree.

Edit: found a couple of links

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/03/paleopathology... http://www.environnement.ens.fr/perso/claessen/agriculture/m...

edit: I read your links and found them very interesting. I think one of the problems that agricultural societies in general have is that they started milling their whole grains into flour. The articles mention tooth decay as a problem of modern agricultural societies. Flour is a huge problem because it is easily processed and turns into sugars quickly, growing bacteria that causes tooth decay.

As long as you stick to whole grains, and not "crushed" or milled grains, you should be ok. Brown rice instead of white rice, buckwheat, quinoa, wild rice, amaranth, and a host of others. The important part is not to break or remove the outer shell or husk of the grain. The husk has most of the vitamins and fiber in it anyway.

And no, paleo does not mean eating raw red meet - cooked is fine according to most sources I came across. Some indeed do eat raw, but I think it's the 'hardcore' minority.

I have whey protein shakes everyday or every otherday (esp if I'm going to run or the gym). Meals have much less bread and less dairy than I would usually eat. In general I eat less meals more. Like around 300 calories for a small meal. I eat lots of egg beaters (much less calories and fat than real egg - 70 cal/4.5g fat per real egg including yolk), salads with light balsamic vinaigrette (watch out - lots of them are fatty and have lots of calories. I found one with 40 cal/2tablespoon). Other small meals include fresh sliced turkey (25 cal/slice) and a slice of bread. I've replaced everything I might drink - like milk, orange juice or sodas - with water.

I have not done much working out yet - all my weight loss thus far is just from diet change. I am somewhat active taking my dog on 2 mile walks but I now have access to a gym and have been planning out workouts - dips, crunches, pushups and lots of running (for now).

While I used to eat probably 2150 calories/day (according to a calorie calculator), I now eat 1500 or less per day, usually 1200. The first two weeks are the hardest and you're always hungry, grumpy, tired but then you get used to it. I of course eat more calories when I am active, go on runs and so on, but for coding days I'm just fine with low calories and proper vitamins and protein. I also drink a cup or two of green or black tea each night.

I cut my alcohol intake down a ton, rarely eat out and haven't had red meat since I started this diet.

Do not take this as a suggested diet. I am not a doctor.

Also, I eat real eggs (about 2 for breakfast scrambled with vegetables, slice of sprouted wheat toast, cup of fruit, 3 times a week) all the time. The myth about eggs causing high cholesterol is just a myth. Your body can process the cholesterol in eggs just fine, since your own liver can produce way more cholesterol in a single day. It just depends on the rest of your diet.

It sounds like you are making some great choices so far, but I would personally avoid the "low-fat" foods since most of them are packed with sugar, or even worse, High Fructose Corn Syrup. Instead, just eat good fats. Try putting olive oil and balsamic vinegar on your salad instead of sugary "light balsamic vinagrette."

Also, you're right to cut out the fruit juices. Unfortunately, as much as I used to love orange juice, it has a lot of sugar. Much better to just eat an orange, because the fiber that comes with the orange will make your body take more energy to digest it, and your body will absorb the sugar more slowly.

I also cut down on my alcohol intake a lot. I can still drink a glass of wine with dinner every day, but I stay away from drinking beer or more than 1 drink at a time. Green tea twice a day is also really good for me.

Stick with it! Sounds like you're doing well, although I don't think you need to cut your calories down so low.

Of course with the separate account I don't have the social pressure, which might be essential.

Set up joes goals [1] with a positive "I weighed myself today" and a negative "I broke my No S diet [2] today" (can have multiple ticks against that last one).

The little chart that joesgoals makes for me is oddly compelling.

[1] http://joesgoals.com/ [2] http://www.nosdiet.com/

"Is there any scientific evidence that this diet works?

Absolutely none. But I'm not aware that I have any competition in this regard. It is more or less how billions of thin people around the world have eaten for millenia, if that counts for anything."

Hence it might be better to simply aim for a somewhat meaningful life; choose a goal you think is worthwhile and do something towards it every single day.

Over time, if it's making progress and bringing you a measure of happiness you can slowly tweak your life so that you spend more and more time pursuing this goal.

The trick is probably to realise that a) there is no optimally meaningful experience and b) life is a marathon, not a sprint (generally speaking), and getting worked up that you're not moving fast enough is not productive. It's just that you'd better be running in the first place.

I do not believe that writing a check each month would make you feel that you were doing anything meaningful (after all, many people are capable of writing a cheque).

All I can say is to try it and see how it makes you feel. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

All I can say is to try it out and see how you feel. You can support families in Africa for $10 a month.

If you want theory then you could try the following books: 1. "The Art Of Happiness" - (Interviews with Dalai Lama). 2. "A New Earth"

I've been delving into Buddhism over the last 5 months because of a family situation of mine that I have had to deal with and I think to be able to live a meaningful life all you have to do is help someone else who: 1. Really needs your help. 2. Can do nothing (by the nature of his/her predicament) for you in return at this very moment. 3. needs help on a continual basis. Ie, a long term commitment which then implies that you going to work everyday is helping someone else. That would be living a meaningful life.

I think thats why having kids is living a meaningful life.

My recommendation: Put an underprivileged kid in India through college who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it. http://www.ffe.org (100% of your money is given to the children as the administration fees are paid for by a separate fund).

It takes a long time to get to this thinking though. I mean think about it: If you had only $2000 in your bank, the only way you could give $2000 to charity is to be able to either give up all your dreams/aspirations or at least put them on hold. That is very hard to do ...

You don't quite seem to be advising people to lead a meaningful life by having kids, but it's close. Your recommendation to help people in need who are already born, though, is sound.

Why did you link this?

Never pass the time.

If you want to waste some time, make the conscious decision to. Enjoy the restfulness of doing nothing for awhile. But never be bored. There is always something worth doing, even if it's just driving to the library and checking out a book. There's so very much in this world to learn, to experience, to explore, and whether you're hopping on a jet to go find it yourself or just basking in the richly-woven words of a great book about it, you owe it to yourself to at least give it a look. The world is too interesting, the universe is too interesting, humans are too interesting to waste your time with throwaway things. I can't tell you what those throwaway things are for you, but you know them. They're not important. Use your time for the things that are.

What would you do with those 2 years?

PS: "I'll train myself not to sleep" is not a good answer.

These changes won't overnight but what scares me more than anything is that it won't happen quick enough. I've seen the end game and it isn't scheduled months in advance or decades away in our future...

...it might be that you kiss your pregnant wife goodbye in the morning and simply disappear.

http://sidsavara.com/personal-development/today-is-your-gold...

Since people enjoyed this video, here's the HN link - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1112797