Too often we are guided by our past experiences or, worse, by the desire to stay in the rut we know best – nice rut, let’s furnish it! This is often our go-to default, and we all do it. It is part of the human basic wiring to want to stay with the known, with where we are. It is also a failure of imagination, failure of courage, and probably laziness. Change requires action, and action can be uncomfortable as it may lead us to the unknown. Comfort may be a delusion keeping us stuck.
The problem with just blindly doing something for the sake of doing something is that we often pick the most familiar road, which may also be the hardest road. Just because we are habituated to doing something does not mean it is the best for us. The very wise Alex von Bidder once told me: Go towards what is easy, enjoyable and effortless. This may sound like a contradiction, and it can be, but we are sophisticated people and we can hold both ideas at the same time.
AGEIST has done considerable research on happiness. For most people, we go through life phases. First, come the early years when we take a stab at who we are, then some years of head-down powering-forward acting on who we think we are, then there often comes a time of reflection, seemingly around 50. This is when we may begin to question who we are and what we are doing. Perhaps it is enough life lived to get out of rebelling against the parents, aligning with parents, or thinking that we must do whatever because that is who we are and these are our only options. Maybe yes, maybe no. The one thing I am absolutely certain of is that there are more options than we think there are. The part of our brains that wants to keep us safe is the same one that is limiting our vision of possibilities. This is where laziness comes in. The ship only changes direction if energy is applied. Keep in mind the end goal: spend more time smiling. Go for that. It may be scary, it may be work, but you can do it.
Onward and upward,
David
