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Blowing It Scenario #86-Materialism.

When What You Have And What You Own, Are Your Identity, It’s Time To Reassess.

Nothing screams I’m happy like making a new purchase. That new house, new car, and new wardrobe will all add up to potentially make you the happiest person on the planet. The bigger the better right? When is enough ever enough? The answer is never. You constantly hear and see it. Heck it’s what keeps our society functioning.

If you don’t buy the latest gadget or saddle yourself with mountains of debt to fund your next home or adventure, we may just fall into utter disarray. This is an over generalization and that is absolutely not the case but it seems that’s how we treat it. We’ll own amazon prime accounts so we can be guaranteed our purchases arrive squarely on time. We’ll pay a small fortune for cable so we can be entertained at night. We’ll buy a new car in order to have that status symbol. What better way to show others how successful we are. We make no mention of how the bank actually owns the vehicle or home you’re in. And how it’s just on loan until the we can actually finally get the money plus interest to pay them back. But boy it’s sure worth all the monthly payments and slogging through that job you hate just to make ends meet.

Advertising is another big part of materialism. It’s primarily what fuels the tech industry. And what is advertising other then a sales pitch to buy what a business is pitching. I’m not above it. I have advertising throughout these articles. What I’m insinuating is we don’t have to give in to it. These purchases won’t necessarily make you happy or whole. We should buy things with the goal of improvement, if its not helpful or necessary, possibly consider what life will be like if you don’t buy that new toy.

Not all purchases are bad purchases and buying a new house or car can be a wonderful experience. Just try not to tie meaning or identity to it. We tend to think if another has less than us they must be more misfortune than we are. We don’t see when another chooses a life rich in experience and foregoes the materialistic. All we’ll tend see is what they have or what they don’t have and we pass judgement because of that. Get rid of that mind frame. Become a producer not a consumer. Live that rich experiential lifestyle, expect less and possibly buy less and you will receive so much more.

 

 

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Blowing It Scenario #85-Compromising.

A Compromise Is A Lose Lose Situation.

In order to understand this argument you must understand the context. The definition of a compromise is, an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. Remember those last few words each side making concessions. We often think of a compromise as a win win. We’ll make a halfhearted attempt to hopefully satisfy our counterparts request at our own expense. Partially given up something we want, while they partially give up the full sum of what they’re asking for. In doing so, we both compromise, and now we think everyone is happy. But that line of thinking is just simply wrong. Both parties just lost. Neither you or your counterpart fully got what you wanted. So in order to reach a compromise both parties must give up something. They have to sacrifice what they truly wanted for a much lessor and often worse outcome. This situation can easily cause resentment to build from one or both parties. Especially when you constantly feel like you’re losing.

Fully given in to another individual’s request or having another person fully give in to yours, is no compromise either. However that is at least a win lose proposition. Which at least one person comes out the victor. This is far better than both parties losing. Yet this is how we operate throughout most of our lives. We’ll compromise happiness for a paycheck. In order to get that paycheck, we’ll compromise what we truly want to do in life. We’ll compromise our standards if another shows the slightest bit of interest in us. We’ll compromise where we live, what we do, who we’re with, what we buy, how we eat, all for this ever elusive sense of a win win proposition. It’s just simply doesn’t exist.

We need to start negotiating our wins. Do the work you want, live where you want and how you want to live. Find a person who shares the same values as you and who will support you no matter what and will not try to change you. Because a clear sign of wanting different things out of life is how often the two of you have to make compromises. If it’s constant, than you both are constantly fighting a losing battle. And in battle when a location is compromised it’s time to get the hell out of there. Same thing goes in the real world, when you are consistently being compromised, you just might want to ask yourself if it’s your time to get the hell out.


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Blowing It Scenario #84-Guru And Hero Worship.

Don’t Be A Follower.

Be your own guru, your own hero. Make your path righteous but not cause your told to by another individual. Do it out of your own free will. A lot of news stories have recently come out about sex cults and other gurus. Multiple documentaries about cults have been released on Netflix. A former celebrity has been recruiting sex slaves for for her cult leader. A religious guru in India was sentenced to life for having sex with a sixteen year old. This guru apparently had millions of followers. Also it should be stated, when I say be your own guru, that’s not to say start a cult either. Most leaders are one part psychopath, one part sociopath, and the rest pure narcissist. It’s all built for their own self-aggrandizement. It seems so many want to be the sheep, following the heard to the slaughter house, no questions asked along the route.

Before fully committing to anything we should be asking those tough questions. Where is this leading me? What do others stand to gain from my participation? How did this group come to be? Why do people leave? What are the negatives? What is the leaders back ground? Where did they come from? Are they pedophiles? Do they want my body for purposes beyond a helpful hand? How much money do they want from me? How much of me do they truly want? If it’s all of you, run in the other direction. Some of these cults can have very serious and disastrous endings. Heavens Gate, The people’s temple. Hundreds, and in some cases throughout history, thousands have committed suicide because their leader instructed them to. Or worse, inflicted acts of violence, maimed or killed others in the name of their leader.

Most religions are pure of heart and usually have only the highest intentions for themselves and others. They are mostly based off the same set of principles just told through a different lens. Those principle when applied can be very constructive and good for the world around you. However peace can sometimes a casualty to the greater statement of, I am right and you are wrong.

Their is absolutely nothing wrong with following a religion, you get a sense of community, of family, of love. You feel as if you have hundreds, if not thousands, and in some case millions of other people are in this with you and they all have your back. You feel closer to your god. And that, I imagine, is the exact same draw to cults. A strong sense of family, as if something was missing in your life and now you found a home in this new community. Which if you feel that is necessary in your life and you are causing no harm to others and your not neglecting true family or passing judgment on others who are not following your path, than by all means join up.

We’re taught from a very early age the system of the sheep, we’re told to stay within the lines, we play games like follow the leader. There is a very specific path and system engineered for us and we told we must follow it in order to do right by the worlds standards. A perfectly choreographed dance of, go to school, go to college, get a job, get a spouse, get a house, have kids, save money, grow old and die. Rinse and repeat. Just stay within the lines and you’ll be fine. It’s all a load of crap that we’ve all bought into. It’s funny how often you will get reprimanded by others when you don’t follow this path. Break free of this control, be your own guru to yourself. Follow your own compass, don’t give someone else that level of meaning in your life. Don’t give someone or some entity all your power. Control what you can control and be good to others.



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Blowing It Scenario #83-Failing To Understand The Power Of Hope.

The Most Powerful Emotion Is One Of Hope.

It has been said that if you put a mouse in a tub of water it will drown within a minute. However if you give a mouse some form of life raft or a considerate life saving hand, before they give up and you save it from it’s inevitable demise. The next time the mouse is placed in the water, this time it will tread water for days in order to save it’s own life. How could this be when mentality before was to give up at the first sign of struggle. The answer is hope.

Hope has the strength to keep you fighting when you think all is lost. Hope is the light on your darkest day. All survivors of  near death tragic events have hope. They’ll play hopeful games with themselves to keep themselves active and in a positive mind frame which usually keeps them alive. Hope is the belief that you will succeed in any endeavor you set out upon. Without hope you would probably give up and metaphorically drown like the mice do, at your first sign of a struggle. Hope for a better tomorrow and constantly work towards it. Give others hope with your helping, potentially lifesaving, hand.

Just like we give everything around us the meaning we choose to give it. The same goes for hope. We can choose to be hopeful in our life, in our relationships, in the world. And than with that hope we can stay active while in that positive frame of mind. Recently a very important person in my life, whom I gave tremendous meaning to, gave me the greatest gift one could ever bestow upon another. That person gave me a sliver of hope about a possible future, I thought was completely closed off. That is really all you need to start building your very own life raft. Every article I write, I hope it one day reaches someone and truly helps them. Every day that we make hopeful progress is another board, another nail, another sail in our life raft. Build your ship of hope so strong and sturdy and you need not worry of ever drowning.



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Blowing It Scenario #82-Too Much Screen Time.

The Belief That Interacting With a Screen Is The Same As Interacting With An Individual.

Now I’m sure most of us don’t assume this to be true, but it is how we treat most of our lives. Screens have become our intermediary to the world. From texting on our phone to social media to email. We are not having conversations with other people we are having conversations with ourselves which are directed at another and facilitated through a third party. In most cases this is our computer, phone, or tablet. As I’m writing this I’m not having a conversation with you, it’s a conversation with myself that I hope you eventually read and respond to. I’d prefer to have this conversation in person but this has a much farther reaching potential. And that is why we use this third party we call a computer.

It is what drew us to the siren song of computers and the internet in the first place. The ability to interact with millions if not billions of individuals all around the world with just some text, video, or audio, all at your finger tips with just the click of a button. We are losing our ability to communicate with others without having our intermediary devices. Our computers, phones and tablets have become our side kick, wing man, and crutch. Many now freeze up and cower at the first sign that they will have to talk in person with another individual. It’s no surprise so many claim to have social anxiety. We literally reinforce that belief with every single text or email we send. We are saying we would much rather interact through this device then have to talk person to person.

Often its the most convenient form of communication. You can send an email and the receiver can check it at their earliest convenience. But hopefully you are using it as the tool it is. And you working towards obtaining future communication in person or at the very least over the phone. Because that is what these devices were meant to be. Simply a tool to advance society and share information. Not to aggrandize our vanity or flock to our hovel only to hide behind our screen to denigrate others. It’s tool intended to better humanity, we must use it for that purpose, all else is just complicating our lives.

Further more a concern we should keep an eye on, is chat bots are becoming more and more advanced by the day. Soon you may not ever be chatting to another human on the the other end. We won’t even have to communicate with another if we don’t want to. The days of asking a friend, parent or loved one an answer to a question are already fast becoming obsolete. Why ask when you have Google, Siri, and Alexa? I’m not saying it’s all bad but like with anything that can become addictive, practicing moderation is paramount in order to not fall into the abyss. When it’s sheer terror to you to have to interact with another, it’s time to put down the device and practice relationship skills again. Oh and while your at it, call your mom more too.



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Blowing It Scenario #81-Believing Artificial Sweeteners Are Better For You.

Study Finds Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Diabetes And Obesity.

So often we read the word diet in a label and believe it to be a healthier alternative. As if all things diet are inherently better. We completely dismiss that in order to get that diet tag on a product and still get a passable taste out of it, foreign chemicals the body is unaccustomed to breaking down must be used.

Yet aspartame is still a popular go to for some who think it’s noncaloric impact will have a more positive impact on their bodies. This has been proven to not be the case. It still has a negative overall effect on the body. We shouldn’t fear calories either, they are simply energy units to burn. The study finds the body is able to breakdown sugar and artificial sweeteners in moderation. However once we break past that minute threshold, our bodies actually start to breakdown themselves. With a whole slew of health problems, from obesity and all the health concerns associated with that. All the way to what is considered a sugar disease, diabetes. It’s the impact these sweeteners have on the pancreas and other major organs that should be our concern.

Once the body is overloaded with work to breakdown these complex chemicals it becomes distracted from the main work at hand and that keeping you and your immune system healthy and functioning. If constantly distracted with the work of breaking down these problematic foreign food products, that’s when illness and disease invade the organism. So just be conscientious if you absolutely feel you must have sweeteners or any other foods and carbohydrates that will tax the system, just be sure to do it in moderation.



Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

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Blowing It Scenario #80-Woman Fined $500 By Customs For An Apple She Received In Flight.

Don’t accept Food Midflight And Not Eat It.

Or at least if you choose not to eat it, be sure you claim it on your customs forms. A woman learned the hard way that if you bring outside agricultural products in to the US and forget to claim them you can be charged upwards of $500.

However in this case the woman was simply hungry on a flight and asked the flight attendant for a snack. Upon request the considerate flight attendant gave her an apple. And unbeknownst to this woman saving the apple for later was a big mistake. If you bring in fruit or any other agricultural products from other countries into the states you must claim them on your customs paperwork.

Yet this lady didn’t think a harmless apple received in US airspace would warrant a fine. Most of us wouldn’t think it to be a big deal and probably wouldn’t give it a second thought. But this story shows we must give it a second thought. I guess the lesson to be learned here is. Either finish your food in flight or claim it on your customs paperwork.



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Blowing It Scenario #79-Democratic Party Sues Trump Campaign, Wikileaks and Russian Government Over Alleged Campaign Conspiracy.

Now The DNC Is Just Grasping At Straws To Save Face.

You lost the 2016 election, suck it up and get over it. In the mean time, take some damn responsibility for it as well. Stop blaming others for your problems. It’s issues like this that make people vote against you and not with you. The DNC themselves colluded to disrupt democracy in the 2016 elections when they chose Hillary Clinton would when the DNC Presidential nomination and absolutely no one else at all cost. Not even Bernie Sanders, who had commanding support across the nation and most likely would have won the Presidency had the Democratic party not disrupted his ascendance. And because of the fall out they needed to point the finger at everyone else. Poor DNC, a website designed to keep governments honest spilled the beans on their nefarious actions.

Now the DNC wants to sue the Trump campaign, why because they did their job and won. They want to sue the Russian Government, well that just because we blame them for everything bad in world politics today, so an easy target. And sue Wikileaks, a website where the owner is banned from so many countries because he has successful exposed the truth behind many atrocious acts governments around the world have committed. Leaking information those who are a part of never want it to see the light of day. And will do anything in their power to stop it. It’s why it’s founder Julian Assange must to live in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Many Governments want him behind bars so this highly skilled watchdog can no longer expose their deep dark secrets.

Look Democratic National Committee you failed, understand that. Quit searching the past scapegoats and reconciliation, move forward. Build a better committee, one that the american people are excited to support again. Because while your grasping at straws of the past, the rest of us are looking to move forward with or without you.



Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

 

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Blowing It Scenario #78-Freedom Of Speech Ceases When Money Is On The Line.

Freedom Of Speech Is Part Of The Constitution But Not Necessarily A Good Thing When Practiced In Business.

It could end up being the catalyst to set your entire world crumbling down. Recently, soon after the passing of the former first lady Barbara Bush, a Fresno State professor tweeted a message calling the former first lady and first mother a racist saying “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F*** outta here with your nice words,” and concluded with “I’m happy the witch is dead. Can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have.” This professor has every right in the world to say this and I’ll defend everyone’s right to do the same. This whole website is an act of free speech. We exercise these rights daily.

However in this case, this is quite the tasteless act. It’s this spit on the grave mentality, that’s slightly appalling. Respect those who are mourning the loss, any loss for that matter, respect the recently deceased.  How is this women who made these remarks even a professor? Is she a professor in hate speak? I do understand her frustrations though, the bush family were not saints. But their is a time and a place for venting those frustrations and right after a death is not the best time. That is unless you are trying to draw negative publicity to yourself and your business you operate under. Now donors of Fresno State are considering no longer making contributions to the school. Money will force the school to act counterintuitive to freedom of speech.

That is often the case in our society we vote with our dollars. The brands you buy, the institutions you donate to, the businesses you frequent, are all votes with your dollars. It will be interesting to see how Fresno State handles this situation since some of their voters are voting against this professor by withholding their checkbooks. Yet the professor has tenure so the school will be between a rock and a hard place. Another risky status a business to give another, is that of tenure. Giving them the right to do whatever they want without ever being fired. It’s a lot of trust and you can only hope those with it don’t betray that trust. I’m sure it will all get sorted and brushed under the rug some way or another. Just know one event, one action, one tweet, even if you’re exercising your right to free speech, can send a cascade of events crashing into to you or down around you. Make sure that cascade is a positive one. Because you can gain so much, or lose it all, in just the blink of an eye.



Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

 

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Blowing It Scenario #77-Believing Change Doesn’t Require Massive Amounts Of Force And Action.

Don’t Be An Action Faker Either.

Someone said to me the other day, that when I was trying to make positive changes in life, that those actions felt so forced. Like that was a bad thing. And I thought to myself, “you’re damn right it felt forced, it was forced.” No changes come without a certain amount of effort. How do you move any stationary object? You apply force to it, the more resistant the object is, the more force is needed. And if you yourself are working on years of poor habitual activities. Your actions will require that much more force to counteract that. You are not, and will not be the same person at the end of the process. You will have to be completely forceful with your new actions day in and day out and it will rub some people the wrong way. But you will be better than before and once you begin the process it will push away those who grew accustomed to your earlier laissez faire attitude.

The most important thing we can do with our time is to take daily positive action towards internal and external improvement. It takes an internal belief it can be done. However that is the easy part. Belief will fade, sometimes as fast as you can dream it up. Belief is often just an action fake. We can’t simply read a great book than believe that we can accomplish anything, and just stop there. We need to make the external actions to our goals and beliefs repetitive. These actions must become our identity, and they must become our new habits. If your working on self improvement and you want to gain copious amounts of new muscle, belief will get you excited, but daily action is what is going to get you through the door and working. If your new identity is one of you being your own boss or an entrepreneur, you better wake up everyday and start working towards that goal first thing. Don’t even worry about trying to get motivated. Just take the necessary actions and your mind will follow.

The best habits we can develop are the ones that make those lives around us better. In Ayn Rand’s seminal book “Atlas Shrugged” she advocates individualism as what sets us apart, only selfish pursuits obtain you the riches you desire. I don’t completely believe this to be true. Their is no such thing as individualism, we don’t live in a vacuum where our actions don’t effect others. What most people gloss over in Ayn’s work is although her characters were selfish in the pursuit of wealth, they really weren’t, they needed to effect millions in order obtain their riches. Every business you ever came across helps someone in some way. That’s the positive daily action we need to strive for, to helps others. And in that “selfish” act of helping others, you help yourself.



Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.