We Live in Our Minds

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are."

How very true.

This quote is attributed to Anais Nin. If you read at all, anything other than Harry Potter, you probably have heard about Anais Nin. Sex is what she is mostly associated with to people with only a superficial interest in her life.

There was much more than that.

She was a free thinker, had fascinating philosophies and lived her life openly. She kept diaries incessantly, beginning at the age of eleven. They have been published and are widely read. They are detailed and frank and they contain within them many opinions that are deep enough to work your own brain if you care to make the effort.

But I digress.

"We don't see things as they are; we see things as we are."

A simple point of view and inescapably true.

We are not easily objective. Everything is filtered through our life experiences.

Opinions are one thing. They are a result of experience, reading, study, debate both internal and external.

The more fascinating concept is that the way we live our lives is shackled to the way we see things.

More importantly, the way we see ourselves.

Self opinion governs every action we take. It determines the outcome of an action before we even take it.

Coming from that point of view our lives seem more like prisons than opportunities.

My brain holds me prisoner at a maximum security level.

I am feeling it now more than ever because I am feeling enormous pressure to light a stick of dynamite.

I just can't find the match.

You too, Bubba - you too. How deeply does your mind control what you do and leave you continuously disappointed?

I am flirting with a self-help book called "mindset - The New Psychology of Success." That is why my head is where it is at right now.

I gave up on self-help books a long time ago. They are mostly garbage. Especially the ones with the word "success" in the title.

Of course this begs the question: Were the books really garbage? Or was I unable to transform the advice into action because of my own shortcomings?

In this case I was initially even more stand-offish because the books were handed out to everyone that Carol works with.

Corporate America loves lemmings.

I took it to work today to give it a chance. Sat down with it at lunch. Got interrupted 477 times.

I wanted to kill.

I did get enough out of it to peak my curiosity.

In a nutshell: two concepts initially. The fixed mindset. You see yourself one way and believe that way cannot be changed. You are doomed.

The growth concept. Based on the belief that "your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.".........."Everyone can change and grow through application and experience."

That's as far as I got but it is enough, maybe, to keep me reading.

Not at work, though. What a hellhole.

Anyway these thoughts brought me around to Anais Nin's quote.

Who the hell knows where I'm going from here?