Avoiding Hedonism

[EternalForest]

How does one live in the moment while avoiding hedonism?

Lately I've been contemplating what the best lifestyle is. Not necessarily the best life, or the best life purpose, because ultimately purpose is subjective. I'm moreso referring to someone's overall outlook/philosophy on life.

The first choice that would come to many people's minds is "living in the moment", not worrying about past or future worries, and just enjoying what's in front of you. But I sense that leaving such a philosophy unchecked leads to hedonism. 

Why work out or diet when you could just sit and enjoy yourself, eating your favorite foods in the moment? Why work when you could spend all day playing? Why build a great future when you could just live a fun present? The flaws of this philosophy are obvious, through hedonism, trying to exclusively make yourself happy in the moment, you become unhappy because the overall quality of your life is now mediocre. You can't know play without work. But at the same time, so many people have forgotten how to relax, they've forgotten the purpose of leisure time.

I'm having a bit of trouble balancing this, living in the moment while keeping an eye on the future, so to speak. any thoughts are well appreciated.

[assx95]

18 minutes ago, EternalForest said:

How does one live in the moment while avoiding hedonism?

Integrate hedonism. And accept it as a valid way of living. Be free from ideology. How would you live in the moment, if you are focused on avoiding hedonism ? You could also live in the moment, by listening to music and getting pleasure from it. Pleasure isn't necessarily a bad way to live, it's when you're hooked to it, that it causes pain and suffering. It's an act of balance, an art. And it's something you learn by doing and by living. 

[EternalForest]

@assx95 I suspect I have become hooked on it.

What I'm lacking is the motivation to seriously pursue my purpose, which would give me lasting happiness and true fulfillment. I'm pursuing it as a hobby, and because its so enjoyable it blinds me to the serious work required to make it my career. I'm fulfilled simply by doing it, it is its own reward.

[assx95]

3 minutes ago, EternalForest said:

I suspect I have become hooked on it.

Simply withdraw from it. And then consume again, and withdraw again, when the pleasure reaches its peak and starts becoming painful, not actual pain, but the pain that comes with getting hooked. 

[The observer]

Use your body as a compass. Learn how to interpret the signals that your body sends out to you. If you feel tired, go to sleep. If you feel hungry, go and eat until the feeling is gone. If you feel energetic, do some exercise. Sometimes if you feel low on energy, an exercise could spark you up. This is a delicate work that you should pay close attention to. You don't want to become a lazy bum and you don't want to burn yourself out. How do you know what your balance is? Your body is always talking to you, but are you listening?

Also, for you to enjoy life, you don't have to choose playing all the time over working. That's not what happiness is. You may desire playing all the time at the moment because you've never done it before, but the moment you have the ability, you will find out that it's empty and not what you actually want. It's a mechanism of the mind for procrastination. Kinda like if I was a kid and you told me to say anything but "dam ba dam", I would likely desire saying it for no reason (just to be free). So, the point is, don't expect that the lifestyle that you want must be free from work. A limited amount of work is healthy, and a limited amount of playing is healthy too, but you won't know how much you need via thinking, because your body knows better. You should also develop healthy habits, like meditation, stretching, exercise, etc... until they become part of your life and psyche. It will be difficult at first, but it's worth it.