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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Act First...

A great blog post:
The "Do Something" Principle

The author describes that we typically imagine that, in order to begin with Action, we need to start with Inspiration, and then Motivation...:
Emotional Inspiration –> Motivation –> Desirable Action


However, he is proposing that it's actually more like a chain:
Inspiration –> Motivation –> Action –> Inspiration –> Motivation –> Action –> Etc.


In other words, one can BEGIN with Action, which can allow for the arising of Inspiration, then Motivation, and then FURTHER Action (which, in turn, generates further Inspiration, etc.)

In other words, we can "re-orient our mindset," beginning anywhere in this chain...:
Action –> Inspiration –> Motivation


This is an especially helpful reorientation if my tendency is toward Stuckness, or lethargy... I cannot claw around 'searching' for inspiration or motivation... Sometimes it really is just about just "Doing Something"... Getting off my bum, rather than hoping that inspiration will spontaneously kick in.

Particularly important if the other tendency is also to rest on my laurels and call that meditation...

Friday, June 8, 2012

Good Enough

"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."
"The Best is the enemy of the Good"
- Voltaire

Sometimes I get stuck in planning, lost in a tyranny of choices available to me. Barry Schwartz explains this well in his excellent book "The Paradox of Choice," where he looks at the phenomenon that, up to a certain point, an increase in available choice correlates with an increase in satisfaction around any decision we make around these choices (because we have a chance to consider the factor of 'quality').

However, after that, the increasing number of choices produces diminishing returns in terms of satisfaction around any decision we make. Every decision we make, when we have that many more choices, also leaves us with so many more burnt bridges; something which we experience as painful.

I am interested in moving away from the pursuit of the Best; the way this can sometimes immobilise me from making decisions about anything, such as finding a job, reading a book about any given topic, or indeed, being satisfied with a lover or a friend just the way they are. When I'm constantly nervous about the existence of the Better or the Best (which, sneakily, always seems to be other than who I already am or what I currently have), I start to ignore the implicit perfection of the Good.

The Perfection of the Good, which comes from being able to limit the scope of my desires (a classically Stoic move), which in turn, renders all that is Good in my life into the Perfect manifestations of my humble needs, sated.