Living Well
The Examined Life
People are often sceptical about other people’s motives. They question whether they are acting as they ought to act.
We can also use our enquiring minds to question whether we ourselves are acting as we ought to act. Are we really fulfilling our capacity to live well?
A proper understanding of the third family of philosophical problems — the problems thrown up by seeking clarity about issues of value, purpose or duty — shows that there is no single recipe for living well; that we can’t be sure that we’re living well simply by following pre-existing codes, scripts and rules, but that it is always possible to find the clarity we need by pursuing an investigation into the specifics of our own lives.
Big Picture Clarity
An investigation can begin by exploring how a person can best handle life’s big picture.
The person can:
- Build a clear vision of the current reality and of possible futures, discover what is at stake, and define clear ambitions.
- Use their powers of insight to clarify how best to pursue their ambitions.
- Explore how they can best keep themself organised, so that they can handle the conflicting demands upon their time and energy skilfully.
Using the Moment
The investigation can also explore how the person can best handle challenges as they arise in the here and now.
The person can:
- Learn to build habits of regularly reorienting themself and preparing themself for action.
- Learn how best to build new skills and how to make the most of the skills they already have.
Help in Living Well
Pursuing such investigations on our own isn’t easy, for not only does the exploration require both creativity and disciplined thinking, it needs a sensible path to be found through the territory being explored.
Thankfully a good coach can help. They can guide the exploration, leaving the coachee free to focus on the reality of their life and the possibilities ahead of them.
You can find such coaches at Coachwise. They provide coaching, self-coaching tools, and coach training courses that have deep roots in philosophical clarity. They can help you fulfil your potential to live well, or to learn how to help others live well.