“Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” Yoda
Engineer life around play. If you can choose your way through life then why choose to see everything as work when you can choose to see life as an opportunity to play? I want to choose to play more in my life even though I don't fully understand what that means for a 33-year-old man in 2017.
Forgetting my youthful exuberance is a tragedy I hope to avoid but sadly I forget it's power.
I believe at some point our self-consciousness builds and if it is not put into balance with objectivity we forget to live openly. In filtering our behavior to match a self-imposed social expectation we lose the joy that comes from a lack of inhibition. Many turn to alcohol to regain this feeling but I would like to attempt to implement the philosophy of play in every endeavor I engage in. This will be exceptionally difficult but I think that deep down inside myself there is an optimistic child that is not completely lost to the sands of maturation and socialization.
The best part about this psychological disposition toward life is that a creative person can play anywhere. As an adult, you don't have to do many things. You have to eat, sleep and live and there are endless combinations of potential solutions for accomplishing these basic requirements. In America, once you have the money to pay your bills consistently you are free to do whatever you want. Of course, you are limited by the resources you have to acquire objects and experiences but at no time are you required to feel a certain way about yourself and life by an outside source. You are free to view your circumstances in whichever way you choose and whether you are pessimistic or optimistic will determine your outlook and emotional reactions. I believe optimism is a prerequisite to play and pessimism is a prerequisite to nihilism and the negative definition of work.
You can choose to see yourself as a victim of life or as a player of life but either way, it is a choice that affects your well being as well as the well being of those around you. Take responsibility for your life and become its master or you will be a slave to the negative emotions and outcomes of a life lived in the dreary landscape of nihilism.
Victims require villains. Villains are to be feared. Fear leads to hate and resentment. Resentment festers and violence ensues. The dark side can only be mitigated by the light of hope.
At least that is what I keep telling myself and I think it really matters. I am not predisposed to thinking this way but I will try.
Reasons to be optimistic:
https://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2010/03/24/benefits-of-optimism/https://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2010/03/24/benefits-of-optimism/
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