Is there anyone reading this that does not desire peace of mind? Harmonious relationships? To love and be loved? Have more energy? Fulfillment? Joy, happiness, and contentment?
We seek external things, money, position, status, possessions because we believe that it will help us achieve all the things named before that we want to experience. Yet all of the above are primarily internal feelings, states of mind if you will… that mainly take an open mind and a willing heart to create.
The hedonistic trap that we fall into is thinking that we need physical things to give us the feelings we want. In reality it is a mind game; we choose our feelings. It takes effort, awareness, and discipline, however we can train our minds: Thoughts held in mind attract in kind, what we focus on expands and energy flows where thoughts go.
Closing Quotes:
“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865
“The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” – John Milton, 1608-1674
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James, 1842-1910
“If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now.” – Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 AD
PS: Physical things do help most with the 1st level (shelter/food etc.) of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
- Physiological Needs (Basic Survival): Food, water, shelter, sleep, air, warmth, sex.
- Safety Needs (Security and Stability): Once survival is stable, we seek predictability and safety.
- Love and Belonging (Social Needs): Friendship, family, intimacy, community, sense of belonging. Humans are profoundly social; loneliness undermines well-being.
- Esteem (Recognition and Achievement): Recognition, status, self-respect, mastery, independence, confidence.
- Self-Actualization (Personal Growth): Realizing personal potential, creativity, morality, problem-solving, purpose, self-fulfillment.
- Self-Transcendence (Going beyond the self): Altruism, spiritual fulfillment, service to a greater cause.
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
