Our motivations are the lights that lead us to action. They draw us in and illuminate our way toward better or worse.  

Our greatest life motivation, whatever it may be, is our personal sun. It is light that drives us, sustaining the blessing or bane that grows in us. Our life purpose, our prime motivation inscribes our orbit.

If we cannot easily identify our prime motivation, then doing so is long overdue.

Even with worthy motivations to light our lives, it seems we too often find ourselves in darkness. We find our enlightened motivations dimmed by a fog of exhaustion or hidden by clouds of boredom. 

In these moments of clouded weakness, OTHER motivations grow brighter and hold our attention, usurping all else and causing growth toward lesser lights. The habits grown in these moments of darkness invite an internal war and our happiness is the first casualty.

All humans are conflicted. Some more often than others, some for longer than others, but the threat of clouded vision, darkened skies and conflicting motivations is a real and present danger for us all. 

This threat makes it all the more important for us to know our motivations and, most importantly, the environments in which they shine.  

We may not have the ability to remove our hardwired motivations by sheer willpower, but if we can identify our motivations (good and bad), then in moments of light we can choose a path that is free of future choices contrary to our better selves.

If we wish to no longer do “Action A”… then we must choose a path in which “Action A” is an inconvenient or impossible choice. 

This rule seems to assume we are free to choose. Are we?  Without an answer to this question our conversation short-circuits and we can go no further with confidence. We must pause and attempt to answer the question of free will.

This is not an easy question. We could approach the question from multiple angles, but the simplest approach is to define what it is we are questioning.

What does the “free” in free will mean?

Total freedom is defined as action or choice that is entirely free from outside control without any restraints. Such a concept is just that… a concept.  In the same way we might conceive of a flying horse with one horn and call this concept a “unicorn” we can also conceive of Total Freedom… but just because we can conceive of such a thing and talk about it does not mean this thing exists or has ever existed.  

Total Freedom, if it existed, would be the domain of a First Mover, a god, something outside of time and physicality because anything with a beginning in time is dependent on the conditions that brought it into being and thus is constrained in some way by those conditions and thus not TOTALLY free. 

To possess TOTAL free will would also seem to be beyond the reach of gods, for even they would not be free to do ANYTHING… at the very least they would not be free to choose to have never existed.

So unless we think we are gods, we can say with confidence that the “Free” in free will is not TOTAL Freedom.

Is this free a lesser freedom?

Is anything free at all if everything is limited by the laws of the universe? Are the laws themselves free?

1+1=2 is not a designed law nor is it free to be anything other than what it is… it is simply a brute fact.  

What we call “freedom” is a term of convenience. Choice is no more “free” than rolling dice is “gambling”. A human’s ability to perceive, measure, and calculate the physical forces acting upon a die is not sufficient or quick enough for us to calculate the die’s final score but our unknowing does not mean it is unknowable and our ignorance does not give birth to chance from nothing.

Every roll of the dice can be calculated precisely if the initial states and forces are known. For an intelligence equipped both with sufficient perception and the neural hardware required to make the calculations throwing dice is not a game of chance. Though we know that rolling dice is not truly a game of chance, it is effectively a game of chance to us.

We label our ignorance of the underlying causes and forces involved in the toss of dice as “gambling,” not because it is truly chance but because it is a convenient way to describe a process too complex for us to understand.

Knowing that dice is not technically a game of chance does not make the game less fun nor does it remove the requirement to roll the die in order to advance the game.

Knowing that the images on a movie screen are not real does not destroy the joy of watching a movie. And while the final frames of a movie were long ago developed and set… this reality does not mean the frames that come in the middle of the film are without purpose. Each frame in our film is as necessary as the first and last.

Knowing we are fated to die does not lessen the point of living or cheapen the value of life, rather it makes life all the more important and valuable.

Some part of ourselves may object that a world without free will somehow disempowers us but we cannot be disempowered of a power that was never ours to begin with. Free will had never been within our grasp. We are all fated, but having a fate does not mean our actions are unimportant or that we cannot take actions that will improve our lot in life.

We said that if we wish to no longer do “Action A”… then we must choose a path in which “Action A” is an inconvenient or impossible choice. 

We now see that the use of the term “choice” here is not meant to suggest Total Free Will but is a term of convenience used to describe our actions.  If we wish to avoid the consumption of large quantities of sugar then we shouldn’t set up house in a candy store. This advice may seem trivial and obvious but how many times have we not heeded our own good advice and instead put our faith in the lie of free will and pretended we would just choose differently next time?

If you no longer wish to roll sixes, quit playing with six-sided dice.

For much of our lives, the image we have in our minds of ourselves is somewhat timeless. Sure, we use phrases like “hour,” “year,” “decade,” “back then,” “when I was a kid,” and “when I grow up”… but these words and phrases are often just the machinery of language and when it comes our personal identity, time is seen as something we spend rather than something that is us.

This is how things remain for years… then strangely, one day it arrives, and things change, or more accurately, “change” becomes apparent.

In deep history, this moment may have rarely come to our ancestors, either because they did not live long enough to accumulate much time or because their world offered very little opportunities to view past images of themselves. For our ancestors, their images were only seen in-the-moment, a reflection from still water or some shiny object.

In our day, this moment comes plainly. If it has not happened for you it will. One day we observe our picture (just taken) and we see the fingerprints of time plainly upon us. If those fingerprints are not instantly clear they become so upon reference with a photo from years past. The hair grayed, the wrinkles set, the ears and nose ever growing… all of these fingerprints now evidence of a face that has met many sunrises.

This moment is a moment of reckoning. However, it need not be one of sadness or regret… after all, it is a moment many of those before us never had the opportunity to experience. It is a moment that evidences our good fortune in having come this far. It is a moment that should bring a new appreciation for each passing moment in the NOW.

For the NOW I am thankful. Thankful for every wrinkle and fingerprint Time has placed upon me, happy to remain a canvass upon which the hands of Time will create until my creation is finished and in that moment of completion my worth will be known, and then (as now) Me and that Moment will vanish in an instant into the making of this beautiful world, a world full of fingerprints.

We all wish for order in our life but our success in finding it can differ greatly.

To finding something we must first define it. For me, the definition of an orderly life has slowly evolved into a simple “maxim of order”.

For me, this maxim of organization did not come fully formed but matured over time and has come to be an essential rule applied to more areas of my life than I would have imagined. This maxim informs my every decision, it shapes my world, and protects me from myself and my potential excesses. This maxim of organization defines the canvas of my life, bringing order, clarity, and beauty. This certainly does NOT suggest I HAVE ARRIVED, or that I am always successful in following the maxim. I’m not. While I am far from perfect, I aspire to perfection and it is that aspiration and effort that furthers me down a path of progress day by day. At the very least, in a world of seeming disorder, it is heartening to know that my path forward can be well-lit by this simple maxim.

Now having run the risk of over-hyping this “life-changing maxim,” here it is…

“Set the SCENE“

Please don’t be disappointed. I will unpack it concisely and then leave you to the adventure of developing your maxim of order or adopting some form of this one.

If life is a stage then setting our scene is our first task.

You might have guessed that the word “Scene” is an acronym for a larger concept. It is no accident that this maxim employs the simple and concise form of an acronym in order to follow its own rule.

S.C.E.N.E. stands for keeping things Simple, Consolidated, and Elegant… No Exceptions.

Yes, it is simple. However, it has been surprisingly powerful and deep for me, applying both to the order of my physical world and my thoughts and communications.

Simple: The first question is straightforward. Is this the simplest approach to the problem? Is this the simplest solution? Can this be accomplished with less? What is the “carrying costs” of keeping what is being kept? Keeping things is not free. Keeping things ALWAYS has a storage cost and equally important, a clutter cost. Can the label I am about to use to identify this box, this column, this item, be said with a single word? Keep it simple. Discard the extra adjectives. Apply “Occam’s Razor” to all thought processes and keep communications clear and simple.

Consolidated: Keep all of the same in the same place. Collect, consolidate, and be consice. If we can’t fit all our clothes in one closet then maybe we have too many clothes. If we can’t fit all our tools in the space we have for tools, maybe we have too many tools. I don’t allow myself to have multiple places for the same thing or multiple versions of the same thing that don’t serve a convincing purpose. One place for household cleaning supplies… ONE PLACE, not spread around to multiple bathrooms. One type of clothes hanger, not every kind ever made… a mashup of whatever cheap hangers came with the clothes. ONE TYPE of high quality wood clothes hanger. One type of coffee mug. Rather than coffee mugs of various sizes, I have one type and color. Yes, they may not have as much personality as a “Best Dad” mug or a mug shaped like Snoopy but for the trouble, the sanity, and the organization I figure I can express my personality in better and more creative ways than a plethora of coffee mugs. This does mean I forego hand-me-downs and well-intentioned gifts and instead have to incur the costs of purchasing something quality and consistent myself. But the cost of having consolidated order is far less costly to my clarity of mind and environment than the carrying costs and cost of chaos that a myriad of random office gifts would have on my cupboard. Having everything of like kind in one place allows a quick assessment of whether I have enough of something or need restocking. Requiring everything of like kind to be located in one place forces me to weed out the unnecessary and keep only what is needed and the duplicative things in my life are quickly ejected out of necessity. When approaching questions of thought and speech, consolidating concepts and words keeps your communications concise and powerful.

Elegant: Is the organization elegant? Having order in life does not require the removal of life’s color and beauty. I would suggest that beauty is more easily seen and best displayed in an uncluttered world. The word “elegant” may not be common in our modern world but it fits beautifully within the spirit of this maxim of organization…

What is the magic of breaking free from past patterns? I think the most significant step, maybe the only step we are truly capable of taking, is to change the canvas upon which patterns can be drawn.

I find it doubtful that we are empowered with free will. The illusion of free will is too often thought to bring comfort, but in the end, like all lies, it poisons. It poisons and distracts. We can waste a lifetime trying to marshal our will power… something that is simply beyond the ability of our biology. Would it not be better to change what we can change, change our environment, and in doing so provide a new canvas upon which new patterns can be drawn?

And what better way to clear your canvas and paint anew than to banish dangerous passions. It is best said in a favorite Stoic Maxim that says…

“It is easier to banish dangerous passions than to rule them; it is easier not to admit them than to keep them in order once admitted; for when they have established themselves in possession of the mind they are more powerful than the lawful ruler, and will not permit themselves to be weakened or abridged.”

One might question what distinguishes a dangerous passion from a passion that is simply annoying? If the above maxim is true, even mildly annoying passions possess a kernel of power that once given entrance into our world can make themselves dangerous. Is it not better to eliminate the option of choosing such distractions altogether and seek a world filled with good choices?

So, let us start today with a clean canvas, free of counterproductive and dangerous options, doubting not what we know in the light of this moment, letting our brush draw its color from the best of us and paint our world anew.

A “Maxim” is a short, pithy statement expressing a general or self-evident truth, a fundamental principle or rule of conduct. Some refer to such sayings as an adage, proverb, precept, or simply a quote… but when I can use a word with a rare letter like “x,” in it, I’m using it.

In addition to a handsome spelling, “maxim” also has the added bonus of a Romanesque feel about it, and many of my favorite maxims do in fact come from the ancient Greek and Roman Stoic philosophers.

So Maxim it is for me.

So here you have it. Live well and if you have suggested additions please share.

Action	Life is the lens you choose.
Action	Your focus is best set on “Doing.”
Action	Action is the duty and proof of living.
Action	Actions express priorities.
Action	Accept the world as it is, or accept the responsibility to change it.
Action	Dare to dream, pursue with passion, love always.
Action	Do today what others won’t, so you can do tomorrow what others can’t.
Action	Dreams are for sleeping. Wake up and do.
Action	Avoid the temptation of wild speculation. Never of worry over things outside your control. Actionable data should determine your level of granularity and focus.
Action	Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Action	The power to do is in the doing
Action	Paralysis of analysis is real, ignorance kills, and enlightened action is the surest path forward.
Adversity	Take the good with the bad and laugh at the rest.
Adversity	The obstacle is the way.
Altruism	You must live for your neighbor, if you would live for yourself.
Altruism	Being selfless and wisely selfish amount to the same thing.
Altruism	Never serve fish when you can provide a pole.
Anger	Carryon with love, hate is too heavy a burden to bear.
Anger	It is far better to heal an injury than to avenge it.
Anger	The consequences of anger and grief are often far greater than the circumstances that aroused them
Anger	Anger is a short madness… devoid of self control, heedless of decorum, forgetful of kinship, deaf to reason, excited by trifling causes, and like a falling rock it breaks itself to pieces upon the very thing it crushes.
Anger	A step made in anger, is to step off a precipice into a powerless fall to destruction.
Anger	The greatest remedy for anger is to delay your passion, not in order to pardon the offense, but to form a right judgment about it.
Anger	Anger is arrogant if successful and frantic in failure. Even when Anger is defeated it does not grow weary.
Bias	Separate ideas from identity.
Chance	There is no such thing as “chance,” only details beyond our ability to process.
Change	People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, usually do.
Change	Change is the surest sign you are living.
Change	No man steps in the same river twice, for the river has changed, as has the man.
Change	Changing your environment is the surest way to change yourself.
Communication	If you continually talk to yourself you will never have the space to listen to anyone else
Communication	Silence is often the best answer.
Communication	Never miss a chance to shut up.
Conformity	Many take no heed of whether the road they travel upon be good or bad in itself, but value it only by the number of footprints upon it.
Death	Nature decieves no one. All things come to pass.
Death	If anyone pities the dead, he ought also to pity those never conceived.
Death	Life is short. Of what importance, then, can it be to lengthen that which, however much you add to it, will never be much more than nothing?
Death	Reckon your age not in years but in virtues.
Death	There is no reason to hasten to the burial-place of one you love. What lies there is but the worst part of them and that which gave them the most trouble.
Death	Disease and Death are most deadly for those who dwell on them.
Death	Living is wasted on the dying.
Death	The longest and the shortest life amounts to the same, for the present moment lasts the same for all and NOW is all anyone can possess.
Death	Why should death grieve us? Is it that a loved one has died, or that they did not live long? If we greive because a loved one has died, then we ought always to have grieved, for we always knew this is the fate of the living. If we greive because they did not live as long we presume to know the future and that it would have been to their advantage to live longer.
Decision	Don’t doubt in the dark what you know in the light.
Discernment	Never being satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole or agreeing too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something.
Effort	Half measures are for the half hearted and the want-to-be’s but won’t.
Effort	An extraordinary life is not lived ordinarily.
Effort	Live life easy, do it the hard way.
Exceptions	The exceptional live without exception.
Exceptions	Exceptions are evil.
Excuses	Excuses only sound good to the guilty.
Excuses	He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
Excuses	Never make excuses. Your friends don’t need them and your foes won’t accept them.
Excuses	It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
Excuses	You may fail many times but you are never a failure until you blame someone or something else.
Failure	You may try and fail, but never fail to try.
Failure	Own your failures before they own you.
Fiances	Waiting is Wisdom.
Finances	Fiduciary Frequency brings Freedom.
Flattery	Flattery from others ensnares, self-flattery destroys.
Freedom	If you set a high value on liberty, you must put a small value on everything else.
Friends	A friend of sour disposition who meets every incident with a groan will steal your peace and spoil your mind.
Friends	You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
Friends	Tell me with whom you consort and I will tell you who you are.
Habits	If you no longer wish to roll sixes, quit playing with six sided dice.
Habits	Bend the spoon beyond the point you wish it to remain.
Habits	Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.
Habits	If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Habits	A dog allowed to chase cars will chase cars.
Habits	Rivers are easiest to cross at their source.
Habits	You are what you repeatedly do.
Habits	You do not choose your future, your habits will.
Habits	How you do anything is how you do everything.
Habits	Don’t have tea with grizzlies
Habits	The patterns in our lives reveal us. Our habits measure us.
Habits	Our worst vice is that we change our vices and in doing so, we continually change the face of a well-recognizes evil.
Habits	It is easier to banish dangerous passions than to rule them; it is easier not to admit them than to keep them in order once admitted; for when they have established themselves in possession of the mind they are more powerful than the lawful ruler, and will not permit themselves to be weakened or abridged.
Happiness	Happiness is not found in owning the best of something but in making the best of everything.
Hope	Hope is not a strategy.
Hypocrisy	Failure to carry into effect what one teaches is the failure of the person not the teaching.
Introspection	The unexamined life is not worth living
Introspection	Many men fish their entire lives never realizing it is not the fish they seek.
Introspection	Know thy self.
Introspection	ANTS – Automatic Negative Thoughts… be careful of your self talk, you are listening.
Introspection	To speak a thought is to give it strength, to make it more real even if it has never been true. Be careful what thoughts you give breath to, they will become your truth, they will become you.
Introspection	Put each day up for review, considering what you did best and worst. The future descends from our past.
Introspection	If you wish for a great empire, rule yourself.
Introspection	People are made of stories.
Knowledge	Truth lies open for all; it has not yet been monopolized.
Knowledge	A quick answer is often quick to disappoint.
Knowledge	One need not be right in all things to be right in some.
Knowledge	Better to know how to think than what to think.
Knowledge	The only opinions that matter are those formed in fact.
Knowledge	Confusing what you wish to be true with what is actually true invites insanity.
Knowledge	The greatest evil is the lies we tell ourselves.
Knowledge	It is impossible for a person to learn what he thinks he already knows.
Knowledge	Those who are prone to receive bare theories without careful investigation are often prone to spew those theories to others. Digest your theories first and you won’t be so prone to throw them up. After having digested theories properly you can better show the changes wrought by your reasoned choices.
Knowledge	Never let your schooling get in the way of your education.
Mindfulness	Mindfulness is the ability to be vividly aware of whatever is appearing in one’s mind or body without grasping for the pleasant or recoiling from the repulsive.
Negativity	A “seeksorrow” will contrive vexation above all else.
Opinion	Having an opinion is not an accomplishment, having a well research position is.
Organization	Disorder invites disorder.
Organization	Scarcity is the mother of invention and the father of discipline.
Organization	A place for everything and everything in its place
Perseverance	Whatever strikes against that which is firm and unconquerable injures itself with its own violence.
Perseverance	Rome was not built in a day.
Perspective	Generalizing from the particular is particuliarly dangerous.
Perspective	It isn’t events that disturb people, but their judgments of them.
Perspective	To observe is to collect data. To perceive is to tell a story. Know the difference and their time and place.
Perspective	Too often we see the world not as it is but as we are.
Perspective	You can only choose from what you can see.
Perspective	Your first impression should act as an advisor not a dictator.
Perspective	A “gut feeling” should tell you something about what you ate, not what you think.
Perspective	If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are probably right.
Perspective	Nothing is more responsible for the Good Old Days, than a bad memory.
Pleasures	Endless pleasure becomes its own form of punishment.
Pleasures	The more pleasures you capture the more masters you must serve.
Politics	My Conservatives friends call me Liberal. My Liberals friends call me Conservative. I simply try to call it as best I can as a Free Thinker, with no thought of wearing a team jersey or participating in any pep rallies.
Pride	Free yourself from the tyranny of granduer
Pride	Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity.
Pride	Pride is the burden of the foolish.
Procrastination	Do not let Perfect be the enemy of Good or Good the enemy of Great.
Procrastination	It is foolish to spend a whole life making ready to live.
Procrastination	If you are waiting for the perfect time to start, you will wait forever.
Procrastination	Do not let the Possible destroy the Now.
Procrastination	Don’t confuse asking questions with doing the work.
Procrastination	To succeed at anything, you must start.
Purpose	To exist is common, to live is rare.
Purpose	Arriving at a destination on the floor is no more the point of dancing than getting to the end of a song is the point of music… and so it is with our life.
Purpose	Live well, you will only do it once.
Purpose	Life isn’t a game ot be won, it is a song to be sang.
Reason	Do not bind yourself too tighlty to any one school of thought, rather strive to be a university of reason.
Reason	Reason is the greatest good, Reciprocity the rule.
Regret	You may embrace your future or you may embrace your past, but do not be fooled that you can do both.
Regret	When you are constantly looking back you can’t be looking forward.
Regret	No amount of regret can change the past, and no amount of worry can change the future.
Regret	Don’t give your past the present to define your future.
Regret	Do the stars care?
Regret	I would rather live now than die forever.
Relationship	If you would be loved, love.
Relationship	A selfless act is not a “selfnone” act, our actions are never free of self, only less motivated by it.
Relationship	The easiest way to eat crow is while it’s still warm.
Relationship	T.E.A.M. – Together Everyone Achieves More
Relationship	Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
Religion	Most people’s religious beliefs are received, not researched, defended passionately, yet lived passively.
Religion	It is better to have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.
Religion	Beware of those who commend you for seeking god, they may be the same ones that condemn you upon your conclusions.
Religion	Personification places intention and purpose where it never existed.
Reputation	Be your own spectator; seek your own applause.
Reputation	You probably wouldn’t worry about what people thought of you if you knew how seldom they do it.
Speech	If you can be self critical of only one thing, be critical of your speech. More than your appearance, and sadly often more than your actions, your choice of words either advertise a bright and thoughtful intellect or a mind prone to the laziness and the vulgarity of common speech.  Your grammar, word choice, and content is no small thing.  What and how you communicate will tell the world more about you than anything else you do.
Suffering	Suffering is just as great as we consider it to be.
Time	Today, is the first day of the rest of your life.
Time	Your eternity is now.
Time	A short life is more often made than received.
Time	Too often we allow demands to be placed on our time with very little thought of the cost, we spend time cheaply as though it has little value.
Time	What you ought to conserve most carefully is that which may run short without warning.
Time	The most joyous moment can be destroyed by the pointeless questions of… “How long will this last?”
Time	Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. Unwrap your present fully.
TIme	There are only two days in a year when nothing can be done… yesterday and tomorrow.
Time	If you can’t play their game, then don’t.
Vices	Failed men obey their lusts as slaves obey their masters.
Vices	Be careful the things you cling to… their grip may grow stronger than yours.
Vices	People often become more attached to their burdens than the burdens are to them.
Virtue	Virtue is that which is in accordance with Nature.
Virtue	Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.
Virtue	Always be kind.
Virtue	Of all the things that are, some are good, others bad, and yet others indifferent. The good are virtues and all that share in them; the bad are the vices and all that indulge them; the indifferent lie in between virtue and vice and include wealth, health, life, death, pleasure, and pain.
Wealth	Less is more
Wealth	The Carrying Cost often outweighs the price tag.
Wealth	To take pleasure in thrift is to guarantee pleasure no matter your degree of wealth.
Wealth	Do not let success be a jail of your own making.
Wealth	Too often we buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.
Wealth	The poor man is not he who has too little, but he who craves more.
Wealth	Nothin is worth possessing if you have no one to share it with.
Wealth	The definition of of financial wealth is keeping more than you spend.
Wealth	Understand ENOUGH. If you do not define “ENOUGH” then you will be cursed to chase “MORE” your entire life.
Wealth	Inflating your lifestyle will deflate your sails.
Wealth	If you do not own where you live, it will own you.
Wealth	There are two ways to become wealthy. One is to make more money, the other is to want less.
Wealth	Riches work for the wise but enslave the fool.
Wealth	The greatest danger of possessions is the pursuit of them.
Worry	Give it your best go, then let go.
Worry	Two elements must be rooted out once for all… the fear of future suffering, and the remembrance of past suffering. The latter no longer concerns me and the former does not concerns me yet.
Worry	The malignant growth of thought over that which you can not control, is a cancer of the mind.  This is the reality.  Being real is understanding what you REALLY can and REALLY can not change
Worry	Fear is a poor chisel with which to carve tomorrow
Worry	Worrying is carrying two days worth of troubles at the same time. Today’s and Tomorrow’s.
Worry	Worry too often gives a small thing a big shadow.
Worry	Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere
Worry	If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.
Worry	A worrier will have a life full of trouble, most of which will never happen.
Worry	If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you will die often.
Worry	Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.
Worry	Incessant worry about the worst case will in any case guarantee a life haunted by the future.
Wunderlust	Living well can be done anywhere.
Wunderlust	Wherever you go, there you are.

We find ourselves both “pilot” and “passenger” in an ancient animal we have come to identify as “ourselves.”  An animal evolved from the unknowing into a thing of knowing.  

An animal controlled through unconscious mechanisms beyond our understanding and yet also seemingly controlled by conscious thought.  

Whether we are greater part “pilot” or greater part “passenger” is of small consequence, because in the end we are wholly determined by our environment.  

The “environment,” in this sense, meaning the world we find ourselves in physically and socially.

If we remain in an environment full of the vices we wish to rid ourselves of then we risk defeat before beginning.

In spite of the popularity of the phrase, no one has ever pulled themselves up by their own “boot straps.” It is a physically impossible idea and was originally used as a way of expressing an absurd idea, like being able to pull yourself out a swamp by pulling on your own hair. Nonetheless, the idea of being completely self-reliant and being able to force change by the sheer strength of ones willpower is an alluring, if absurd idea. Rather than settling for a doomed approach simply because it sounds alluring and impowering, I would suggest our efforts are best invested in a tried and true startegy.

If we have any ability to effect change, it will be at the root of our reality that we will find our greatest leverage. Our greatest hope for lasting change is in changing our environment.

If we ignore our environment, we ignore the elephant in the room.  Attempting to change the nature of ourselves by sheer willpower is like attempting to change a “tree” by plucking at its fruits and flowers. Any change effected in this way is often merely cosmetic and fleeting.

Superficial pruning is lost in the next season and even significant pruning is grown over in time.

Lasting change is best made by changing one’s environment.

Maybe that means surrounding yourself with an environment that is NOT FULL of the vices you are trying to rid yourself of. Only you know what those vices are… list them in your mind now and consider how you might eliminate them from your environment. If the vice you want to rid yourself of is non-existent in your new environement then you need not worry about whether you are the pilot responsible for navigating around the vice or the passenger along for the ride.

Maybe having surrounded yourself with a more “vice-free” environement you won’t even need the boots (or the false security of “willpower). If your environment is free of the “trash and rubbish” you are trying to free yourself from then maybe you can run barefoot without concern and embrace your journey as both pilot and passenger in this wonderful animal that is you.

If someone told you they could grant you instant wealth would you be interested?

Someone can.

That someone stared back at you in the mirror this morning.

There are two ways to become wealthy.

One way is to make more money, the other is to want less.

It is up to you… you can decide to be wealthy right this instant… just decide to want less.

You might suggest that “The heart wants what the heart wants” and that it is not within our control to want something other. Whether that is true or not, I would suggest that the more important point is “You can not want what you do not know.” Bare with me, and I’ll try to show the relevance.

Consider for just a moment that there may be things you would want more than anything else if only you knew about them. Could it be that with deeper contemplation you might discover something you did not initially know, and once this thing is known you come to realize your previous “wants” fade from your desires?

I would suggest this new thing, this new piece of information might be the knowledge of the true “Carrying Costs” of your “want.”

In the financial world, the term “Carrying Costs” refers to the costs of holding inventory and includes maintenance, specifically in regard to perishable items, storage costs, or other ancillary costs incurred as a result of owning or holding something.

Let’s take a silly example… Getting a pony sounds wonderful at first, but with a little thought you quickly realizes you don’t just need the money for the purchase of the pony, you also need money to buy and maintain a barn, pay for a veterinarian, pay to have shoes put on the pony, buy food, and invest your time grooming and training the pony. Once you think through the “Carrying Costs” of owning a pony you may find this thing you thought you wanted starts to fade from your desires.

If you are lucky enough to want something with very low Carrying Costs you should still appreciate that even then, you will still be faced with the Carrying Costs of fear.

Once you have this thing you have desired, you then run the risk of becoming obsessed or worried that you will lose it or damage it. Now instead of fully enjoying what you thought you wanted, your joy and peace of mind is stolen by worry of losing it, and your time (and other non-renewable resources) begins to be consumed trying to create a circumstance where you are guaranteed to have this prized possession forever.

Considering the true and FULL Carrying Costs of what we think we want is rarely done. If we considered such realities we might want far fewer things than we currently do.

It might also be argued that “wanting” is a good thing… that “wanting” motivates people to greatness. Fair enough, but in fairness no one is suggesting the path forward is a lobotomy or giving away all you own and eating grass on a small mountain somewhere. The suggestion is simply that we be more thoughtful about what it is we really, truly want. Be more thoughtful about the full carrying costs of what we allow ourselves to acquire.

Fancy things and expensive vacations are wonderful but such things might best be left as “happy ancillaries” to our real WANTS, rather than ends unto themselves. If these “things” come to us great, if they leave us great, if they never arrive great.

The point is NOT to be without things. The suggestion is NOT to be mindless and wantless.

The suggestion is rather to become more mind-FULL and Want LESS.

Could it be that I have missed one of life’s main goals?

Based on casual observation, I am beginning to suspect that one of the ultimate goals of this life or maybe even a secret reward has been promised to any among us who can imagine and proclaim the worst possible outcome of events. Why else would so many choose to take the darker side of “what will happen” so regularly? I can only assume that they must be strategically choosing the negative position in order to play the odds, ensuring that one of these days they will be right, the worst will happen, and they will win some secret jackpot and be praised as “omniscient pessimists” by the rest of humanity.

Why else would thinking people intentionally choose a negative default perspective unless they expected some reward for their troubles?

I suppose there is a certain perverse euphoria in proclaiming “I told you so” but it is hard to imagine that this fleeting moment of gloating is worth a lifetime of negativity or the countless times they are wrong.

Often the excuse for taking the negative is basically… “Look, I’m just being real here.”

Owning reality and not living in some fantasy world is certainly a virtue but how “Real” is taking the negative all the time? Consider how often a negative prediction is wrong! Yes, bad things happen but so do good things and that doesn’t even consider the third outcome… indifferent results, neither good or bad. If each category of results had an equal chance of happening (and they do) then the category of “Bad” results would have only a one in three chance of happening, and yet many seem to pretend it is a foregone conclusion, and then take some unknown pleasure in proclaiming their omniscient negativity to anyone who will listen… “I can tell you right now how it is all going to turn out.”

Some pessimists might concede that they are often wrong but will argue that there is a certain catharsis in having the negative approach, that expecting the worst case scenario somehow purges or blunts the negative emotions that accompany the worst outcomes and makes them happier when things turn out better than they expected. This may be the best argument one could make for a negative view but I still find it weak. I would agree that it is important to consider and accept both the best and worst case scenarios, but would it not be better to simply accept the reality that either is possible and then proceed without committing your opinion to an outcome you do not REALLY know will happen and most likely do not control.

Catharsis is he process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. Don’t repress them, accept them. Accepting both the good and bad offers catharsis, without the messy drama of committing yourself to an outcome that may not happen. If it is pleasant surprise you are after than expect nothing, good or bad, and then you will be surprised by whatever happens.

How many mental cycles, hours, days, and weeks of the pessimist’s life is lost to worry, ill will, and negativity… and for what?

If the odds are not in the pessimists dark favor, if catharsis and surprise can be found in simply accepting both good bad potential outcomes, then it must be that the pessimist does indeed choose negativity out of their desire to stand victorious above a swamp of negativity and proudly proclaim they “told you so”. How sweet and fulfilling this hollow, self interested victory must be if it is to fill the hole created by countless other failed predictions of pending doom and the joy of living lost in the process.

I choose to assume neither the best or worst but rather wait and accept what ACTUALLY happens. I find it most prudent to consider the possibility of both good, bad, and indifferent outcomes and to further appreciate the fact that my perspective about the outcome will be more important to me than the event itself.

On the balance, the pessimist has no reward, but must be content with the fleeting thrill they feel when the worst that could happen, does, and proves their pessimism correct every now and then. A fleeting reward at the cost of all else is no reward at all.