Home Blog Page 306

The Secret of Open-mindedness

“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” ~ Niels Bohr

The secret of open-mindedness is having a healthy understanding of the concept of probability. Moreover, it is the ability to take things into consideration rather than simply believe in them. Belief can be blinding, and so it has a high potential to lead to close-mindedness.

A more reasonable strategy is to have a healthy skepticism so that we’re open enough to accept radical new ideas, but not so open that our brains spill out.

open-mind

The best way to maintain a healthy skepticism is to take things into consideration rather than believe in them. Taking things into consideration is superior to belief, as it pertains to open-mindedness, exactly because everything is allowed to be possible.

But just because (on a long enough timeline) everything is possible, doesn’t mean that everything is probable. That’s where probability comes in, and gives us something we can hang our hat on.

For example: I’m only close-minded about one thing: being close-minded. I don’t technically “believe” in anything. I simply consider some things more than I do others.

The only thing I’m certain of is that certainty is useless. Probability, however, is exceptionally useful. Everything falls along a line of probability. From the .0000000001% probability that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is God and a Jewish Zombie saved us from our sins, to the 99.999999999% probability that the earth actually revolves around the sun and isn’t flat.

Everything from ghosts moving through walls to bats being made of wood (or flesh) falls in between. I may take evolution into consideration more than unicorns, but neither one will I have absolute certainty in. Certainty just leaves us reeling in myopic inertia and prevents us from thinking outside the box, or breaking a mental paradigm, or stretching comfort zones. It stifles our creativity and leads to close-mindedness.

Certainty is for amateurs and close-minded people, anyway. Like renowned physicist Richard Feynman said, “I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure about anything.”

Being genuinely open-minded is no walk in the park. It requires enormous courage. This is because true open-mindedness compels us to force our head over the edge of the abyss and to embrace our insecurities about what it means to be a fallible creature vainly attempting to perceive an infinite reality using finite faculties. But it’s a double-edged sword.

The other side of the sword is enchantment and awe with the adventurous unknown and a deep pleasure in learning something new, whether or not it turns out to be “true.” We can always choose to be superior to circumstance by being ruthlessly circumspect through the use of probability. This way we’re never “caught” and we’re always “open” to new ideas.

Probability
Probability

Genuine open-mindedness is a state of constant enchantment. Enchantment develops when we are lost, re-found, and lost again in the continuing cycle of the human leitmotif. It is exactly this sense of inner-lost-and-found – this balance of self-exploration and self-negation – that keeps us adventurous, curious, and open to the many vicissitudes of life.

Indeed, it is this that has the potential to transform us into autodidacts of the first order, armed with open-mindedness, spiritual plasticity, and a hunger for the unknown. We allow ourselves to be the improbable being that is Human Being.

It’s when we cling to beliefs and clutch at certainty that we prevent ourselves from progressing forward with a healthy curiosity. Like Alan Watts said, “What one needs in this universe is not certainty but the courage and nerve of the gambler; not fixed conviction but adaptability; not firm ground whereupon to stand but skill in swimming.”

open-mind-cosmos
If allowed progressive transgression, this hunger for the unknown eventually actualizes itself into the concept of moral fallibilism. Where we are essentially “found” through the unfounded nature of reality, but where there is still understood to be an inherent order to things (though un-provable).

Ascending to a state of being found is the realization that all things are infinitely unfounded, and all the more joyous and enchanting because of that fact. But it’s when our curiosity has been squashed that aspects of our ego calcify and become rigid and extreme while other parts dissociate.

Tragically, fundamentalism becomes primary and curiosity secondary. When humans are convinced of their certainty and no longer question their worldview, the truth quest comes to an unfortunate end.

The adventure is over. Like Louis G. Herman wrote, “Every time we think we have certainty about life – whether that certainty comes from mathematics, logic, religion, politics or ideology – we have lost the primary experience. We have deformed our essential humanity and closed down the search. Disaster looms.”

“Doubt,” wrote Voltaire, “is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”

Seek not certainty, but absolute uncertainty. The meaning of life is about making life meaningful, not about getting lost in the meanings we bring to it. We just need to remain flexible and adaptable to change, because the highest probability of all is that things change. Knowledge should never be seen as a given, but as a gift; a gift gleaned not as a certainty but as a proper humility in the face of what we think we know.

Like the great Carl Sagan said, “Humans may crave absolute certainty; they may aspire to it; they may pretend, as partisans of certain religions do, to have attained it. But the history of science- by far the most successful claim to knowledge accessible to humans- teaches that the most we can hope for is successive improvement in our understanding, learning from our mistakes, an asymptotic approach to the universe, but with the proviso that absolute certainty will always elude us.”

Image Source:
Frank Zappa
Probability
Open-mindedness is the key

Harnessing David-like Courage in the Age of Goliath

0

“All men recognize the right to revolution; that is the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government when its tyranny or its inefficiency is great and unendurable.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

“We live in a plutocracy not a democracy, and the only true power is behind the curtain, not in front. The financial and business powers not only own and control this country they own and control the entire planet; and no, it’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s a value-system disorder.” ~ Peter Joseph.

Harnessing David-like courage is a revolutionary and evolutionary act of living during the Time of the Great Awakening. It’s the ardently gentle, satirically genuine, ruthlessly sensitive, rebelliously reverent evolution of the vigilant vigilante force of nature known as the Awakened Soul. And we cannot be stopped.

Turning the Tables
Turning the Tables

Like David Brooks wrote, “There is a big difference between mental force and mental character. Mental character is akin to moral character. It is forged by experience and effort, carved into the hinterland of the mind.”

We, the awakened and collective David, have both mental force and mental character, whereas Goliath only has mental force (mainly meaningless propaganda). We have been carved into the hinterland of our time. Our zeitgeist is our outspoken truth to any and all obsolete, unsustainable power structures. ~ Goliath beware!

david_vs_goliath
“It’s a sad and stupid thing to have to proclaim oneself a revolutionary just to be a decent man.” –David Harris

David was Gandhi against the overreach of the British government. David was MLK in the civil rights movement. David was Jesus facing down both the Jewish orthodoxy and the Roman Empire. David was Nietzsche in defiance against the oppressive overreach of Christianity.

David is us, you and me, in solidarity against plutocrats who are so entrenched in their plutocracy that they think it is okay and just to rape the environment and the poor while fattening their wallets because they “earned” it.

We are David trumping Goliath. We are the slingshot that has the potential to topple giants. No deceitful armor can defend against the naked honesty of our truth to power. Not even death can stop those of us who are truly free. We are the journey, not the destination.

In a world of discordant networks and unsustainable Megacorps, we will discover our authentic destiny in the in between, in the cultural “black holes,” where we are free to be the glue that binds platform to platform, structure to structure, creating a web of authentic disclosure for our brothers and sisters.

Like David Edwards wrote, “Compassion is the desire to remove the suffering of others, and love is the desire to reinforce and preserve their happiness.”

As David it is our duty to remove the suffering of others. And we do so by taking down Goliath.

Goliath is any outdated overreaching power structure that hinders healthy progression. Goliath is the fat-ass oracle who has failed. Goliath is the giant, tyrannical, vampire octopus of the Federal Reserve with its tentacles in everybody’s pie (see video below).

Goliath is the mega-corporation moonlighting as a person. Goliath is any unsustainable juggernaut that has grown too big for us to allow it to continue trampling over everything.

But, like Malcolm Gladwell wrote in David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, “Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.”

Let’s capitalize on their weakness by taking aim at that vulnerable spot between their armor. Not in a violent way. No, that just reduces us to their level of rape and appropriation. But in a nonviolent way that turns the tables on the power dynamic by revealing the ace was always up our sleeve to begin with, and by having mind control over Debo.

We don’t necessarily want Goliath defeated as much as we want to change his mind. Until we change the way our culture thinks about Goliath, there will always be new Goliaths taking the place of the old ones. The buck needs to stop, and it needs to stop here.

When an honest man realizes that he is mistaken, he will either cease being mistaken or cease being honest. Goliath is the person who ceases being honest. David is the person who ceases being mistaken. David is the man or woman who keeps Goliath in check, keeps him accountable.

David is the courageous one amidst the cowardice many. All it takes is just a few million David’s to rise up amongst the 7 billion cowards, and come together in solidarity, to tip the scales back in favor of a healthy, sustainable planet.

why-you-should-take-on-the-largest-giants-on-the-internet
Big Courage

“Much of what we consider valuable in our world arises out of one-sided conflicts” writes Malcom Gladwell. “Because the act of facing overwhelming odds, produces greatness and beauty.”

As it stands, nothing is more important than this. As it stands, nothing is more challenging, more dangerous, and more uncertain than this. Elegance under pressure can only be shown during risky action, the kind of action displayed by professional gamblers, poker players, and even dissidents in the streets stretching comfort zones that punch through plutocratic thresholds.

But like Michael Dirda wrote, “To live by the dice or accept death with confidence requires a consummate self-possession, which is the essence of character. No one becomes a hero staying at home, going to the office, or attending church.”

So caveat rex, King beware! Let this be a warning to the political donor class and the plutocratic conglomerate in session. We are no longer divided by your imaginary lines: democratic/republican, conservative/liberal, native/immigrant, black/white. We have had enough. We want accountability. We want transparency.

And we WILL be coming to get it. You should expect nothing less than a full-frontal reset. When exploitation of the masses and environmental rape are no longer fashionable, and the poor are eating the rich –Soylent-Green-style– because they have nothing else to eat, what will your plutocratic politics be worth then? *cue crickets* It doesn’t even matter if your appropriation of the world began with good intentions.

Like Malcom Gladwell wrote, “There comes a point where the best-intentioned application of power and authority begins to backfire.”

And it HAS backfired. But it’s not too late to change.

Like Nietzsche wrote, “The great epochs in our lives are at the points when we gain the courage to rebaptize our badness into the best in us.”

I dare you to have such courage.

David & Goliath
David trumping Goliath

Let this be a warning to the so-called “powers-that-be” that are unwilling to change. Your entrenched command structures don’t stand a chance against the flexible, horizontal democracy of the streets. Your parochial paradigms cannot withstand our updated primes.

Corporations moonlighting as people don’t stand a chance against real people highlighting the dysfunction of the system. Your arborescent mockups are useless against our rhizomatic models.

It’s just a matter of time. The slow, corporate, energy goliaths who have made their billions off the destruction of the planet can’t hold a candle to the fast, decolonizing, hungry Davids seeking to heal the planet.

The Gangrene of your Global Finance will not hold up against the natural cure that is the vitality of the Earth Tribe. The suits and ties of your pseudo-gods don’t stand a chance against the feathers and coup-sticks of our usurping eco warriors.

Your cult of “infinite” progress is about to slam head-first into the wall of finite resourcefulness.

We are here to tear open the horizon. We are here to sacrifice all sacred cows. We are here to knock them off their pedestals and feast on their dying corpses. We will ascend through expiation and holistic compassion. Goliath be damned!

Image Source:

David Harris quote
David trumping Goliath

Using Ancient Wisdom in Modern Times

4

“There was no need for a term like ‘magical thinking’ in the Golden Age of Man…there was only genuine everyday magic and mysticism. Children were not mocked or scolded in those days for singing to the rain or talking to the wind.” ~ Anthon St.Maarten

The world we live in is driven by corporate profits, money, over-development, greed which has reduced us to mere commodities, drifting us away from our roots, our ancient ones and beliefs. But what if I told you that ancient wisdom is the saving resort in these challenging times.

Even modern science doesn’t disagree with some of the ancient beliefs. In fact, inculcating some of the ancient psychological practices in your daily life can transform you into a healthier and happier being.

Let’s have a look at the 8 ancient wisdom in modern times that have been validated by science.

Love is All you Need

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ~ Lao Tzu

Love is the answer to all the problems of life. As the Beatles put it, “All you need is love.”  It harmonises the fluctuating nature of mind and keeps it positive. Researchers and Psychologists concluded that love is a powerful antidote to fight stress, conflict, dilemma and depression.

It keeps one’s mental, emotional and physical being in sync. It eliminates the negative emotions of the self that adversely affect immunity and cardiovascular functions.

ancient wisdom in modern times

Be Compassionate

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” ~ Dalai Lama

Compassion is an ability to acknowledge the emotional state of our fellow human beings. Several studies prove that people who practice compassion experience constant change in their brain and respond positively to stress.

They have a better immune system, reduced anxiety and a great overall sense of satisfaction and well-being. In Tibetan Buddhism, Metta Bhavana is a form of meditation to practice compassion, that boost one’s ability to empathize with others.

compassionate

Learning the art of Acceptance

“Of course there is no formula for success except, perhaps, an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.” ~ Arthur Rubinstein

Acceptance is an act of courage, it’s about embracing the present moment the way it is. Accepting things that cannot be changed helps in reducing suffering and letting go of mental clutter.

A study showed that accepting what cannot be changed is key to happiness and greater life satisfaction in old age after the loss of independence.

Community Belonging

“If you want to go fast…go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” ~ African Proverb

It is an emotionally overwhelming statement. Human mind is designed in a way that community acceptance plays an integral role in releasing happy hormones in the brain. Research has proved that community support helps one in boosting self-esteem.

Social relationships and a sense of belongingness increases one’s cultural proficiency and communication skills. It has a direct psychological impact where you are emotionally charged up to support and seek support.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation is the best medication. This ancient technique of reaching a higher level of consciousness affects our psychological well-being by reducing stress, depression, anxiety, blood pressure, addiction, boosts immune system and improves memory.

It can transform your brain, create new circuits or change the way neurons talk to each other.

Tai Chi Helps Prevent Many Age-related Health Problems

Tai Chi, the ancient Chinese mind-body practice, can help treat or prevent many age-related health problems. Also known as moving meditation, Tai Chi is considered to be safe for people of all ages as it does not put too much stress on the muscles and joints.

Studies have proved that it benefits people suffering from arthritis, low bone density and heart disease.

Acupuncture for Pain Relief

acupuncture-los-angeles-back-pain

Acupuncture, the 3000-year-old Chinese medicinal technique, is based on natural laws that govern the movement of vital life-force energy called “Chi” within our body.

The Chi energy flows through meridians (pathways) within the physical body coordinating the functions of mind, body and spirit.

The ancient technique of inserting hair thin needles at specific points along the channels of Chi energy, helps the body to restore balance and regain energy. It’s also an effective way to relieve migraines, arthritis and other chronic pains.

Honor yourself by helping others

“Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise.” ~ Walls of Shakespeare and Company Bookshop

helping-others-ws3

Plato looked at happiness in two different ways. In one form, one is incarcerated in fulfilling one’s selfish needs and motives that make them happy. This is hedonism leading to hedonist happiness, which is temporary in nature.

On the contrary, the happiness that one gets in helping others is known as eudaimonia happiness – Plato’s concept of happiness, a state of well-being and flourishing that results from living a life of moral virtue, wisdom, and self-discipline, not simply good fortune. 

Eudaimonia happiness leads to the production of enzymes in the body that fight viruses and other harmful elements. Multiple journals have been published describing the positive effects of altruism on one’s health.

Image Sources

Acceptance 

Reference

To belong is to matter: Sense of belonging enhances meaning in life.

The Science of Good Deeds

4 Hard Truths That Will Jolt You Awake

55

“The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” ~ Gloria Steinem

Are you tired of floating around in that pink goop of the Matrix? Are you ready to slough off the illusion like it was an old hat? Has the White Rabbit been too fast for you so far?

dishonesty_truth
Can you see the “Truth”?

If you are reading this article, you are here to wake up. Here are five ways to slow that white rabbit down so you can catch up.

1) Money is a hoax

“The Western worldview says, in essence, that technological progress is the highest value and that we were born to consume, to endlessly use and discard natural recourses, other species, gadgets, toys, and often, each other.

The most highly prized freedom is the right to shop. It’s a world of commodities, not entities, and economic expansion is the primary measure of progress.

Competition, taking, and hoarding are higher values than cooperation, sharing, and gifting. Profits are valued over people, money over meaning, entitlement over justice, “us” over “them.” This is the most dangerous addiction in the world, not only because of its impact on humanity but because it is rapidly undermining the natural systems that sustain the biosphere.” ~ Bill Plotkin

It is not the more evolved aspect of ourselves that tricks us into thinking that we need money to survive; it’s the less evolved aspect of ourselves that does the tricking. With our advanced technologies we imagine that we know the way the world works, when, for the most part, we have forgotten how everything is connected.

Until we can relearn “a language older than words,” and once again engage in a healthy dialogue with nature and the cosmos, we will continue to be tricked by the less evolved aspects of ourselves. The more awareness we bring to this extremely complicated cognitive dissonance, the more possible it will be to achieve an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable world.

As it stands, however, the Federal Reserve is a house of cards guarded by a red herring. Money is the opiate of the masses, and the masses are too busy spending it on worthless crap to get to know each other as healthy individuals, let alone as a healthy community. We have become Pavlov Dogs, and money is our dinner bell.

But money was never meant to be horded, or even amassed, it was meant to circulate as a way of uplifting the community. And yet here we are, hoarding and amassing, while our communities are in unhealthy disarray. It’s high time we abandoned the force-fed shibboleth that having more money makes us better people. It doesn’t. Being healthy, compassionate and moral is what makes us better people.

2) Debt is fiction

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” ~ John Adams

friedrich-nietzsche-quotesUnfortunately our nation has been enslaved by debt. Our current system is not an economic system at all, but an ecocidal system; an intrinsic obsolescence of conspicuous consumption. It’s a grave misfortune that efficiency, sustainability, and preservation are the enemies of our socioeconomic system. This has got to be the most bizarre delusion in the history of human thought, a retarded Ponzi scheme en masse.

But it’s difficult to get people to understand something when money, and especially debt, prevents them from understanding it. Instead of ownership, give us strategic access. Instead of equity, give us equality. Instead of one-track-minded profit, give us open-minded people.

Instead of unsustainable monetary-based economics, give us a sustainable resource-based economy, which is basically the scientific method applied to ecological and social concerns.

As tough as it is to hear, nature is a dictatorship. We can either listen to it and fall into harmony or deny it and suffer. Ask yourself this question by Fleet & Lasn: “When the economic system fails, will we know how to behave, how to act, how to appreciate, how to value, how to survive, how to be and how to love in a world that no longer defines relations by money?”

3) Media is manipulation

“Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.” ~ Noam Chomsky

Media has always been an effective method for manipulating people. We are social creatures who are also psychological creatures. This combination makes us unwittingly vulnerable to the power of suggestion. As it stands, media has been our Achilles Heel.

These days the “news” we receive from corporate media is more likely to be disinformation. Skepticism is a must when reading or viewing the information provided by these outlets.

TVlies
Defenestrate your TV set!

The key: Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. Analyze the Kool Aide before you swallow it. Even then, be prepared to vomit it back up at the first sign of deception. Remain circumspect and question all authority. They don’t have our best interest at heart. They only want our money, and to remain powerful.

Like Wendell Berry wrote in the Unsettling of America, “People whose governing habit is the relinquishment of power, competence, and responsibility, make excellent spenders. They are the ideal consumers. By inducing in them little panics of boredom, powerlessness, sexual failure, mortality, paranoia, they can be made to buy virtually anything that is “attractively packaged.””

We are slowly becoming more aware of corporate media lying to us. But they know we know they’re lying to us. And we know they know we know they’re lying to us. With enough inertia, this debacle of a process just continues until we are eventually lying to ourselves. And here we are.

Like the great Baruch Spinoza once surmised, “The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.” And here we are, unless we decide to wake up.

4) Government is a corporation

Here’s the thing: we do not live in a democracy, and we probably

For it is seeking you
For it is seeking you

never really have. A prestigious Princeton study recently concluded that we live in an oligarchy: rule by a few individuals. And these individuals just so happen to be plutocrats, making this particular flavor of oligarchy a plutocracy: rule by the rich.

The problem is that money itself has become an immoral agent within an otherwise amoral system that praises itself as moral.

Ask yourself: do you wish to live out harried lives of nine-to-five slavery, giving up your days to heartless corporations that don’t give a damn about anything except making money, or do you wish to live a happy life of loving compassion, doing what you enjoy, in spite of plutocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny?

The Occupy Movement succeeded in shifting the tenor and shape of debate in the world, but we must not rest on our laurels. Trickle-down economics DOES NOT WORK! Austerity economics DOES NOT WORK! Corporations are NOT people. Money does NOT equal speech. It’s a trap. If we don’t get big money out of politics then everything we want to do will be hopeless.

We need to be smarter with our mobilization tactics for the change and allocation of power within our society. So far the security and surveillance state has boxed us in, like the great MLK Jr. said, “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

Image Source:

Truth
Nietzsche
Defenestrate

6 Signs You May Be Wasting Your Life

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” ~ Jack London

Life can be tricky. There are traps galore, and most of them we are probably not even aware of. None of us seeks to waste our lives, it just seems to happen.

Stop Wasting Your Time III by GraySKale
Awareness is the key
, but it’s never so simple. Here are six signs that you may be wasting your life. If you find that a few of them apply to you, don’t fret. Have a sense of humor about it. Laugh at yourself. And then pull yourself out of the trap and jump-start your life. Sometimes you have to wreck your life in order to fix it.

1) You’re unhealthy: mind, body, and soul

“The most dangerous phrase in the language is, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’” ~ Grace Hopper

If you worry too much and you tend to dwell on the past and do a little too much of #2 in this article, you may be unhealthy in mind. If you never exercise and you are not eating healthy food and moderating unhealthy food, you may be unhealthy in body.

If you never practice mindfulness or meditation and you never embrace nature and solitude, you may be unhealthy in soul.

Nikola Tesla was correct when he said “Our entire biological system, the brain (the body, the soul), and the Earth itself, work on the same frequencies.”

It’s our responsibility to tune our biology and our consciousness to resonate with the fundamental harmonics of the universe. First and foremost: in order to have a solid foundation from which to live a meaningful life, get yourself healthy.

2)You are overly negative

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” ~ William James

Negative-Thinking
Be Positive

“Choose” is the keyword in the above quote by William James. This is a big one. Happiness is indeed a choice. If you’re overly negative, generally glass-is-half-empty, and complain too much, then you are choosing poorly.

Negative thoughts or emotions can trigger an endless cycle of negative thought patterns playing on loop in our brain throughout the day.

There’s a wealth of joy to be savored in this life.

Start savoring it. Begin now. With enough practice those negative thoughts will fade away, and even when things go horribly wrong you’ll appreciate how they can make you stronger, and therefore happier, in the long run.

This is so important to living a meaningful life. Like the water molecule experiments by Dr Masaru Emoto shows: positive thoughts lead to healthy molecules leads to a healthy body leads to a healthy mind leads to a healthy soul.

Think positive. Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst, and then make the best of it either way.

3) You don’t challenge yourself enough

“It is not the path which is the difficulty. It is the difficulty which is the path.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard

If you never leave your comfort zone, you never travel, and you always have a reason or excuse for not trying something new, then you may be wasting your life.

The universe is an amazing place. There is so much to learn, so much to experience. If you’ve closed yourself off to most of it, then your life will reflect that.

If you don’t read enough or you only read one book over and over again, swearing off all other forms of knowledge, then you are closed-off and you’re not challenging yourself enough. Get out there and embrace the world. Hug the hurricane.

Dance with the apocalypse. Stretch your comfort zone until your bursting with fear and trepidation, and then move back to your “safe place” and heal. Keep doing that over and over again, stretching more and more, and you will grow in ways that will stagger your soul and make your heart say “wow!”

4) You let others tell you how to live

Be your own boss, like a boss
Be your own boss, like a boss

“Angry people want you to see how powerful they are. Loving people want you to see how powerful you are.” ~ Chief Red Eagle

There’s nothing wrong with good advice. But remember: it’s up to you whether it is good advice or not. Nobody knows you like you do. Nobody else has your unique memories.

You are, or should be, the driving force in your life. If you are allowing somebody else to drive your life, then you may be wasting it. Question all authority, especially those telling you how to live. Question this article even.

Go out there and figure it out for yourself. And that’s the point, really, figuring it out for yourself. Take the “good” advice where you can get it, but be circumspect. You’re always your own boss, even when you’re giving your power over to others.

You can always take it back. It’s up to you. Even if you grew up in an unhealthy or damaging situation, “You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in.” ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky

5) You don’t feel worthy

“We become more worthy the more we bend our minds to the impersonal. We become better as we take in the universe, thinking more about the largeness that is and less about the smallness that is us.” ~ Rebecca Goldstein

dont-worry-when-you-are-not-recognized-but-strive-to-be-worthy-of-recognition-300109
Be worthy

Self-worth is both one of the easiest and one of the most difficult things we can choose to have. It usually takes courage, because it usually asks that we “act” worthy even before we “feel” worthy. If you find you’re feeling worthless often, then it’s time to act worthy.

Trick yourself into higher cosmic resonance. Jump-start your soul with an act of worth that will cause your comfort zone to quake like it was drawn over a fault line.

Similar to feeling negative (#2), acting worthy is a choice. If you practice acting worthy enough, then eventually you will feel worthy and won’t even have to act. Have fun with it. It’s like playing a game of reverse-psychology on yourself. Sometimes you have to fool the inner-fool that is telling you you’re unworthy by hoodwinking it into a trap of worthiness.

6) You spend too much time worried about money

“Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that is happiness.” ~ Bertrand Russell

Wasting Your Life
Heart is greater than money

If you think work is the only thing that matters or that the world owes you something, then you may be wasting your life by worrying too much about money.

Money is perhaps the biggest distraction to living a meaningful life that there is. This is mostly because of cultural conditioning and a system built upon fundamentally unsustainable principles.

Our culture breeds greediness at its core. Most of us are raised believing that the almighty buck will somehow save us, or that money is the key to happiness, or even that money will bring us love.

This is unfortunate, but it is our responsibility to see through the smoke and mirrors. In fact, money can only ever be a tool to leverage what’s good about life in the first place. Problems arise when we become a tool for making money, or when we hoard it immoderately.

Unfortunately our unsustainable system has inadvertently conditioned us into being tools that make money. But it’s time we reversed that conditioning. Use the tool. Don’t be a tool.

Image Source:

Be positive
Be worthy