Archives for category: Emotions

As a grow older, I have realized that doubts are a natural tendency for anyone.

The mind is great at creating doubts. The easiest way to feel doubtful is to start thinking about the future incessantly. Think about what you want, the future you want to have and so on. Focus on the future and attach to it is doubt.

The mind loves creating future ideals because it feels more secure. When you focus on the future, the mind feels more important. The ego constantly looks for ‘ideals’ to add to it’s identity. One of the main ways is to create an identity in the future.

In the future, I would be ….

In the future, I would be a millionaire.

In the future, I would meet someone lovely and fall in love.

In the future, I would achieve this and that.

 

The incessant identity creating is because my mind is afraid of the present. All minds are afraid of the present because it strips of everything. When you are in the present, you have no past or future. You are nobody.

I realize how much I have been holding onto my identity and the goals I want to achieve. I have yet to learn to let go of them for good and for that I constantly have doubts.

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It has been a very doubtful day for me today. The weird thing is that I have this ‘mind’ before. A mind which is doubtful about my ability to achieve. I want this. I want that.

Can I do it? What if I can’t do it? Am I wasting my time? Wouldn’t I be stupid if I were to waste so much time only to realize it won’t work out?

The doubtful mind finds fault with the future.

I hear that the cure for this is positive thinking. I always had a hard time with positive thinking because when I have positive thoughts, it will be only a matter of time before I have negative thoughts. I have therefore stripped all that need for positive thinking.

I have rather embraced ‘acceptance thinking’. I accept my thoughts as it is. If I feel doubtful, I allow myself to feel doubtful. I know that it will pass. Fighting it will be useless.

Like any other thing in life, accepting it goes a long way towards progress.

I haven’t been taking time to write for a long time. I would say that it has been almost half a year since I wrote a length post about a topic. During this period, I have been busy writing my book.

I have posted on this blog from time to time. However, most of them are just ramblings – writings which just come out directly from my heart. Most are short ones: updates about my life and the thoughts that run around my head on a consistent basis.

This would be a lengthier post because I feel the bliss of knowing that my book is finally done.

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Writing the book is a real learning process. It is an extremely valuable lesson in myself, what I love doing and how I come to look at my future. It is a very humbling process to know how tedious it is to write a book, however easy it is to read it.

I realize something valuable the past couple of days upon completion of my book. It dawn upon me that the end result of something isn’t truly important. In doing something, what’s most important isn’t the end result. Although we tend to work towards an end result, the result isn’t that important.

Trust me, it isn’t.

It took me almost a year to write, edit and learn about publishing books to get this book ready.

Rewind to a year back, knowing that I would be an author would be something that blow my mind away.

But now, it just seems something normal. I am not that excited anymore about it. Actually, I felt a bit down a few days ago because I didn’t understand why the excitement and motivation that I had a couple of months ago just seem to go away.

I realize that I have been caught up in this illusion: The Illusion of Happiness.

All of us get caught up in it from time to time.

The Illusion of Happiness is the belief that something in the future would make us feel better. It is the belief that when we have something or reached a certain situation; and then we will be happy.

We may believe that when we:

  • Buy that material item
  • Get that special someone
  • Reach a certain career goal
  • Gain the admiration of other people
  • Achieve our dreams
and then, we will be happy.

But it never does.

Things in the future never seem to make us happy. Never had, never will.

Even if you were to be happy from the achievement of something, it seems like the happiness is fleeting. You feel happy for a while. The next thing you know, you are looking for something else to make you ‘happy’.

This realization dawn upon me the importance of enjoying totally the steps towards something. It is the steps that matters, not the destination. Most of the time the destination seem to instead disappoint us.

I have learned to focus less on the future. I do make plans and such. But I am very flexible towards them. I also make sure that I do not invest my happiness in the future.

If I can’t be happy today, I won’t be happy tomorrow.

I have learned to be free from situations and circumstances. Happiness needs no reason. It has nothing to do with the past or the future.

Things aren’t going as well as I want it to be two weeks ago. I felt lost. I didn’t know where I am going all of a sudden.

I think to a certain extent this started when I start comparing myself with some of my friends who are in steady jobs. We were out hanging out for drinks when they all seem to have a steady and certain lifestyle. They seem to be doing steady while I am still in this part of my life of uncertainty and unknowingness.

I chose it that way, upon further reflection.

I chose this uncertain lifestyle. But sometimes I forget that I chose this lifestyle. I forget that I chose to be a writer and someone who works from home. I forget that I chose to not have a full-time job which pays a steady income. I chose it myself.

But in that comparison with other people, I become uncertain. I am not in their path of things. I felt like I was left behind. Comparisons just make myself bad.

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It is after that few days of feeling down and lost that I realize that I am actually doing what I wanted.

I needed some time to find the blessing. To understand why I am on a certain path. Why I choose to be a writer. Why  I choose to be a real estate agent. Why I choose to start up my own businesses.

I think I fail to see the blessing in my choices of wanting freedom and an avenue to express. Mixing around with my friends dragged me down. I am not saying that they are bad or judging them, but what we want is just different.

I want:

  • Control over my life
  • The ability to express
  • Not following a certain schedule
  • Just doing things for the sake of it

I need constant reminder on the blessing of those choices that I make. As for now, I am just floating around feeling blessed. Blessed with a sense of doing what I love and just having the courage to pursue them.

Fark comparison. I’m doing great. Call me stubborn, I don’t care.

 

 

p.s. I hate grammar. I hate my book being edited by grammar people and being known that I have plenty of grammar mistakes. Writing should be an avenue of expression.

I realize that those moments that I feel truly disappointed with things are those periods where I am truly creative and am able to really think of different ways of looking at things.

I found that disappointments create avenues for creativity. Disappointments are avenue that allow you to explore how much something means to you. Disappointments allows you to reflect. Disappointments make me realize how to view things differently.

I found that bad situations allow you to be more creatively. However the general tendency is to avoid them. There are certain situations which you should open your eyes to – these situations create avenue for you to be more creative:

  1. Bad financial situations. Don’t you realize how much people despise when they don’t have money for themselves etc. I realize that most people who succeeded in business and in life not so because they have unlimited funds. Rather, they create the most out of a bad financial situation. They use money better. They are more creative with money. It is during such situations that you have to come out with new ideas.
  2. Being lost. I have certainly written about this. Being lost is normal. Not liking a situation is normal. It shows that we want something. Isn’t our task to find for something we really want? Being disappointed mean that we know better what we want or not want.
  3. Making A Costly Mistake. Doesn’t this happen to all of us. Having a mistake is better than not having one. Most of us are not trying so we don’t make mistakes. Sure it’s disappointing. I have made plenty myself, but in those mistakes lies a valuable lesson.
  4.  Feeling lazy. We all feel lazy sometime or another. Perhaps it’s a motivation issue. However, I don’t really believe in motivation. If you need to be motivated, most probably doing something isn’t really important.

 

Disappointments are gifts. (Note: Yes, I remember my previous post)

 

It allows myself to be more creative. It makes me know myself better.

 

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