01
Two Oscar directors have launched an invitation to people all over the world on YouTube to video record their day: July 24, 2014.
Later, they received videos from 190 countries and regions, with a total length of nearly 4,500 hours, from which the two directors edited 94 minutes to form the documentary "A Day in the Life".
The documentary does not have any narration. The director uses his own selection criteria to select countless different life segments, from 4:00 am to 24:00 midnight, using different lives to form a complete day.
handsome young guy
Leaning on the sofa, a young man, looking a little nervous and a little shy, was saying to the grandma on the other end of the phone: He is a gay.
calm middle-aged man
Sitting in front of the hospital bed, a middle-aged man looked very calm. He was saying to his wife, "I have nothing to fear now. I used to be afraid that you would get cancer, but you got it; I was afraid that you would relapse, but you relapsed. It's over, so I have nothing to fear."
slum old man
In a slum, there was a single uncle with many children behind him. The youngest was one or two years old and was sleeping on the bed; the oldest was 20 years old. prevent him from accidentally getting lost. The old man also said that he had to take care of the children by himself, he could not work, he had no money, and the water and electricity were cut off. After a pause, the old man finally said, "But we're still alive."
Ordinary girl 23:58, a midnight with lightning and thunder, the little girl sat in the car and said to her mobile phone camera: "I've been looking forward to something amazing all day, proving to the world that in ordinary people On an ordinary day, extraordinary things happen. But the truth is, good things don’t happen very often. I didn’t have anything happened all day today, and I wanted others to know that I existed, and I didn’t want to live a life without a sense of existence.”
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you how good I am because I don't think I'm that good. I think of myself as an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life. Even though nothing really happened today, tonight, I still feel like something big has happened."
Because of different environments, cultures, and family backgrounds, people's lives are not the same. The documentary shows us all kinds of life.
Some children fall asleep on the deck, some children come out to shine their shoes as soon as they can walk; some people go from 9 to 5, some people travel around the world on bicycles; some people face the loess, and some people are flying somersaults in the sky.
Here comes the question: With so many different lives in Japan, North Korea, and Taiwan, why are there no Chinese people? What criteria did the director use?
On closer inspection, I realized that although everyone in the video was living a different day, whether it was wonderful, or painful, or ordinary, nothing happened. However, their attitude towards this day is the same: they are all facing their lives without escaping.
The director was not selected equally according to national boundaries, skin color and gender. The director's selection logic was: an attitude towards life.
No matter what day they are facing, they don't envy others. Even in the midst of a quagmire, they never run away, they always face life head on. They always have a way to make themselves better every day, even a little bit... Just like the old grandfather said in the documentary "The Fruit of Life" : "Grow slowly and firmly."
Well, I want to face my life head-on, live every day well, and try to make it grow a little bit and get better and better.
02
After watching the documentary, I was suddenly curious about a question: How many days do I have in total? I checked the average life expectancy of Chinese people and it is 75 years old.
I am a dragon and I am 32 years old this year. If the average life expectancy is 75 years old, then I have 43 years left, and 43 years is 15695 days. Today is March 10th, exactly 100 days have passed, so I have 15595 days left.
The calculation is over: From today, I have 15,595 days left in my life.
This string of numbers reminds me of Liu Cixin's novel "The Three-Body Problem": One day, a long string of numbers appeared in the lower right corner of the male protagonist's eye vision. This string of numbers is a countdown, beating in seconds. It turns out that this is the countdown to the male protagonist's life. After the numbers jump, the male protagonist's life will come to an end. The most frightening thing is that this string of numbers will also adapt to the brightness. Whether the male protagonist is reading a book, watching TV or looking at the sun, the countdown is always clearly visible and never stops. I really admire Liu Cixin, is this a science fiction? Clearly it is reality, because whether or not the string of numbers (15595) is flashing in my eye socket, it is actually there, decreasing day after day until it reaches 0.
15595 days is a scarce number, every number is my real day and my real life.
And what about money? It is national credit, and it is the product that the money printing machine can print as much as it wants. It is illusory and its value is extremely unstable. A financier who is experiencing the rapid devaluation of the national currency said: You may be able to pay the face price before you eat noodles, and then find that you can't pay after eating.
So, if you do something just to exchange for these ethereal banknotes, I will be so sorry for my 15,595 days.
So here comes the question: You say it's not worth doing just for money, so what is it worth doing?
03
After thinking about it, I thought: If there is something that can make me happy in the present moment, but also bring long-term happiness, it is worth doing. (Of course, this is under the premise that you have met the basic food and clothing)
Therefore, when I do things again, I have two dimensions of pursuit: current happiness and long-term happiness. Here comes the point. Using these two dimensions, I drew a four-quadrant structure as follows:
The horizontal axis represents long-term happiness, from left to right, from long-term unhappy to long-term happiness; the vertical axis represents current happiness, from bottom to top, from current unhappy to current happiness.
The horizontal and vertical axes cross, resulting in 4 quadrants, which are divided into 4 types of things. Quadrant 1: Doing this not only produces immediate happiness, but also long-term happiness. Quadrant 2: Doing this directly produces immediate happiness, but not long-term happiness. Quadrant 3: When you do this, you are not only unhappy now, but also unhappy in the long run. Quadrant 4: When you do this, you will be happy in the long run, even if you are not happy now. Quadrant 1: Fengshen District I call it the Fengshen District. If you want to become a great god, the more things you do in this area, the better. However, in a fast-paced society, it is difficult for people to find their own quadrant 1, and some people even never experience quadrant 1. Stop and think about what in itself can bring you joy, and which can benefit you in the long run.
Quadrant 2: Waste wood area I call it the waste wood area. The less things in this area, the better. Try not to touch it. It can easily become a bad habit, and you can't throw it away if you want to quit. Things in this quadrant are addictive and can easily drag us down and make us do nothing. Stop and think about the things you're doing that make you happy in the moment, but are extremely hindering your life in the long run. Quadrant 3: The Machine Zone I call it the Machine Zone. This area is very boring, but there are certain obligations that we have to do, such as attending a friend's wedding and funeral. Things in this area make us like machines, passively living in this world. If you have a way of getting out of this area of things, I recommend getting out quickly and being one-size-fits-all, say no. Think about it, doing something that makes you unhappy right now doesn't make sense in the long run. Quadrant 4: Self-discipline area I call it the self-discipline area. There are many things in this area. We all know that this area is very good. to make a difference in this area. Think about what makes you unhappy in the moment, but has infinite value in the long run. The 4 quadrants of life are done. Next, I draw a 4 quadrant of my own. Simply put, the right side of the square is what I want to concentrate on, and the left side is what I want to completely eliminate.
How about, want to draw your own four quadrants of life? Don't worry, before you draw, I have 3 reminders:
(1) The events placed in the four quadrants vary from person to person. Be yourself and don’t judge others . For example, for an e-sports player who loves his career, he will classify playing games as a short-term happiness and long-term happiness. Happy Quadrant 1.
(2) Almost all the little things in life can be put into the four quadrants for consideration . For example, holding back at work and not going to the toilet will allow you to complete the task at hand faster in the short term, but it is not good for your bladder in the long run. So holding back from going to the toilet at work can be divided into quadrant 2, which makes you short-term happy and long-term unhappy. (I will do it all the time, and I will avoid it in the future) (3) Events in the 4 quadrants will move dynamically , such as eating, blanch green vegetables in boiling water and eat them directly, which is healthy for the body, but at first you eat it without taste, then this matter belongs to Quadrant 4 of short-term unhappiness and long-term happiness. After waiting for a long time, you may gradually like the original taste of green vegetables, but the seasoning feels unpalatable. At this time, the matter of directly blanching green vegetables can be moved from the fourth quadrant to short-term eating delicious, long-term right. Quadrant 1 in good health. What is your floating day like? How many days do you have left? Can you take a look at the 4 quadrants of your life? Looking forward to your sharing, leave a message directly or add me on WeChat (samuelzp), I can see it all.
Documentaries you might also like:
"Finding Sugar Man": Answers for you about happiness
"The Fruit of Life": Showing you the perfect old age
"The God of Sushi": Answers to what a high-scoring career is
View more about Life in a Day reviews
