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Tag: personal development

Deferring the Ideal Self

You cannot wait to start living your best, most inspired life. Waiting to start exercising or cleaning your house on a regular basis, flossing your teeth, pursuing that PhD, or setting aside a percentage of your income for something, invariably defers other things that you will not believe are related to — or connected to — both your ordinary and ambitious goals.

How you do anything is how you do everything. Take a look at your life and you’ll realize how true this statement is.

Face-Flattening Exercises

Like many lifelong-learners, I’ve suffered through periods of outright analysis paralysis. I’d study and absorb everything I could about what I was really excited to do (or be), what I wanted to do (or be), or what I was interested in maybe trying one day (to be)… It really never ends. And today, there’s an absolute glut of information and resources at our fingertips that can and will keep us floating around in existential limbo forever. Undoubtedly, I learned and personally grew the most by actually doing something. In hindsight, I should have resisted and complained less, and embraced the process.

On Building a Highway

There’s a psychological trick we may unintentionally disrupt the flow in our life with, only because, as per usual, we’re not even aware that we’re doing it. In fact, we employ a lot of paradoxical or conflicting programs all the time, so it’s no wonder that we often find ourselves flailing about or otherwise overwhelmed, confused, frustrated and stumped. This inevitably leads to a variation of the blame/shame game, and more often than not, it turns inward.

A History of Violence

Competitors. Enemies. It is curious, and telling, that we introduce these inherently violent thematic elements into virtually all areas of life — most notably, and most virulently within ourselves. Should we ever find ways to alleviate this persistent psychological, philosophical, or epistemological pressure, would we know what to do with ourselves, how to behave, how to function in society, or how to communicate?