Nothing in life will be more harmful to you than your own thoughts.
More peace and happiness can be developed by organizing your mind so as to reduce thoughts that make you unhappy.
“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing, that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
― Dale Carnegie
What you say to yourself matters. For example, here are phrases I never utter:
- I hate Mondays
- I hate “leg day”
- I hate moving
- I’m bad with names
- I have a terrible memory
I hear people state these things about themselves all the time.
But don’t let that be you.
Why? Because you are listening. And repeating such negative self-talk will be reinforcing.
Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions. – Marcus Aurelius
Life Goals
We admire those who can delay gratification. It’s an admirable trait.
Aggressively pursuing well-defined goals requires delayed gratification.
Big goals are also positively associated with psychological well-being and give us a sense of purpose. They help with positive thoughts. Because you experience happier and more fulfilling thoughts as you make progress toward aspirational aims. Hence the cliché Enjoy the journey.
The journey’s important because that’s where we spend most of our time. And while it’s important to celebrate wins—way more time is spent in pursuit of your goals than celebrating them.
Fun and excitement are great! But they’re temporary. We must guard against becoming a slave to our impulses that create exciting times.
Pursuit of meaningful goals is where the good life is at.
Dopamine, often referred to as the “pleasure compound,” is experienced at higher levels when anticipating rewards. It’s more about the hunt than the kill.
Even a hunter’s prey works harder to generate dopamine than they do to obtain food.
But don’t skip celebrating “the kill.” Gratification excessively delayed is gratification denied. Thus, we must get busy living now.
Baseball as a Metaphor for Life
In a post-game interview, Alex Bregman was once asked about the team’s mindset during a pivotal playoff game where they faced the best pitcher in baseball at the time, Clayton Kershaw.
Bregman said, “Our backs are against the wall…why not have fun and play loose.”
A metaphor for life.
If you feel as if your back is “up against the wall,” then why not play life “loose.”
Reminds me of the funniest Twitter/X post I’ve seen on “Black Twitter.”
Dude says, “What?!! Caskets cost $4k?!! Y’all can bury me loose!”
Serves as a reminder. We’re all destined for fossilhood in earth’s soil, and it probably doesn’t matter how we’re buried.
But it does matter how we live.
So live loose without worry. None of us gets out of here alive anyway.
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