Day 266: How to stick to this New Year’s Resolutions

 

 

It's that time of years again and many are in the tradition to every New Year write down things they would like to change about themselves and many don't manage to actually stick to them. Some would like to kick habits like smoking or biting nails, other might want to quit drinking or simply become a better person, maybe not be so angry or sad or stubborn.

Unfortunately it is not so easy to change oneself. It is very easy to say you are going to do it, but when it comes right to it – more often than not – we fall back into our same old patterns. That is what it actually is – patterns and behaviors that we created over time and seem to be stuck in it.

When changing something like for example biting nails – there is usually a reason why you started biting nails in the first place. You could be an anxious person and whenever the anxiety comes up you bite nails. So it’s important to first find the reason for the anxiety or frustration in order to stop the nail biting. We need to find the source of these habits and patterns we would like to change.

Once the source is found the next step is self –discipline and commitment. This is where most fall, because to stop a habit or pattern is not an easy thing, but if you are committed and have self-discipline to do what you said you will then you will be able to stick to the New Year’s resolutions you created.

Thing that come up while stopping habits is all kind of excuses and justifications – you will subconsciously try every sneaky thing to go back to the habit and not stick to stopping it. A cool way to look at this is when you make the decision to stop a habit – everything that comes up after you made the choice that will make you “fall of the wagon is simply an excuse or a justification. It could be a thought or a feeling and would make so much sense, but all it is is a trap.

To recap as to what you will require to actually sticking to your New year’s resolutions:

1. Make a list and make sure its practical.

2. Make the Decision and stand by it.

3. Find the source of the problem.

4. Don’t give into the thoughts and feelings that will make you go back to the habit.

5. Don’t give into the excuses and justifications.

6. Be self-disciplined and committed.

The best thing to do is not wait for every new year before making changes, but to realize that change can be made in every moment. For more info on changing self go here.

Day 265: MY Own Personal Bubble

 

Can you teach and old dog new tricks? Can someone who is stuck in their ways learn new things or learn how to do old things differently? How many stubborn people are out there who are stuck in a personal bubble and absolutely refuses to accept anything that is outside the bubble?

Sure its fine to stick to what works, but if there is another way that might work better then why not at least give it a go?

A big manifestation of this particular point you usually find in older people, because they have lived long. They say that they have tested whichever way and that their way of doing things is the best method and absolutely refuse to consider the fact that there might be another way that that they have not yet tried.

I am not there yet to that extreme, but I have found that with some things I become really stubborn with the belief that my way is the best way and more often than not I do not consider that I might be mistaken. For example: I am currently doing a specific set of core building exercises to support my back, I have been doing this for a while now and it works. The other day someone suggested I try other exercises and I went into the stubborn character and simply said no. I said that what I am doing now works fine and I do not need to try any other exercises.

When I Look at it now the only reason why I said that was because I did not consider that there might be another method that also works and the only way to find out for sure is by giving it a go. All it requires is letting go of that stubbornness and consider that fact that I do not know everything.

This can apply with allot we face in life. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Just because I know that what I am doing currently works doesn’t mean there is a more effective method. It is dangerous to be stuck in your own stubbornness, because then you will not ever expand yourself and always only know your own personal bubble.

Just because the TV said so Does not mean it is...

 

“”The researchers sat through 40 episodes of the “The Dr. Oz Show”; from those, they identified 479 separate recommendations he or his guests made to his TV audience. After winnowing the selection down to more forceful recommendations, they randomly selected 80 and weighed them against the existing medical literature, evaluating each claim for “consistency and believability.” Only 46 percent of the advice, they found, had evidence supporting it, and just 33 percent of the time were those claims supported by “believable or somewhat believable evidence.” For just more than 1 in 3 recommendations, they weren’t able to find any supporting information at all (despite, they note, “being quite liberal in the type and amount of evidence we required”).

Interestingly, the researchers noted that about 58 to 59 percent of the time, Oz never specified the supposed benefit of what he was recommending — the implication, apparently, being that viewers should do things simply because the TV doctor is telling them to. They observed as well that the show rarely detailed the potential harms and costs of recommendations; thus, they write, “anyone who followed the advice provided would be doing so on the basis of a trust in the host or guest rather than through a balanced explanation of benefits, harms, and costs.”’”

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/19/scientists_prove_that_you_shouldnt_trust_anything_dr_oz_says/

It’s in TV so it must be true. It’s in the Newspapers so it must be true. TV has always been a clever way for companies or people to make money. With shows like DR. OZ and Oprah it is mostly based on trusting the person presenting the stuff and not whether the products being sold actually works.

And as we can see from the article above, most of the things being presented have no real proof if it works or not and the only reason why you would buy it is because the person on the TV said so, It does not have to based on actual facts. With this there are people behind the scenes cashing in on people who trust the TV.

It’s the same with the news – you cannot know how true the story is unless it’s actually about you personally. I have had the experience of a newspaper writing an article about us and the end result turned out to be 100% opposite to the actual facts. Yet, it’s in the paper and people believe it to be true.

The point I’m making here is that you cannot trust anything solely based on “Its TV so it must be true”. The same with newspapers and even the stuff you buy in the stores – just because it’s not the shelves does not mean it’s safe to eat. The only real way of knowing if something is true or not is to go and investigate yourself which is something that is simply not practical for most of us. And this leaves us with a dilemma, because how do you then know if it’s true?

So, next time you see something on TV that tells you to buy this great and amazing thing – first do your research and investigation and do not simply trust what the TV tells you.

Why Christmas is a big “Screw you” to Jesus and Christianity - we Failed Him for 2014 years…

 

Holiday season is not a happy season for me. The roads are clogged with cars making difficult to drive around. Many places close for the holiday making it difficult to acquire thing we need, and the internet is slower due to many more people using it ( South Africa is still very behind when it comes to internet).

The shopping centers like to remind us long before December that Christmas is coming by decorating everything with Christmas decorations. And every year I ask myself just what is this all about really? I was taught as a kid that Christmas is a holiday where Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus and where we express gratefulness and thankfulness to him and all that. And Santa? Just something for the kids on the side to create a bit of fun around it. It’s not that at all.

Christianity is all about being good and doing good – loving your neighbor and live as Jesus would and treat others as Jesus would and if the all Christians did this the world would truly be a better a place, but Christmas time shows the hypocrisy around Christianity.

Those Decorations we see every year, who made them? Over 60% of them are made in sweat shops and those laborers suffered. The food we eat and thank Jesus for – most of that from poor people who also suffer to make a living. Christmas is all about profit now – to buy presents and those presents where made more likely than not by very unfortunate people. And then we thank Jesus for it. It is a slap in His face and what He stood for.

We are now in 2014. Which means that for 2014 years since the Birth of Jesus Humanity has not found a way to live even the basic message of Jesus “ Love Thy Neighbor” . We still have the same things on the earth that existed long ago – war, poverty, famine you name it. Most of humanity are Christians – yet still half the world lives in poverty and struggles every day. Christians have failed Jesus.

How many more years will it take for us to live the basic message of Jesus? It’s time we start taking the words we preach and manifest them into action. We have the power to stop the suffering and end poverty – that will be a start. Implementing  Living Income Guaranteed will do that – give those who do not have and who are unable to get the basic needs to live an income to Live would be an act of loving thy neighbor.

Day 262: Well, we saw that coming - The Extinction of another Species...

 

The rhino, Angalifu, died at 44 of complications linked to his advanced age. The remaining members of her species — another elderly female at the park, two females and a final male living in a Kenya preserve — have failed to successfully reproduce on their own.

“Unfortunately we only had three rhinos here at the park and they were all of an advanced age,” Barbara Durrant, of the San Diego Zoo Institute of Conservation Research, said in a statement of the park’s two decades-long attempt to save the species. “We were not able to get them to breed and we have been sadly watching their species being exterminated in the wild.”

It’s rare that we’re able to count down the remaining days of a species in this way, though extinction itself is an all too common phenomenon — it’s the fate met by 95 percent of species throughout Earth’s 3.5 billion year history. But the northern white rhino, decimated by poaching in Africa and, to a lesser extent, habitat loss, stands as a suitable representative for what experts are calling the Sixth Extinction: a mass die-off of species as both the direct and indirect consequence of human activity.

An analysis published last week in the journal Nature puts that in stark terms: 41 percent of all amphibians, along with 26 percent of mammals and 13 percent of birds, it finds, are now at risk of extinction thanks to us: pollution, overfishing, the introduction of invasive species and the encroachment of agriculture all count among the ways we’re killing them off. If our current rate of loss continues on track, the review found, we face losing 75 percent of Earth’s species within the coming centuries. -

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/15/countdown_to_extinction_there_are_only_5_northern_white_rhinos_left_in_the_world/

So many animals paid the price for the continued human existence and many more will in time to come. Looking at the article above, there are only 5 of these rhino left in the whole world. I read something like this and try to imagine myself in a position of specie extinction. Imagine you were part of a species that was doomed to extinction; only one left knowing when you die all that will remain is a memory – all because of the actions of one race. It is Sad and I feel shame to be human.

It’s done and over and no going back – we have wiped out another animal from existence. And what it took to accomplish something like that? I mean this particular rhino was poached to extinction and the other rhino are soon to follow. It is a fact that more and more Rhinos are being killed every year, its basic math. Despite all the “save the rhino” charities and foundations and all the money being pumped into the booming business – it’s only a matter of time before they all become a simple memory of how great it is to be human.

How do you judge a species? We study animals and based on their general behavior patterns we conclude their particular temperaments and how they are. So let’s look at humans in general and the impact we have on earth and all the shit that we have created. We are sitting with the same shit over and over – always war, famine, poverty, slavery and all those bad things – it’s always here. I’m sorry to say this, but based on the general human behaviors – we are the worst organism to ever live on this planet and the real shame is that humans will be the end of this planet if we continue this complete disregard of life.

Is there a way we can stop this? How do you change human nature? Because that is the big problem – it is in our nature to be destructive. Everything we see on this earth and the outflows of our actions – that is human nature. We change human behavior we change our actions and thus change the world. That starts with you. Change your nature. Change yourself. Change the World.

A Permanent Solution for the Neglected Produce Laborers of Mexico

 

Problem:

A Times reporter and photographer find that thousands of laborers at Mexico's mega-farms endure harsh conditions and exploitation while supplying produce for American consumers.

The Times found:

• Many farm laborers are essentially trapped for months at a time in rat-infested camps, often without beds and sometimes without functioning toilets or a reliable water supply.
• Some camp bosses illegally withhold wages to prevent workers from leaving during peak harvest periods.
• Laborers often go deep in debt paying inflated prices for necessities at company stores. Some are reduced to scavenging for food when their credit is cut off. It's common for laborers to head home penniless at the end of a harvest.
• Those who seek to escape their debts and miserable living conditions have to contend with guards, barbed-wire fences and sometimes threats of violence from camp supervisors.
• Major U.S. companies have done little to enforce social responsibility guidelines that call for basic worker protections such as clean housing and fair pay practices.

http://graphics.latimes.com/product-of-mexico-camps/

Where does our food come from? It is the fruits and veggies of other people’s labor. Farm exports to the U.S. from Mexico have tripled to $7.6 billion in the last decade, enriching agribusinesses, distributors and retailers. As you can see in the article it’s the actual labors that come out last.

The company utilizes advance growing techniques and very carefully employ sanitary measures to make sure their produce is safe and good quality, but at the same time they absolutely neglect the workforce. The produce has a higher value than the actual humans working there. One of these Companies actually recently took out full-page newspaper ads promoting its commitment to social responsibility.

The company these laborers work for use devious ways to keep profits high. It is law to pay workers their wages on a weekly base. To ensure that the people do not leave before their 3 month work contract the company often withholds their wages and only pays them at the end of their contract. In that time the workers get their food from the company store with its inflated prices. They often go deep in debt and at the end of their contract some go home without any money.

The conditions are so bad, yet people still go there to work knowing that they might not make money – some go just to stay fed. They go because they simply have no alternative and that is what the companies are exploiting. Is there any way to stop this Madness? Yes

Solution:

The main reason why people will work for a company like this and live with the miserable living conditions is because they need the money – no matter how little it is. So let’s see how the Living Income Guaranteed will drastically improve the situation:

With the Living Income guaranteed the workforce will no longer be able to be exploited, because that desperation to find a job no matter where it is or how terrible the work conditions are will no longer exist. When the people who cannot find work receive a Living Income they will no longer accept bad working conditions. The company will have to improve the working conditions otherwise they are going to have a hard time hiring the workforce needed to get the job done.

This Involves granting them good quality foods that they are used to eating, to create proper housing with full services for them - water, toilets - and proper working gear. Also what would need to be done is abolish all abuse – this means no threats and not deliberately creating debt for the workforce.  These companies will need to apply and live by their corporate social responsibility measures, currently it’s only a front to make the companies look good.

With the basic Income Double the Living income the laborers will be able to make a guaranteed decent living that will be paid on a weekly basis, no excuses allowed.

A living Income Guaranteed will provide effective and practical solutions to all the current problems these laborers are facing and it is something this world needs – a Solution.

Day 260 - Would you like some Plastic and Plutonium For Dinner? You may already have...

 

 

Researchers working around the world have come up with the most comprehensive estimate to date of the amount of plastic clogging the oceans, and it’s bad, bad news.

The grand total? They tallied 5.25 trillion individual pieces of plastic, weighing a collective 269,000 tons.

The study, which was spearheaded by Marcus Eriksen of the nonprofit 5 Gyres Institute and published in the journal PLoS One, found that most of the pollution consisted of microplastics, those tiny particles that remain when larger pieces of plastic break down — plastic being non-biodegradable, they never disappear completely.

“We saw turtles that ate plastic bags and fish that ingested fishing lines,” Julia Reisser, a researcher based at the University of Western Australia, told the Guardian. And the team identified less visible threats as well — plastic particles, they note, can soak up pollutants, potentially introducing toxic chemicals into the food chain. “Bigger fish eat the little fish and then they end up on our plates,” Reisser explained. “It’s hard to tell how much pollution is being ingested but certainly plastics are providing some of it.” - http://www.salon.com/2014/12/10/over_5_trillion_pieces_of_plastic_are_floating_in_the_worlds_oceans/

We are eating plastic.

Even when I was child I heard the stories of how much we are damaging the oceans with our plastic. Plastic takes many decades to degrade and in that process it turns into micro-plastic particles. These particles get consumed by the fish and various ocean life. We humans then eat the fish.

We are eating more plastic.

The ocean has become humanities favorite dumping area. Its Huge, the ocean takes up most of the earth’s surface area and we humans can’t really do anything with it in term of living space. We need land. So what can we do with all that space? We have detonated a total of 2053 Nuclear bombs in the ocean. Yes – two thousand and fifty three nuclear detonations. Bound to be consequences there. Also we have dumped tons and tons of nuclear waste barrels. Apparently over 100,000 tons worth. Metal tends to rust - these barrels are leaking.

We are eating plutonium.

we need to stop seeing the earth as this huge infinite place where the thing we do have no consequences. Sure we do not see the effects right away or they do not affect us directly, but we are all on this ship called earth. Anything affecting the earth affects us all directly in a way. Our individual actions have consequences and its time we realize this. If we do not change our ways...we cannot live on plastic and plutonium.

Day 259: Its all about Perspective - Plants are alive

 

We tend to find it difficult to put some things in perspective. For example: Just how far is it to the Moon? The distance from the earth to the moon is about 384,400 km. When you look at a number like that its hard to imagine how far that is. Its like traveling around the world 9 times. Or you can look at it like this: You can fit all the planets (including Pluto) between the earth and the moon. Like this:

 

      

                                               Puts things in perspective

 

Now we all the know that plants are living things. They grow and they die, but there is allot more to it. when you walk towards a plant in the grass and it looks like you might step on it, the plant reacts. It knows you might step on it and it really doesn't want that. There has been plenty of research on this point.

A cabbage was hooked up to machines to measure any sort of reactions. They took another cabbage and started cutting it up in pieces, what they found was that the veggie reacted to this event. Even more interesting is that whenever that same person walked into the room - the plant would react. Another study showed that a plant is aware of itself being eaten by a caterpillar for example.

What does this all show us? Firstly that we do not yet know the extent to which plants are aware. When you step on grass it "feels" it. When you cut a tree down or pluck fruit the tree is aware of this. Even the fruit we eat are alive.

We tend to see things based on our perception - meaning we look at plants and trees and cut them down. We do not hear a scream of pain or see any kind of reaction and from that we believe the tree is not actually aware, but the fact is that its aware.  Plants and trees are living things. 

 

Puts things in perspective...

Day 258: Life lessons through Music – Specificity

 

 

Lately I have started practicing piano and currently I am working on a classical song that is very difficult for me. The thing about playing piano or any instrument is that to be good at it you need to be very specific in terms on finger placement, finger speed and velocity. If you are not specific in it you are going to make mistakes and play the music wrong.

What I do is learn the song one section at a time – once I am able to play it without mistakes I move on to the next section. Now, there are many sections in this song and what I found was that as I progressed I tended to rush through the sections. There are a few sections where I always make mistakes at the exact same place every time I play the song through.

This got very frustrating, but I finally realized why. When I first learnt and played those sections and when I first made the mistakes – I did not stop to correct them effectively. I kind of just skipped it because it’s such a small point I rather want to get on with the next section so that I can learn the whole song. Now what has happened is that I formed a habit and that mistake is actually now part of how I play the song. All because I did not stop and correct it the moment I made the mistake – I was not specific enough the first time I played it. Now I have to unlearn the mistake by repeatedly playing it correctly over and over until it sinks in.

And this basically related to life as well. We go through life and we make mistakes along the way. We learn how to deal with events in our lives and how to deal with things. For example as a kid somebody said something nasty to me and I took it personally and became angry – From that moment whenever a similar events plays out I do the exact same thing, because when it first happened I did not stop for a moment to realize that taking things personally is not necessary – I am the one who creates the reaction within me.

There are so many examples of how we all made mistakes in life and never really learned from them, but instead created a habit to repeat those mistakes and that has become part of who we are. And to change that behavior requires us to consistently and repeatedly correct it whenever it comes up. For example with me and taking this personally – whenever I took something personally I to stopped and breathed and let go of the anger and reaction. Eventually over time this behavior faded away – I had to unlearn it.

Sure it would have been easier to stop the behavior as soon as it happened, but we are not taught or shown how to respond practically and effectively to situations in life.

A new Website opened where you can find video recordings all about supporting you in your life’s journey.  The video you’ll find there deal with everyday problems that you may be facing at the moment, that you have experienced in the past or that you may run into in the future. They offer insights based on common sense and solutions that you can apply in your life instantly. go here to find out more: Self and Living

Day 257: Why it’s time to Redefine Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving – a time of year were people and families come together to spend some quality time and be thankful for the food on the table. Ironically, it’s also the time of year were millions of pounds of food are wasted. Nothing says how thankful we are like wasting over 204 million pounds of turkey…

Let’s look at that figure a little closer: 204 million pounds of turkey is allot. It’s worth over $270 million. Imagine how many hungry families can be fed with all that wasted meat – it’s enough to give every food-insecure household in America 5kg of meat. And what about the water used to produce all that wasted turkey? A staggering 105 billion gallons. And all that meat ends up in landfills.

This is very contradictory .The tradition of thanksgiving when we look at what actually happens it seems what is being celebrated is being ungrateful and gluttony. So much food is simply being wasted. Sure, tiss’ the season of profits. The turkey factories cash it in this time of year – where the meat ends up does not matter as long as it’s being sold.

And then we have Black Friday afterwards. Nothing says thank you like reenacting the Zombie apocalypse every year after thanksgiving. I was very relieved when South Africans did not take part in these traditions, but unfortunately companies here in SA started with the Black Friday tradition as well.

What does it really mean to be thankful for the food on the table? Who is to thanks? To know the answer to that you have really look at what it took for that food to be on your table. From the turkey born to be slaughtered to the workers harvesting the veggies. The packaging and transport and water reuired. Even down to the oil that needed to be drilled to create the packing and fuel the truck and all the people involved in the process. Who at thanksgiving actually give thanks where it’s due? Who thanks the turkey?

What we should actually do is redefine thanksgiving. To stop buying and preparing too much food and only make enough. Or to take the leftovers and use it were it will not be wasted – you won’t have to look hard to find a hungry person to give the food to. And then to thank the turkey and every other part that was involved with getting that food on your plate. That would be an actual thanksgiving Dinner. And then we should do that with every meal we eat – practice real gratefulness through the understanding of how that food got in your plate.

How the Living Income Guaranteed Will promote Environmental Sustainability

 

As we all know – our continued human existence is having consequences on the earth and one of them is the earth warming up. And so scientist are trying to come up with solutions to stop this particular consequence and one of the options to stop Global warming is through GEOengineering – interfering with nature on a planetary scale.

Here are some of the GEOengereeing options that scientist are currently investigating:

1. Afforestation: This technique would irrigate deserts, such as those in Australia and North Africa, to plant millions of trees that could absorb carbon dioxide, but This vegetation would also draw in sunlight that the deserts currently reflect back into space, and so contribute to global warming. 

2. Artificial ocean upwelling: Engineers would use long pipes to pump cold, nutrient-rich water upward to cool ocean-surface waters. If this process ever stopped it could cause oceans to rebalance their heat levels and rapidly change the climate.

3. Ocean alkalinisation: This involves heaping lime into the ocean to chemically increase the absorption of carbon dioxide.

4. Ocean iron fertilisation: The method involves dumping iron into the oceans to improve the growth of photosynthetic organisms that can absorb carbon dioxide.

5. Solar radiation management: This would reduce the amount of sunlight Earth receives, by shooting reflective sulphate-based aerosols into the atmosphere.

As I read through this list I get kind of worried, because they are trying to stop the earth from heating up through wanting to do things like dumping iron into the oceans or spraying the air with sulphate. Won’t that simply cause more problems in the future? You don’t solve a problem with another problem.

Here is an analogy: You see a spider trapped in your bathtub. So you take a few sheets of tissue paper and very carefully burn your house down…

In a similar way that is how we deal with issues we face on this earth. With the above mentioned solutions we are simply going to create more problems.

The way you deal with problems is stopping it at the source, which is the way we humans interact with the earth. Or more specifically how we have come to value profit over things that actually matter – like the earth. Our world leaders have for some time had those meetings on finding solutions to cut carbon emissions, but not many are actually doing that. The reason comes back to money, a factory pollutes the earth, but it also makes money. Currently cutting emissions equals less money made.

Eco friendly solutions cost allot of money so that is why it is not ever really implemented on global scale – it’s not cost effective. Also there is the factor that there is a massive profit being made by current use of available technologies – like oil and coal - and thus coming up with other solutions are discouraged.

So then what is the reason for all this pollution currently created? Money. And what would be the solution to clean up and stop pollution? Money. The planet has over 7 billion people on it. And I have read and seen solutions to control and get rid of pollution many times, but it never gets implemented, because the people coming up with these ideas do not have the necessary funds to implement these ideas or do more research. And in allot of these cases the people who come up with these ideas are those directly affected by the pollution.

With the implementation of Living Income Guaranteed we could ensure that all options are considered and see what will be the best solution. Not to say that LIG would be bad news to businesses around the world and force them to cut carbon emissions – no – rather more about focusing on ways to prevent this with the use of new technologies that are available and that are currently not being used because profit is placed over sustainability, which is how through Corporate Social Responsibility measures, corporations will also have to consider their own sustainability and assurance of production by stopping degrading measures that will cause more consequences for them and the community.

Also what is happening is that consumers are becoming aware of the consequences that factories have on the environment and are favoring eco –friendly production methods. So the company will have to start introduce environmentally friendly solutions and stick to the new trend to meet the customer demand in order to still make money.

Another point is that when an individual doesn’t have to worry about surviving and can start focusing on actual living – it opens doors and with it great potential. For example there are so many people who find passion in doing humanitarian work, or finding solutions to make factories more efficient and less polluting – but cannot focus on doing any of that, because they need money to survive. Who knows what potential we can unlock and ideas we can come up with and implement to reduce or even reverse the negative consequences we have created on this earth. The Living Income Guaranteed would bring us closer to finding the solutions we require.

Here are Videos that further explain how with the Implementation of the Living Income Guaranteed will promote Environmental Sustainability:

Environmental Sustainability

 

Technological Innovations for Sustainable Development

The Sims 4: Best way to make lots of money Fast

 

 

 

                                               Cow plant is fun - and dangerous...

One of the first things you will notice while playing  Sims 4  is that making money is more difficult than it was in the Sims 3. But I have found a method where my Sims don't have to work, don't have to paint, don't have to license songs or books . They both just live on interest earned.

Below I will show you how to make over 60 000 simoleons per week by doing nothing (no cheats).

Currently My Sims - the mother and father - are making over 70 000 a week. They do not have jobs - I quit them. This is done by taking advantage of the Fabulously Wealthy aspiration where your Sims gets money every week based on your household funds.

 

STEP 1 - Making a fortune with Gardening:

        Here is what a spliced Tomato and UFO plant looks like - the real money maker

 

Before you start selling your harvest make sure you select the Fabulously Wealthy Aspiration, because this will help you complete it.

The first thing we need to do is accumulate money - the more money you have the more you will make every week. The best and fastest method is by doing gardening(yup). Get a few grape trees growing and tend to them once a day - get them to prefect grape trees , because that increases the value for the fruit. You will want to get your Sim to max out the gardening skill - this will make things easier, but you need the grafting ability which unlocks at level 7.

Perfect Grapes sell for 33 each. Each tree gives maximum 10 grapes. Its takes about 2 to 3 days for the grapes to be ready for harvesting so you are looking at making over 30 000 a week if you have 40 grape trees. It takes time to tend to so many so I recommend your Sim quit his/her job. Another advantage to having so many is that it will improve the skill faster.

The real money maker  is the U.F.O plant. It sells for 120 each. The only problem is that it takes a long time before you can harvest it. A way around this is to splice a UFO cutting onto a tomato tree - the tomato tree can be harvested daily. By splicing the two you will be able to harvest the trees almost daily. When you have about 20 of these perfect tomato/UFO trees you are looking at making over 20 000 PER DAY selling the harvest. You will want to keep doing this until you have about 500 000 household funds. The more money you have the more you will make every week.

STEP 2 - Sit back and do whatever

               Above you can see ( print is small, sorry) my guy earned 38 000 this week.

Once your Sim has completed the Fabulously Wealthy Aspiration get your second Sim ( husband or wife or whoever living with you) to Complete the Fabulously Wealthy aspiration as well . What you can do is let this Sim harvest and sell the fruit to be able to complete the aspiration. Once you are satisfied with the amount you are making every week from investments go to build mode and place all the trees in your inventory - this will store the trees if you want to use them again in the future. When you have about 800 000 total your Sims combined will be making 76 000  per week - by doing nothing - leaving you time to do other things.

 

For more info on how to improve your life if you are struggling with real life moodlets take a look around here

Day 254 -What behavior do you dislike about yourself? How can you change that?

 

 

I found myself in a particular pattern I did not take note of before. What kind of behavior do you go into when you have a task to complete but very limited time? The particular task you are working on you have no idea how to do so first you have to research it and test it out before you can finish it. With me what comes up is stress and frustration and then generally very unpleasant to be around with.

The thing is that it does not have to be this way. Reacting towards events in your life like I did is not supportive and it’s unnecessary. Sure when you run out of time and see you cannot finish the task in time you generally have stress, but when you look at the whole situation the stress does not contribute to anything. It does not make the time go slower and it does not magically make everything work out so that you can do the tasks. All it does is leave you feeling like shit.

The fact is that regardless of how I feel about it – the end result is the same. There was simply not enough time to finish the task and looking back I did the best I could and that is all there is to it. I cannot change the time flow, I cannot make time go slower – so what is really the point of going into stress and frustration? If anything what it does is cloud your judgment making you ineffective, because you are reacting to a situation instead of directing it.

What I have found is that it’s a pattern I have a created, almost like a habit. Whenever this happens then that happens. If I am in a situation of needing a task completed with not enough time means I must go into stress and frustration. So what I have done now is worked in stopping that pattern: When I find myself in a situation where there is limited time to do a certain task – I stop the reaction. I stop the frustration and stress and breath and be here in the moment.

This tool can be applied in many situations in life. If you have a pattern/habit that you would like to stop you need to write a new script for yourself that you can replace the current behavior. If you do not change the pattern then it will simply continue for the rest of your life – I Do no not want to live with this particular pattern anymore so I choose to stop it.

Have a look in your life and see where you live out patterns/habits/behaviors and know that you do have the power to stop and change yourself.

Day 253 - A New Disorder discovered: Calling everything a disorder…

 

 

“Othello Syndrome is a psychiatric disorder where a person is convinced their partner is being unfaithful - but with very little, if any, proof to confirm their fears.The name is derived from Shakespeare’s Othello, who killed his wife Desdemona after suspecting her infidelity. The condition presents itself as jealous and controlling behaviour and sometimes violence - but the two main characteristics are delusions and obsessions.In men the jealousy tends to focus around sexual infidelity, whereas in women it may centre around emotional betrayal.Treatment includes antidepressant and antipsychotic medication and/or therapy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2829757/Lie-Jealous-woman-forced-fianc-lie-detector-test-time-came-home-married-him.html#ixzz3JGJKu0Mo

In the article the woman has delusional jealousy where she believes the guy is having an affair even though he is not. This is labeled as a disorder called Othello Syndrome. Some time ago a read an article of guy who always procrastinates, went to a psychologist who “diagnosed” him with chronic procrastination – calling it an disorder. Why is it that we call somebody who procrastinates or is insanely jealous as having a disorder?

It is like we have defined ourselves as perfect beings and whenever something does not fit into that idea it is called a disorder. It is not a disorder – calling it a disorder is basically saying that it’s not the persons doing. It’s the person’s fault that they are jealous or procrastinate, it is the disorders fault and there is nothing you can do about it. It is like a complete abdication of self-responsibility.

The truth is that these things are all created by us. We create the jealousy and allow it to exist with us. WE are the ones responsible. We cannot label it as a disorder, because then we basically say that it’s not our doing and that we have no control over it and will have to live with it for the rest of our lives.

Humans are not perfect – we make mistakes and to stupid things sometimes. It’s not a disorder – it’s being human. It is up to us to take self responsibly for the mistakes and things we create within ourselves and stop it. I don’t even want to know how the world will be once we call everything a disorder and refuse to take responsibly for it. I can you tell you the psychology industry will be making even more profits making everybody pill poppers.

So let us stop calling everything a disorder and take self-responsibility for what is going on within ourselves. The fact remains that we create these things in ourselves: anger, jealousy, , depression etc. And we have the power to undo it so that we do not have to live with it for the rest of our lives.

Day 252 - Why so Stubborn?

Stubborn word Definition:

Having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good reasons to do so.
 
Have you ever had these moments in life where you dealt with people being absolutely stubborn in every sense of the word? And try as you might, no matter what you said or to show the person did not want to see what you were saying despite the facts clearly being there. I had a few of those, dealing with very stubborn people. And I could not understand why.

Have you ever had these moments in life where you had to deal with a person who insisted with absolute certainty that you said something, but you were sure you did not? And despite the fact that the person had clear evidence you refused to acknowledge that you did say it. Then afterwards you remembered you did in fact say it… I had a few of those as well.

So here are two events showing the same thing from the stubborn person and the other pointing thing out. The problem with Stubborn is that you refuse to listen to anything the other person shows you and believe you are the only person that is right in that particular moment no matter what the person says or shows. It’s an “I am right, you are wrong” thing.

When do you know when you are being stubborn? It starts with a reaction to what the other person said or showed; it’s like taking it personally and then you immediately go into a defensive position. So now you have this irritation and frustration building inside yourself and the only to defend yourself is to not believe a word the other person is saying and stick to you being right no matter what.

Now there is another dimension – being stubborn with yourself. Sounds silly but we all have these inner wars where we see a point within ourselves that needs to change, but then we go into being stubbornness and hold to that point, refusing to let it go or consider other options


When you do find yourself in this position the best thing you can do for yourself is to stop it. Stop and consider for a moment that the other person is trying to assist you and that what they are saying might actually be right. Look at the information without judgment and without taking it personally to access if what is being said is true or not. If you stick to being Stubborn then nothing is going to change. All you are doing harming the relationship you have with the other person and giving up an opportunity to better yourself.

So Next time ask yourself – Why so Stubborn? What’s the point? Is it is really worth it?
Now there is another dimension – being stubborn with yourself.

Day 251: "I Wish I Could just get Away from it all"

I’m sure many are feeling this or have felt like this in some point in their lives. There comes moments where you look at your life or the world and inside yourself scream for somebody or something to get you out of here – to take you away from your current situation to somewhere better. Where you hope and wish you could spread wings and just fly away – far away to a place where the grass is greener.
Today I found myself wishing for this when I was going through the latest news – a moment where I had thought to myself how great it would be to be able to get away from it all, to some paradise planet where all these terrible things do not exist. And at the same time I kind of chuckled, because even if it was possible for me to “get away from it all”, the terrible things will still exist. So even if am “away” from it I does not mean the bad things stop. I think the saying goes: “Out of sight, Out of Mind”.
After that I laughed, because it occurred to me that this is actually what we all are doing currently in the world. We only focus on our own lives, our own families, our own immediate environment and only deal with things that affect us directly – that in itself is a form of escapism, because we distance ourselves from all the bad things in this world. We shove it as far away as possible from our minds so that we do not have to worry about it: Children captured and trained to be soldiers? At least that is not happening here…
  We all live in our own safety bubbles. Unfortunately not everybody has a bubble that is safe. I am now 27 years old and have not yet seen any improvement with the state of world, despite the fact that Christianity is the top religion in the world. And I'm tired of waiting for it. time to break free from that bubble. The main problem is the bubble – we will only act if it affects us directly. Once we all realize that the earth is actually one big bubble and we are all in it – then we will see great change. Let’s make sure that solution comes sooner rather than later.

Day 250: The Creator...

 

Here I will start looking at what meaning the word creator has within me and my experience with this word throughout my life and how I have defined myself according to this word and thus lived my life according to this.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see the word creator as a powerful being or life force that directs and controls and created everything in the universe and thus believe that I have no power or responsibility.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see creator as something that is superior/more than me

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see creator as something I can never be based on beliefs and ideas I accepted and allowed from religion.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to investigate and see for myself what is possible and not instead of accepting what is believed on face value.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to take self-responsibility for myself and my actions/deeds/thoughts and instead make something outside myself responsible like a creator/god or lifeforce.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that I am the one living this life – that I am the one who feels, creates emotions, have thoughts/backchats and live through choices made and not some other higher being or entity that directs everything, thus when shit hits the fan I cannot blame anything else but myself, because I am the one responsible for me.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to see myself as a creator of my life – that It has been me all along that chose to be who I am today and not some higher being/entity/god/lifeforce, and how I refused to accept this fact because it would mean I have to take responsibility for myself and stop blaming and holding something outside myself accountable.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that by believing myself to not be responsible for my life I will not do anything to change it

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that If I am the one who has been directing my life up to now and I am not satisfied in the direction it is going then I am the one who needs to change.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to want to place responsibility outside myself by creating the belief and idea that there is something else directing life that is bigger than me, because then I don’t have to take self-responsibility and when things go wrong I can blame someone else.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that to believe there is a greater force directing life then I believe everything is the way it is supposed to be and thus I would do nothing to change the way of the world and everything would stay the same

I commit myself to stop the belief and idea that there is a great powerful being/entity/force that directs and controls everything in the universe and my life that is vastly superior to me – instead I realize that I am the creator of my life and thus I am the one directing my life and chose to be who I am today based on what I have accepted and allowed

I commit myself to investigate and push through my perceived limitations to see what is in fact practically possible in this world and in my life. There is no way for me to know unless I give it my all to the best of my ability

I commit myself to stop blaming something outside myself for the events that happens to me – instead I realize that nothing happens to me, but that I am the one creating everything that goes on within my life and thus there is nobody to blame. Within this I commit myself to become self-responsible and direct my life to sort it out, because I am responsible for it.

I commit myself to realize that I run away from self-responsibility and justify it with the excuse that there is a god/being/entity/force out there with a plan directing everything thus everything is the way it is supposed to be and I must not and cannot change it – Instead I commit myself to stop this excuse and justification and stand up to change myself and this world by doing everything I am able to

Day 249 - Our Love for those closest May be our Greatest Weakness as a Specie

 

 

Before you come to conclusions just hear me out and see for yourself:

I watch quite a few TV series and movies. All TV series has the main actors that do not die, because then it would be the end of the series (unless you are watching game of thrones). In action series you usually see allot of killing going on - the good guys getting the bad guys sort of thing.

When you really look at it, we don’t really care about the people getting killed in the shows. The shows always wants you to care about the main characters, after watching a few episodes of a show you like you tend to like some the actors. Let’s say the main actor is caught and trying to escape, you cheer for the main actor, when the actor fights a bad guy and kills him we do not care about the bad guy. We don’t care that he might be a father and leaving a wife to fend for herself and feed her children. All we care about is the main character getting out to safety.

There is this show called “Arrow”. The guy goes after bad guys, can’t exactly remember who, but it was like big cats like corrupt people or something like that. Now, he doesn’t kill the guy - no – he threatens him to change his ways. Now we the audience see this as good, because he doesn’t kill the guy. But on his way to get to this big baddie he kills any and all minions in his way.

This is what shows do – It is made in such a way that we care more about the main actors, because then we form kind of a relationship towards the actors, but when someone dies in the show that nobody knows ( like a bad guy or even a random person the bad guy kills) we really couldn’t care less. Sure its just a show, but this is how we are in the real world.

When someone close to us die we feel that loss immensely, but when someone else dies that we do not know it does not really affect us. Even celebrities, if one your favorite celebs die you feel sad about it, but hear about 5000 people that died thus far from Ebola we don’t care about them. All we do care about when we hear this is hope we don’t get Ebola.

Basically we only care about that which affects us directly, anything else is not of concern to us. And there lies the big problem why the world is the way it is. Those who are in need of help cannot help themselves and those who are able to help do not care enough to help. And so the endless cycle continues and the world does not change. Now there is not problem with caring for those close to you, but we need to greatly expand that circle of care.

What we need to understand is that the people who are in need could very well have been us in another life, what if that was you suffering and no why to get yourself out? The only way forward is to change this particular nature of ourselves where we realize and understand the suffering of others enough to do something about it. This world will simply continue its course unless we change our nature. Start here

Day 248 - What if tomorrow did not come?

 

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone." - Pablo Picasso

This is quite the quote. In terms of procrastinating this is very powerful statement - sometimes people can say really cool things. There is one thing that most of us living here on earth do not really understand or even grasp and that is that since the moment you were born you are dying.

 

There is a limited time we have on this earth to do things. We only have this one life. Every day we only have 24 hours and after that it’s gone, can’t take it back or do it over again. Yet, we live though life thinking that we have a spare life in our pockets, but the fact is that we do not. How many times on life do we say “ I’ll do it later” or “ Maybe tomorrow will be better for it”. The thing is that one day tomorrow will not be there and then you look at your life and realize that you have wasted so much time on trivial things, always postponing things in your life.

How different would live be if you lived as if today is your last day, I don’t think there are many people who can truly say at the end of their lives that they lived it to their utmost potential. That they did everything they could with the time they had on earth. And that is actually sad, I know for myself that I do not want to be in a situation where I look back in my life in my last few days on earth and become overwhelmed with regret. And the thing is that it does not have to be this way.

Everyday should be like the only day you have on earth. When you wake up it should be like a new birthing of self – to use those 24 hours as effectively as you can and not put things of till tomorrow, because tomorrow might not be there. And when you go to sleep it should be like dying – in terms of letting go of the day. Letting go of the anger that someone caused you, the dislikes and stress. If you live with a partner to not go to sleep if you had issues during the day – sort them out, because tomorrow might not come. When you sleep you want to be clear within yourself.

Rinse and repeat.

Part 3: The great Gifts ( And Downfalls) Of Being an Introvert - Stepping Past Limitations

 

Part 3: The great Gifts ( And Downfalls) Of Being an Introvert - Is Change possible?

I have been looking over the Internet and at the general idea of how people see Introverts. I have defined myself as an introvert and many points I read I can relate to. So today I want to give some perspective on introverts from personal experience, because what I have found in my life is that people do not fully understand the nature of an introvert and this leads to miscommunication and other problems

In part 2 I went into more detail with the traits: Being and Observer and Disliking small talk. Today I'm going to look at the other 2 common aspects of being an introvert which is:

Like Being Alone and Avoiding Conflict

I like spending time by myself. This does not mean I always want to be alone, simply that I like being alone and I am comfortable with myself. This I also see as a gift, because some people have a hard time being alone and need to always have someone to be comfortable.

The problem here with liking being alone comes when I am in social situations, sometimes it gets too much and then I feel the need to “escape” and be alone again. Also sometimes I will not feel like talking to people and will try and avoid/hide from people whenever possible or keep conversations short. There is a direct link between avoiding people and like being alone – with being alone it is not possible to develop any social skills. So the more you are around people the more you want to be alone again, because you lack the skills to participate.

It’s almost the point with avoiding conflict. In my previous post I wrote I wrote dealing with conflict means dealing with very forward kind if aggressive people which is something introvert really do not like. The reason for this is because of the lack of communication skills. Imagine a person being angry and starts shouting at you demanding things right now – and being an introvert needing time to look for words dealing with a person who simply spits out words – not a match there. So it’s easier to avoid conflict than deal with it.

The problem with that is when something is bothering you about a person, or you see something that might support another you will not speak up and instead keep it to yourself, because you fear dealing with the conflict. How can you effectively support a person if you are afraid to speak up?

To sum it all up – The main point here for me is that I never developed effective communication, because when I was younger I created a resistance towards it and so adapted myself to live with this inability to communicate properly and even created a whole personality from it just so that I do not have to face the resistance. So within all of this I actually created the introvert inside me. I wonder how different my life would have been if I chose to face the point and practiced communication to not be an introvert – but then I would not have developed all the other skills I have now.

I cannot change the past, but I can change my future. I Keep the gifts of being an introvert and start starting working on the downfalls and other points where I have difficulty like practicing communication.

Thanks for reading – and to the introverts reading this: There is nothing wrong with you, but being an introvert has its limitations. You do have the power to stop and move past the

Part 2: The Great Gifts ( and Downfalls) Of being an Introvert - Sinking Relationships

 

This is a continuation of my previous blog, read here for context: 

 The great Gifts ( And Downfalls) Of Being an Introvert - Is Change possible?

 

Today I am look at two points which is being an observer and disliking small talk which are common traits with Introverts. There is nothing wrong with this, and both aspects have great benefits, but also comes with problems especially in relationships:

Observer and Disliking Small Talk

In the Social Setting:

The cool things about being an observer is it give you a chance to look at people and general human behavior as well as some insights. This makes you a good listener and the ability to give good advice with peoples problems. I take my time to respond; because I look at the words I speak instead of just saying whatever comes to mind. This has the benefit of not having verbal diarrhea.

The problem with this is that you do not actually participate. For me I have found it hard to communicate in a group setting.  It’s fine if I was with friends, but in a group I would mostly watch than actually speak. The reason why I found it difficult was because I never really developed the skill for myself. I remember I had resistance towards speaking in a group setting and that was based on fear of ridicule, or being misunderstood or saying something that might offend someone. And because I never pushed past this resistance and fear I never gave myself the opportunity to expand my skills and instead developed the “ silent type” personality.

When I was younger I mumbled allot and people would generally ask me to repeat myself, because I did not form words carefully. This irritated me so much when I say something and people go “excuse me?”. So what I have done is taught myself to form my words properly to make sure people can actually hear what I am saying.

And so started a process of “correcting” this behavior of myself to teach myself how to communicate effectively in a group setting, because sometimes I do want to say something, but fear that I won’t be able to convey what I want to say effectively or take too long to find the right words and have people stare at me wondering why I suddenly went quite. This has become better for me, where I push through the resistance and fear and do not let it direct me – where I direct myself and say what I wanted to say, but sometimes I still allow the fear so it’s a work in progress.

In relationships:

In a relationship being an observer is a problem, because you want to actually participate in the relationship. If you keep on being an observer that ship will sink soon, because the one thing that makes relationships work is effective communication.

The big thing that has always been difficult for me was to express myself with words, I could never find the right words and every time I try to explain it doesn’t really come out right. This made me reluctant to say exactly how I feel, because I created the belief and idea that I suck at expressing myself and will never be good at it. The only reason I am not good at it is because I did not practice it enough – in the past I tended to give up instead of pushing through and practice to get better at expressing myself. This is also partly why I became a musician – because I could express myself through writing music.

I’m lucky to have a person who pushes me with this point to develop communication skills. You cannot have a lasting relationship without actually participating and expressing and communicating so that is why it is important to develop these skills. Stop the fear and the beliefs you created about yourself and push through the resistance in order to develop effective communication skills. To those who belief that change is not possible – it is possible. I myself have come a long way from that person who mumbled. It is still a work in progress, but I have indeed changed.

Next blog will be about the aspects of Being alone and avoiding conflict and how to support yourself within that.

Day 245 The great Gifts ( And Downfalls) Of Being an Introvert - Is Change possible?

   I have been looking over the internet and at the general idea of how people see Introverts. I have defined myself as an introvert and many points I read I can relate to. So today I want to give some perspective on introverts from personal experience, because what I have found in my life is that people do not fully understand the nature of an introvert and this leads to miscommunication and other problems.

Another point I came across is that the people who wrote these post about being introverts have another thing in common – there is the belief that they will never change and always be introverted.
 Or specifically that if you are an introvert – you cannot change it.

This is false, you can change it you should change it in fact, not by becoming an extrovert, but by understanding that even though introversion has its benefits it also has major drawbacks especially in relationships.

So here is a short list of most common traits in Introverts:
1.Being an Observer –
Introverts do not speak much. In social situations I tend to simply observe and be perfectly content with listening rather that actually speaking. This gave me great insight towards people in general – My eyes trained well over the years so I can pick up on small things in people, like moods for example. Also became a very good listener. Unfortunately the drawback of this is unable to communicate effectively in a group.
2. Don’t see the point in small talk
I always disliked this part – small talk. For example talking about the weather, “ it’s a cold day today” – yes I know that thanks, I can feel it just fine. It is not that I dislike talking; I would have no problem talking about something I enjoy, but never saw the point in small talk and mostly think it’s a waste of time. When I do talk I use only the words necessary to convey what I would like to say.

I also tend to not respond immediately, I choose my words carefully before I speak which might seems strange to some people when they ask me something and there is a silence.

This also falls in with being an observer and the drawback here is not developing effective communication. I now find it very hard to express exactly how I feel with words and sometimes I cannot find the words right away and need to really look deep. Writing is fine, because it gives me time to look.
3.Enjoy being alone
I always liked being alone and spending time with myself. It does not mean I always want to be alone, simply that I enjoy spending time with myself. I am comfortable with being by myself which is a cool thing. The only problem here is that when I am in social situations for too long I want to get away and be by myself again.
 
4.Dislike conflict
Yes. Most people have an issue with conflict and would like to avoid it, introverts more so, Because dealing with conflict means dealing with very forward kind if aggressive people which is something introvert really do not like. The reason for this is because of the lack of communication skills. Imagine a person being angry and starts shouting at you demanding things right now – and being an introvert needing time to look for words dealing with a person who simply spits out words – not a match there.

So what I will do on my next post is go onto more detail and show why it’s beneficial being an introvert and a curse and how to change the cursed parts and keep all that is good to become a more effective human being.


Part 2

Part 3

Day 244: Shocking Discovery: The engagement ring is a SCAM created by clever advertising

 

Where did the ring come from?

https://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man/transcript?language=en#t-440000

“But, actually, the point of placebo education is interesting. How many problems of life can be solved actually by tinkering with perception, rather than that tedious, hardworking and messy business of actually trying to change reality? Here's a great example from history. I've heard this attributed to several other kings, but doing a bit of historical research, it seems to be Fredrick the Great. Fredrick the Great of Prussia was very, very keen for the Germans to adopt the potato and to eat it, because he realized that if you had two sources of carbohydrate, wheat and potatoes, you get less price volatility in bread. And you get a far lower risk of famine, because you actually had two crops to fall back on, not one.
The only problem is: potatoes, if you think about it, look pretty disgusting. And also, 18th century Prussians ate very, very few vegetables -- rather like contemporary Scottish people. (Laughter) So, actually, he tried making it compulsory. The Prussian peasantry said, "We can't even get the dogs to eat these damn things. They are absolutely disgusting and they're good for nothing." There are even records of people being executed for refusing to grow potatoes. 
So he tried plan B. He tried the marketing solution, which is he declared the potato as a royal vegetable, and none but the royal family could consume it. And he planted it in a royal potato patch, with guards who had instructions to guard over it, night and day, but with secret instructions not to guard it very well. (Laughter) Now, 18th century peasants know that there is one pretty safe rule in life, which is if something is worth guarding, it's worth stealing. Before long, there was a massive underground potato-growing operation in Germany. What he'd effectively done is he'd re-branded the potato. It was an absolute masterpiece. “- Rory Sutherland

That is one example of how easy it is to manipulate us humans. Throughout history people looked for ways to make people like something so that they can get something out of it. I remembered when I was a Kid and watched TV with all the commercials. There were many toy advertisements in there and allot of them were so cool to me. I watched the advert and then afterwards I wanted that toy and liked it. That liking it was not my choice really, it was the clever use of sounds and colors that made the product look awesome. When I had the toy in my hand more often than not it was a disappointment as most things are.

This brings to question all the things I liked that I saw on TV and did not like and most of it was based on clever advertising – just to make me buy the things. Another very god example is the Engagement ring scam. Ever heard of it? Why do you buy a diamond ring to get married? Where did this expensive tradition come from? Advertising.

Before the ring “tradition” ,people did not actually buy rings to get engaged. It was created by the same people who mined the diamonds. They were looking for a way to make more money by creating a demand for it. What followed was an extensive and elaborate, very effective marketing and advertising campaign to convince people that they need to buy a diamond ring to get engaged. The company spent Millions and millions to get this idea in our heads. Just how effective was this? We still believe in it today and made it part of our society as an absolute necessity to get married. It is already so ingrained that even knowing this info – you will still buy a ring to get married. The company made a fortune out of this of course. Edward Jay Epstein notes in his famous investigative article:

"In its 1947 strategy plan, the advertising agency strongly emphasized a psychological approach. "We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to ... strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring -- to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services...." It defined as its target audience "some 70 million people 15 years and over whose opinion we hope to influence in support of our objectives." N. W. Ayer outlined a subtle program that included arranging for lecturers to visit high schools across the country. "All of these lectures revolve around the diamond engagement ring, and are reaching thousands of girls in their assemblies, classes and informal meetings in our leading educational institutions," the agency explained in a memorandum to De Beers."

So, the things we buy, do we know why we buy them? Is it all just based on impulses and a play on our emotions and feelings? Is everything we do basically based on how we feel? Yes, that is why it is so easy to get us to like stuff, because we ourselves are unable to make objective choices. How do we stop this manipulation and make choices objectively? Who can we start becoming the directive principle in our lives where we ourselves make the choices? Until we find a way to direct our feelings and emotions we will always be subjected to clever advertising.

Day 243 - How to Stop fear controlling your life:

 

Ok. I have an irrational fear of large moths. The funny thing about irrational fears is that you know full well it is irrational, but you still have the fear. While most people have fears about snakes and spiders and various other creepy crawlers, I have a fear of large moths.

Today I had to face that fear head on when a moth came into the room and sat by the bedroom light. It was not a very safe place for this moth, because the room is full cats and if the cats caught the moth it would have died a painful death. So the moth had to come out.

I was the only one available to get this poor moth out to safety and the only thing keeping me from picking up this moth is my fear. So I managed to get myself close enough to grab the moth, but every time I thought about grabbing the moth my fear grew. Every conceivable thought and excuse ran through my head, so that I can find a justification for not having to pick up this moth. This hesitation went on for a while and before I knew it I was completely terrified of this moth where just before I go for it ( to grab it) a shock of fear would stop me every time. I was frozen with fear. I truly believed that I could not do it. the thoughts and fear made me think i lacked the ability to move through it and grab that moth.

I understood that the fear was irrational and silly, because this moth cannot harm me in any way. Yet, even with that knowing I was still petrified. It took allot of pushing to stop allowing this fear to direct me. It really took all I had to direct myself to take my hand and grab the poor moth and get it out of the room. In the end all that was left to get this done was to simply stop thinking about it, to stop the fear directing me and just grab the moth and get it out.

When I was done I realized it was not at all as bad as I thought it would be. The thoughts and the fear made it allot worse than it actually was and I realized that all of it was not real.

Now, some of you reading this might think that this experience was simply ridiculous. Maybe you are saying “ how can such an irrational fear control you so much?”, but the truth is this: We all have that one thing that stops of from doing something. And that is the problem we have in this world.

It’s easy to say that you are going to change your life and live in a way that is best for all, but to actually live that change and apply it in your daily life? This is why most people give up, by not pushing through and not living the change.

Like with me and the moth - I told myself I’m going to grab this moth right now, but every time a thought would come up and the fear will get more and that would stop me from doing something I said I would. How many times have you in your life had this experience where you decided to do something and was very willing, but when it came to actually doing it thoughts and feelings and emotions came up and then you end up not doing it.

So my moth experience may be a trivial thing, but in the end it’s the same basic point. That you might know allot and understand allot, but if you do not actually live it and apply it in your life it’s useless. There comes a point in your life where all that is left is simply say TILL HERE NO FURTHER to all the things keeping you for directing your life and doing what you said you will. To simply stop the belief that you are unable to change and apply it in your life and go for it. Be the directive principle in your life.