The False Allure Of Financial Goals
Every day I work hard. I give my time, and more importantly, my emotional energy, to accomplishing things that will increase my security in life. I keep a belief in the back of my mind that if I can just get to a certain level of financial comfort, things will be okay and I can focus on everything I always wanted for myself – family, community, contemplation of life, and the latent creative quests that dwell inside of me. I even want to spend a week just reading comics, playing Nintendo, drinking Capri Sun, and eating peanut butter and jelly, like I did when I was a kid. These are the things that I believe will make me feel content.
Continue reading "The False Allure Of Financial Goals" ›What If We Had More Senses?
We all navigate our lives with our senses, stopping only rarely to appreciate how unique and interesting each one is. What is smell, after all? The ability to detect tiny particles that float out from matter and experience them in various chemical categories, such as sweet, fruity, and bitter? And touch? The ability to register the microscopic contours of matter and interpret them as a neurological feeling? When we break down what our senses really are, it becomes possible to invent new ones – an exercise that, if nothing else, introduces our imaginations to new possibilities. Here are three senses I’ve invented:
Continue reading "What If We Had More Senses?" ›What Is The Meaning Of Life?
I’ve pondered the grandest of all philosophical questions - the meaning of life - since at least my early teenage years. I’ve also asked a lot of people their opinion on the subject. The most common answers I get are:
Continue reading "What Is The Meaning Of Life?" ›Does Fate Exist?
Fate is a concept we all formed a definite opinion on at a young age. Nowadays, we rarely give its existence real consideration, instead using it as a quick explanation for situations we can’t understand, stating “That’s the way it was meant to be.” But is fate real?
Continue reading "Does Fate Exist?" ›Individuality and Love
Sometimes it strikes me how many lives exist apart from my own. Countless minds produce countless thoughts which never touch my consciousness or make any impact at all on my existence. I wonder how it can be possible for my inner world to be so familiar to me but non-existent to everyone else. Occasionally when I am in a room and somebody leaves, I try to take on their perspective, mentally following them outside and leaving myself behind. I picture that I am privy to their state of mind, with all of its uniquenesses and peculiarities. Although it is rare for me to feel truly immersed in another mentality, there have been instants when it seems to occur, giving me hope that our psyches are not as solitary as they seem.
Continue reading "Individuality and Love" ›The Place At The End Of The Earth
One night as I was lying in bed, I saw the place at the end of the earth. It was a hill, blanketed in virgin snow, at twilight. At the edge of my vision, the branches of a pine tree hung calmly, lending their aroma to the cool, comfortable air. On top of the hill was a log cabin with a chimney from which wisps of smoke drifted out into the purple-grey sky.
Continue reading "The Place At The End Of The Earth" ›Connecting With Your Fantasy World
In a society where the vast majority of people act adultlike, it helps to have a fantasy world - a place that nobody can ever see or influence no matter what is happening in your physical environment. Keeping such a place inside you, hidden away from everything else, can greatly counterbalance all the external events that are out of your control. However, even those who regularly use their imaginations to escape often do so in a passive way, minimizing the benefit of their mental hideaway.
Continue reading "Connecting With Your Fantasy World" ›Using Time To Our Advantage
Time is one of the largest ideas we never truly understand. It is a concept of the same magnitude as space and energy, but unlike them, it cannot be physically witnessed; time is simply something we believe in.
Continue reading "Using Time To Our Advantage" ›Defining What Is Right
All of us are under some pressure to do what is right, whether from ourselves, our family, or society. We do our best to stick to the right side of things because we feel immoral doing otherwise. Yet most of the time, we accept this ambiguous word – “right” – simply because we haven’t really thought about it. There will never be a shortage of people to opine on what the right behavior is, and yet very rarely do people admit to the subjectiveness of their beliefs. For many, it only becomes clear that there is no correct point of view when two people they respect have completely opposite opinions. Even then, one will usually relieve oneself of the discord of not knowing who to believe by taking a side. All the while, it should be clear that neither side is right: each person is merely stating his own opinion, and the only way to figure out what is right is to ask yourself.
Continue reading "Defining What Is Right" ›Invisibility
It is a small fantasy of mine to become invisible. My desire to be unnoticed usually presents itself when the pressures of life bear down on me so much that I instinctually retreat into my subconscious. When I feel the need to withdraw from reality, some aspect of the environment I am in becomes my secret hideaway. If I am in the bathroom washing up, it is down in the shadows between the bottles of moisturizer, shaving cream, and hair gel. If I am in the park, it is the recess between the roots of a large tree. It is usually a place that is small, dark, and cozy. There, I wish I were lying safe, where no one could find me.
Continue reading "Invisibility" ›Blocking Out The World
The world is filled with things we cannot control. We put ourselves out there, aware of the risk that bad things might happen, just to give ourselves the opportunity for good things to happen. We hope for the best and try to avoid the undesirable vagaries of nature. But when we depend on people, careers, or events in our lives, we are opening ourselves to possibilities we cannot foresee.
Continue reading "Blocking Out The World" ›The Paradox Of Writing
I write for you. With every sentence I type, I pass my words through a filter of how I think you’ll react. If your opinion didn’t matter, I wouldn’t be distributing my writing; I would keep to journals, in which I could scribble and dabble and review every few years to see how my identity had evolved. Or, I wouldn’t write at all. Yet there is an excitement which I believe all writers feel in the prospect of creating something that translates an emotion so well that it can reach the quick of another person.
Continue reading "The Paradox Of Writing" ›Narcissism And Peter Pan Syndrome
A classic characteristic of Peter Pan Syndrome is narcissism. The truth about Peter Pans is that they are self-absorbed, but not in the negative, uncaring way that narcissism connotes. They simply feel a dreamy, imaginative comfort inside of their own minds – an attraction to introspection that is positive and well-meaning.
Continue reading "Narcissism And Peter Pan Syndrome" ›Living Life Consciously
Forty years from now, you will nostalgize about today. You will think back to the present moment, recalling how youth was full of choices and hopefulness. You will marvel at how blissfully uninformed you were about what the future held in store for you. The life you live right now will be a distant, golden memory.
Continue reading "Living Life Consciously" ›The Problem With Having Too Many Responsibilities
Adults’ lives seem to go by very quickly because of all the chores that distract them from their inner life. Adults pay taxes, apply for mortgages, climb corporate ladders, and attend superficial social functions. Their lives are structured, so much so that even their vacations follow a schedule. And yet, even though taking on responsibilities appears undesirable, adults become dependent on them. How many working mothers, for instance, embody the cliché of the harried modern parent, simultaneously preparing breakfast for their kids, scheduling a doctor’s appointment, and checking their makeup in the mirror before leaving for work? Even if they were to rid themselves of all their responsibilities for a day, they would still be unable to relax because of their need to be “busy.”
Continue reading "The Problem With Having Too Many Responsibilities" ›The Ability To Concentrate
Expressing oneself intelligently requires the synergy of many forces. One must harness one’s mental energy into an idea; compare and combine that idea with other available ideas; translate the results into an intelligible form of communication; and express that communication. Most people are able to do all these steps fairly well individually. The problem is holding each step together in one’s mind long enough to use it in the next step and come to a coherent end-product. In other words, it is not brainpower that is lacking; it is the ability to concentrate.
Continue reading "The Ability To Concentrate" ›Peter Pan Syndromers As Overachievers
Peter Pan Syndromers are usually painted as grown-ups who cling to their childhood due to a fear of adult responsibility. But emotionally stunted underachievers make up only a small percentage of the Peter Pan population. Dan Kiley, author of the Peter Pan Syndrome concept, never accounted for Peter Pan overachievers: eternal children whose competitive instincts compel them to achieve high standing in the very society that they secretly shun. These people learn how to game the adult world by conforming to its conventions, all the while secretly plotting to escape as soon as they have attained the resources to do so.
Continue reading "Peter Pan Syndromers As Overachievers" ›The Wonder Of Crushes
Having a crush is one of our original human impulses - it is the feeling of seeing in another person characteristics that compliment your being so well that you feel impelled to join their life with yours. It is a strong, passionate longing for a partnership with a person that has something you don’t have and could never possess. It is a magnetic desire for an image of beauty fetched from youth. It is a flood of emotion so mentally overwhelming that it affects your physical being.
Continue reading "The Wonder Of Crushes" ›Does True Love Really Exist?
The question of whether true love really exists cannot be answered without first clarifying what true love really is. However, the concept of “true love” has already absorbed so many qualities from literature, television, and magazines that it can no longer be approached with any objectivity. Trying to consider true love freshly at this point would be like trying to taste a wine while you are eating a hot dog.
Continue reading "Does True Love Really Exist?" ›Living In Your Own World
Understanding how to live in your own world is essential, or else you may find yourself living in someone else’s.
Continue reading "Living In Your Own World" ›How Can I Improve My Relationships?
People who know themselves intimately well can meet and embrace potential partners much more easily than those with an unclear vision of themselves.
Continue reading "How Can I Improve My Relationships?" ›What Should I Be When I Grow Up?
When you grow up, you should be the person you’ve always admired or the person you would admire if he or she existed. Some kids admire their doctors because they made them feel better when they were sick. These kids have a special, parental trust with their doctor and are calmed and relieved the moment they enter the waiting room. It is this type of person that, if they have any aptitude towards medicine, goes on to become a successful doctor and inspires others to go into the field.
Continue reading "What Should I Be When I Grow Up?" ›Ridding Your Life Of Negative People
Negativity is a cancer that appears in many forms. Ridicule, guilt, prejudice, condescension, intimidation, and self-doubt are only a few of the ways negativity manifests itself. While some kinds of negativity come from within and cannot be easily controlled, most are caused by other people. I believe that everyone is entitled to rid themselves of these negative people in order to enjoy happier lives.
Continue reading "Ridding Your Life Of Negative People" ›Dreams And Your Inner Child
Although your inner child may seem like a very distant concept, it is really just you with all of your layers of adult consciousness stripped away. Every night when you go to sleep, your mind gives you another opportunity to visit that inner child as it sinks deep down into your most natural state of being, exposing all of your fears, worries, and most basic needs. When you wake up, it is like emerging from an underwater solitude and climbing up onto a higher, dryer ground. The height that you scale before finally coasting on with your day depends upon how removed you are from your inner child. Some people, the most proper and adult among us, quietly ascend mountains before proceeding with their controlled existences, no longer able to detect the roaring waters of childhood they have subconsciously swum through just moments ago in their sleep.
Continue reading "Dreams And Your Inner Child" ›How Important Is Physical Beauty?
Even though most of us recognize the fallacy of placing too great a value on appearance, our desire for physical beauty is so ingrained in us that we cannot disassociate ourselves from it. Why is physical beauty so important?
Continue reading "How Important Is Physical Beauty?" ›