Sometimes I forget it took years for Rome to become the prestigious empire it was. I’m sure we’ve all fallen victim to pessimism. Everyone’s lives are impacted differently. Whether through circumstantial struggles or external influences; the material on which thoughts are fed from one’s environment. The American culture has set the paradigm for society to write themselves off as failures when one reaches the closing chapters of their lives before fulfilling their goals.
We seem to only focus on one side of failure. The painful side. When I was driven by acts of pessimism I could only see half the picture because I had one eye open. I was dwelling on what could have been, what should have been. Failure is a primal effect welcoming correction. Some people are excited to fall. Others have such contra views against falling they would prefer to sit on the sidelines and read about others falling instead. Maybe the former is confident in their innate ability to extract information, while the latter hesitate in contemplation over not being conservative enough. These are only temporary limitations created arbitrarily from external forces. It takes one step of effort to discover your doubts.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life & you will call it fate” — Carl Jung.
If despair happens to be the card played in every scenario, enough time will elapse for those habits to form an ambience of control over you. Failing to use our brains for affairs such as expression of positive thought or critical thinking defaults consciousness back to its natural state. There’s no such thing as “dead matter”. Energy can not be destroyed, every atom is constantly in motion whether it be an imbalance of positive or negative ions. Without positive conscious exercise, natural law will flow the other way filling the subject with negative thoughts.
Flexibility, leaving your comfort zone, self-accountability are imperative foundational pillars for maximizing potential. Accepting reality as is, enduring your faults, and dealing with your setbacks are just as important as knowing when to move forward. An escalation of commitment is no different from chasing your own tail, and painful problems are only improvements advising your former self to capitalize on the opportunity. With the right community, and with good people around you, they can serve as agents of optimism who help cure the poisonous tree that has grown a foundation of its own.
Our perspective on reality is merely a cocoon working through time to mould us into who we’re meant to be. The majority struggle to accommodate emotions & instincts with their rationale. This hindrance initiates confusion among what we want to be true vs. reality; subconscious beating out higher-conscious. “The two you’s are constantly fighting for control over your ‘higher’ & ‘lower’ level of thinking” (Ray Dalio, 2017). Your lower level (subconscious) consciousness is fighting an endless battle to overpower your behaviour. A slight difference between the human brain & animal brain lies in the alteration of consciousness. Animals just do by nature, all reactionary. The human brain has a higher consciousness in the neocortex generating intellectual ways of thinking, without it we would not be much different from them.
Napolean Hill (Outwitting the Devil) refers to someone who allows themselves to be influenced and controlled by circumstances outside their control as a “drifter”. They prefer to have others think for them and submissively accept whatever life throws their way. The drifter’s time is predominately spent “doing” focusing only on their subconscious effort — going with the flow. Meanwhile, the non-drifter can think freely due to censorship of external factors to which hypnotic rhythm has no effect over them.
Drifter:
- spends all they earn & more (credit)
- victim in every scenario
- lack of enthusiasm & initiative
- no control over emotions
- opinions on everything but accurate knowledge of nothing
- will criticize others when they are doing well
Non-Drifter:
- sets goals; always working towards an objective
- will admit what they don’t know
- takes responsibility for actions
- gives before they get (offers a valuable service to all)
The drifter is the first to concede to the same natural law through which people can be hypnotized, — hypnotic rhythm. It’s a complicated law given the fact it’s naked to the human eye, and science can not measure its volume or physical properties. Think of it as belonging to the same family as the law of gravity. They move in tandem. A magnetic field is at work coinciding with nature to maintain an equilibrium over matter & energy, carried out through habit. In other word’s, it’s no different than trapped flies. In this case, “drifter’s”, racing against time to escape the permanence of the spider’s web. Those who are able to control their emotions and think freely use their minds to escape from the web well before hypnotic rhythm kicks in with instinctive habit.
Closed-Minded:
- Frustrated as to why they can’t get others to agree rather than curious as to why people think differently
- Normative statements: value judgements or opinionated thoughts; things that cannot be factually checked & based on personal values … you’ll often hear words like “what you should do”
- Interested in being right before learning
- Focuses on being understood before understanding to the point they will stop others from speaking
- Trouble holding two thoughts concurrently where they allow their own view to crowd out those of others
Open-Minded:
- More interested in listening than speaking
- Encourages others to voice opinions over theirs
- Intrigued on disagreement; not angry when someone disagrees
- Understands they could be wrong and its worth considering others views to limit possibilities of mistakes
- Knows when to make a statement & when to ask questions
- Can take in thoughts of others without losing the ability to think well
The free thinker understands the value of possibly not knowing the best possible path. How they deal with their ignorance and a state of “not knowing” is more important than whatever it is they do know. Great decisions are seldom made without first swimming in a pool of ignorance. Ego (“the blind spot”), or the defensive mechanism making it difficult for you to accept mistakes & weaknesses is just another form of tunnel vision clouding better judgement. “Ex. fear of not mattering; resides in the amygdala. These are areas in the brain not accessible to your conscious awareness. It’s not possible to understand what they want or how they control you (Napolean Hill, 2011)”. They oversimplify the matter, answer instinctively, crave praise & respond to criticism through acts of aggression.
Weaknesses don’t matter if you’re making plans to find solutions. Take a look over at nature from time to time to understand the laws of reality. Writing out a set list of principles can help simplify decision making for your future self. It comes down to a very black & white primitive law … a healthy + painful truth or an unhealthy + comfortable delusion.
I Want Freedom 