Life can be hard.
But you know what makes it harder? Not knowing why it is hard. And I think that economically, this is what a lot of us suffer from, because while we feel the pain, we don't actually know what is causing it. And rather than investigating and working it out for ourselves, we turn to popularised opinions to give us the answers, so we can lay blame on a set of conditions, even if it is not the cause at all.
Did you know wearing larger size clothing makes you fatter? After all, the majority of fat people wear larger sizes of clothing than peers of a similar height.
Correlation does not mean causation.
Similarly, we tend to focus on what we can see, or fell, as the case may be. We are prone to turn our attention to the surface, rather than what lays beneath. We talk about the "overnight success" without considering all of the years of practice to build the skills. We look at the "self-made wealth", without acknowledging all the support people, or the luck, involved along the way. We only look at the end point, and forget about the journey.
“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
My daughter asked me an interesting question this morning, that is both simple to answer, and also points to something far more profound.
"Why does time seem to go so fast when sleeping?"
She has realised that she goes to sleep and then opens her eyes ten or twelve hours later, as if very little time has passed at all, even though she knows it has. And, it is obviously because when we sleep, our awareness is not consciously active, so we aren't tracking time in the same way we would when we are awake. In fact, most of our senses are reduced into a type of short hibernation mode, dulling them down, otherwise we would keep waking up.
While many things happen along the journey of life that will shape our experience, we are only aware of some of them. This means that we will be influenced by all sorts of conditions and situations that we don't know about, but will still live the consequences of them. For instance, it doesn't really matter if you know much about economic theory and policy, financial planning, price discovery, tax systems, or anything about the monetary ecosystem at all - you are still going to be affected by it. It is the same as not knowing about the Krebs cycle, your body is still going to use it to create energy. And this is the problem with focusing on goals.
Thought, word, action.
This is the creative process. But the most important part of it is the action part, because without that, nothing physical gets created. We can think about our goals, we can plan what we are going to do, but if we do nothing, we are going to be at the mercy of the conditions, without us being able to have active influence over them. What we have to do to have directed influence is to act throughout the journey, to do the right things, at the right time, that lead us to our next stop, our next destination.
The quote above by Emerson could also be stated as "Life is a long series of destinations." Each movement takes us to a next moment, and the action from that moment takes us to the next. So, if we are looking at only the "highlight points" and not considering what are all the milestones, and what actions it is going to take to get there, we are unlikely to make it. We will however keep on moving, it just won't be under our own direction. We won't be the captain of our journey, we will be the boat, tossed about by the sea, going wherever the winds and currents take us.
It is still a journey.
We like to lay blame for our circumstances. When they are negative, we blame others, When they are positive, we blame ourselves. Most of us are not financially where we want to be, which means our circumstances are not ideal - so we blame the economy, the governments, the corporations, foreigners stealing houses and jobs, locals living off social services. Whatever and whoever. But, what was our active role in creating our situation? Did we do what we needed to do? Did we do what would most likely take us on a journey to where we wanted to be?
Probably not.
Because we tend to favour easy and convenient, and the results that we are looking for aren't easy or convenient to get. Getting fit by watching television whilst eating junk food is unlikely. Getting rich by being unemployed on the couch and spending time watching cat videos is unlikely too. And, it doesn't matter if you know what you need to do, if you aren't doing them, you may as well know nothing.
It is better to know what is causing the conditions only because it allows for correction and action to mitigate. But, if knowing but unwilling to do anything differently, well, that is on you. For instance, over the years here on Hive there have been plenty of people who have wanted to earn, but also wanted to act however they want, write about whatever they want. There is nothing wrong with that, but if what you write about and the way you act is not conducive to earning on Hive, well, you can do what you want, but not earn.
No one is forcing you to change.
No one is forcing you to stay the same.
And it is that second part that I think we need to consider, because while we are somewhat constrained by our circumstances, we all have the same 24 hours in a day to improve ourselves. To change ourselves. But, if we choose to remain unaware of our conditions, unaware of the things that affect us, and unaware of what actions we can take to improve our position, then, we may as well be asleep.
At least then, the time passes quickly.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Nothing is as good or bad as it seems. Try to enjoy it and live in the moment. Don't compare yourself to others success (I know it's not exactly related to your caption)
As you said most people think of success as an overnight thing but no one ever considers the years put in.
I wish I had spent more years being good at something useful :)
Laughs, same here 😜 life!
I think the two main things that make life is hard are our economic situation and our responsibilities. To earn and save some money, we spend the most of our life. When we get married and have kid/s afterward, our responsibilities increase and our economic situation is deeply affected by that.
That is part of it for sure. But, what is life like without responsibilities? People want to be free to do "what they want" but what does that kind of life actually turn into? And then, is it possible?
They say that one has far less responsibilities if not married in this life.
Sure. but, is it a better life? :)
Depends on what you expect from life.
Ho damn that's what my problem is, now I know. Glad it's such an easy fix XD
I like wearing loose baggy clothing because tactile issues, only just recently started wearing closer fitting clothes so my kids don't get caught
I remember my eldest at about the same age asking why the journey to his friend's house seemed to take forever when we were going there but the trip home (reverse of the one there, the only thing that might change notably is the traffic and how it affects the lights and that depended entirely on what time we left but it was usuyally before any of the rushes so the time was usually comparable) seemed really quick.
J can thank me later ;D
Anticipation and expectation can make a journey much longer, and also more disappointing!
I don't think he's been disappointed too much going to his friend's house XD But very much so.
I've gotta believe I could study for years and still not understand the economy. I might come a little close, but it seems like a very complex beast. I understand what you are saying. We mostly just don't think about it and only the how and not the why. I'm hoping that in the midst of this next year with the bull cycle I can not spend all my time waiting for those peaks and just enjoy every moment that comes at me. I was actually touching on that in my post this morning before I read yours.
It would be great to just have a longer period of time where things went smoothly!
You should teach your daughter about Lucid Dreaming. It is a beautiful awareness exercise that basically needs 2 techniques. First, to ask yourself many times when you are awake if that is a dream, look around for discrepancies and find out if you are awake. Doing this often, as some moment you will ask yourself if you are dreaming during your dream, and recognize that you are in your dream. Then the fun begins.
Second, the dream journal, when you write as soon as you wake up what you remember, you only have 30 second until the dream memories fade away, so it is better to keep that notebook and a pen near the bed.
What are the benefits? Well, imagination is really the only limit, as your dream is virtually a space where you can do whatever you like. Some fly or emulate superpowers, like stop time or big jumps. Some use the dream time to exercise a skill, I know of violin players and martial artists that use this time to train, imagine as the time dilates in your dream, you may have one year of daily practice in one night. If you are lucky.
But more than awareness training, apparently lucid dreaming brings some unique skill, that only dreamers have, I do not remember the name clearly, bu it was giving you the ability to judge a situation from outside, without being dragged inside of it, even if it was something that involved you. Some clear judgement thing.
https://yourdreamdecoder.com/can-you-learn-new-skills-in-lucid-dreams/
And a link to start from here! (It will take up to 1 to 6 months to have your first lucid dream, depending on your affinity for it)
Oh, and this is the guy who researched it. It may have a book or two.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_LaBerge
I can actually do this already, but not sure if it is a good thing. I wonder at times if it reduces sleep quality.
Dream journals is something I never tried, but I think Smallsteps might enjoy this over time.
There are notable people like Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart and Nicolas Tesla that could do that, all had creativity out of this world. It is a good experiment and it is not reducing the sleep quality, is the same.
I just sat down to write a comment on this post and got to thinking. How can I spend my time today with benefit and interest? I don't want to be stressed by a stock market deal today. I don’t want to go anywhere and spend money today. I want to do something meaningful. And I decided what I would do today. This is a walk and communication with family. And after the walk, hot tea, glasses and old magazines.
old magazines? Is that a thing?
Magazines from the 1890s 1910s 1960s 1980s. I love plunging into the past in a time machine :)
Life can be hard.
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It’s hard not to get swept away by the current of life. I speak for myself: as much as I have ambitions, I tend to settle, only to look back and realize I could have tried harder to achieve my dreams. Using Hive as an example, even though I’ve been here for some time, my perspective on the platform has always been that of a side income, something I could tap into when needed, and that’s what I’ve done year after year. Many times, I also felt that the effort I put into writing well for certain communities wasn’t properly rewarded, so this always influenced me not to be very consistent in my production. Upon my recent return to Hive, I decided not to chase results anymore, but to simply keep producing with as much consistency as possible. The rewards will be a consequence, but I no longer see them as something that will save some bills; instead, I see them as something that will help me achieve a big goal.
If things go well while doing something, we have succeeded, but if things do not go well, everyone is to blame. Those who realize this and are aware of it will achieve success. We should do better and not blame anyone.
How time flies so fast we never can tell but it is how well we make good use of our time
I think that the key point you have made here is: "To do the right things at the right time"
That in my personal experience had the most important impact on my life. It is easy to say, but so not easy to do. Sometimes I didn't know what the right thing was, and sometimes I knew, but didn't do it. And sometimes I didn't know but did the right thing at the right time. Like you said the luck was involved...
That means that, no matter where life places us presently or how we are at the moment, if we understand that life is a journey, we can still move wisely and coordinatively to arrive at our desired destination. Right???