Embrace Better

Life is an evolving progression.  There is no stasis … no parking lot … no statutorial sanctum …

To embrace life, we have to embrace CHANGE.  We change or die!  And the world around us changes, so we have to adapt.  And the speed of change is ever-increasing. 

What got you to the age of two won’t get you through kindergarten; what got you through kindergarten won’t get you through middle school or high school … college … a job promotion … etc. … despite claims made otherwise by Robert Fulghum! 

In the process, we have to embrace TEMPORALITY, the need for GROWTH and DEVELOPMENT, the reality of DECAY / DEGENERATION and the need for RENEWAL / REGENERATION. 

We have to embrace going “WHERE NO MAN – especially US – HAS GONE BEFORE.”

We have to embrace TRANSFORMATION / “Metamorphosis”

Consider the caterpillar just emerging from its cocoon, thinking:

“Life will never be the same again!”

You will echo those words MANY times in your life

(or else you will not have lived fully!)

Embrace BEING!

Embrace BECOMING!

… a new YOU … emerging from a “bubble” of youthful, unfinished business.

… YOU, Inc. … getting seriously entrepreneurial … MAKING CREATIVE LIFE HAPPEN!

Embrace different and more distant horizons:

… New opportunity (otherwise, prepare to become bored and beleaguered)

… New “Neverlands” – places you “never Dreamed” you might end up.

… Uncertainty: It’s where creativity and adventure begin.

… “Nerd-Dom”: “Specialness” is cut from different cloth; weave your own.

… Solitude (It solidifies both IDENTITY and RESOLVE.)

… Globalism – it’s where the future is and where the biggest opportunities are.

And don’t shy from embracing tougher choices and engagements … they’re the stuff from which the greatest successes and grandest fulfillment are born.  They keep us honest and vigilant, and are altogether ennobling, “enlifening” and enabling.

Embrace GRIT:  It’s the stuff that molds champions!

Embrace CRITICISM: We can’t always see or appreciate our own limitations.

Embrace INTROSPECTION: Honest self-appraisal bears much fruit and avoids many pitfalls.   

Embrace HUMILITY: Smarter, wiser, faster and more skilled individuals abound and the more honestly we own up to not “knowing it all”, the more willingly we can learn, the more openly we accept diversity, and the more enthusiastically we can contribute. 

Embrace FAILURE:  It is from Failure we learn what works and what doesn’t, what not to do, how to do better … to do different … to be more assuredly and sustainably successful. 

Embrace BOUNDARIES: Boundaries are like guard rails to keep us from straying too far into dangerous or unproductive territory.  But also look for fertile, unplowed fields ahead where there are unbounded possibilities for productive and profitable engagement. 

“A canal boat has no need of a compass.”

George R. Hewitt

Embrace GIVING STUFF UP that no longer works or never did:

… SELF-CENTEREDNESS

… TRIBALISM

… Unfounded ASSUMPTIONS

… Unrealistic EXPECTATIONS

… Unwarranted ENTITLEMENTS

… BAD HABITS

… RATIONALIZATIONS

… IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION

The universe, from whose dust you were “begotten” and through whose “ether” and workings you must navigate, will much more likely embrace YOU. 

Embrace that part of “Living in the NOW” that connects most directly to a promising future.

“I spend a very substantial amount of my time preparing for the future

because that’s where I plan to spend most of my life.”

Attributed to William James

Embrace ACTION: It’s what gets stuff DONE and what moves us most opportunely from NOW to NEXT. 

Embrace MOMENTUM: It’s the only thing that will break the stand-off between an immoveable object and an irresistible force. 

Finally, embrace ABSURDITY!   It fosters a sense of humor and reinforces the foundations of creativity.  Come to think of it, BECOME ABSURDLY GOOD AT WHATEVER YOU DO!   Extremes in the pursuit of excellence and advancement – and in pursuit of life itself – are not only forgivable but establish lasting legacies.  Quartermaster

Free Will Debate

For this one, you may want to look up “Free Will” on the internet and pick a couple of TED talks for background. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-will/480750/   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH_VG_aqwoc

INTRODUCTION: A small but hard core mix of neuroscientists, philosophers and psychologists hold that hardly anything we do is an expression of “Free Will”.  That is,  we are, essentially, “Biological Robots” simply acting out what is in our DNA, including what has been “programmed into us” by our heredity and our environment … which includes “hard-wired” epigenetic alterations to our DNA.  The main point of this debate is that our behavior is mostly predictable!  If we screwed up or MISbehaved, it wasn’t because “the devil made me do it” (Flip Wilson), it was because that’s simply – or not so simply – who we are and what we do – and the only thing we could have been expected to do in given circumstances.  

[… never mind that it likely wouldn’t hold much water in a court of law!]

What this mix of scientists has done is to make some very astute observations of selected behaviors and genetic and epigenetic imprints in rats and monkeys and humans that support their assertion, and then they have extrapolated to behavior in general. 

The “clinching argument” is that, when they do the reverse … i.e., look for evidence of “Free Will” rather than for “Programmed Behavior” … they have a difficult time finding it! 

“People are unaware of what they are doing 47% of the time.” 

A key question here is: Why?  If there IS “Free Will”, why is it so hard to find and document? 

This discussion brings to mind the words of Martin Luther as he posted his “Ninety-Five Theses” in 1517:

“ … to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.

Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me.” 

A more operational question is: Why would anyone FREELY WILL themselves to do things that are personally harmful, destructive or self-sabotaging?  Hmmm …

Two other considerations are worth raising:

1.    The automation of at least some, and perhaps many, aspects of human behavior can help maximize productivity … like problem solving while not having to think about showering, shaving or brushing one’s teeth. 

a.    It’s a good thing our heart rhythm is “automated” or we’d go both nuts and exhausted just keeping the blood flowing!  However,   

2.    The automation of human behavior can make us “slaves” to whatever the driving forces are.  “Driving Forces” are really important!  (vida infra)

We might also ask a couple more esoteric questions:

What does this debate say about “Artificial Intelligence”?

What does it say about the squirrels digging holes in my back yard?

 Two additional elements worth considering are: HABITS and CONSEQUENCES.

Our friends fronting the “Free Will” debate do allow some small fraction of latitude in such things as obeying the speed limit … because we don‘t want to get a traffic ticket.   That’s a conscious, “Free Will” decision based on a potentially adverse consequence ... except that we’ve already established a BOUNDARY – the “speed limit” in our own minds – beyond which we will not go.  Here’s the catch: By free will, we established the boundary, but what keeps the boundary in place is the threat of consequences, making it LOOK LIKE an automated response.  Practically, who cares what you call it, just keep that boundary in place!   

So now to DRIVING FORCES [see also Maslow’s Pyramid of needs].  The three most critical internal driving forces of note are NEED, WANT/REWARD and AVOIDANCE OF HARM.  These arise from hard-wired biological survival mechanisms.  NEEDS have to be resolved before we can move on to WANTS (or so one might think!), and resolution of needs is an inextricable part of the cost-of-living.  REWARD makes life worth living and AVOIDANCE OF HARM makes living more sustainable.  Where FREE WILL comes into play is where we get to choose how we resolve our NEEDS (both present and future), what kinds of rewards we will find most “rewarding” (e.g., eating as many donuts, grease burgers and fries as possible or beating the latest rage video game versus building a vibrant, active, healthy and engaging lifestyle) and what kinds of harm we want to avoid (e.g., being eaten alive by zombies versus being unable to sustain a viable lifestyle.) 

“One definition of success might be:

refining our appetites

[e.g.,‘wanting’ what is most nobly and sustainably ‘good for us’] ,

while deepening our hunger

[e.g., for vibrant relationships and inspiring and enabling enlightenment –  

far above and beyond double bacon cheeseburgers].”

Yahia Lababidi [Annotated]

Free Will is, essentially, conscious choice.  How much of it have you got, or do you routinely engage?  The defining measure of free will may well be what we WON’T do, i.e., the degree to which we control impulsiveness and willingly defer and delay gratification.  Take, for example, the now ubiquitous marshmallow experiment: 

https://www.ted.com/talks/joachim_de_posada_says_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow_yet

Summation

An innate tendency to “Go with the flow” is going to look like … feel like … and yield results like we are being driven by unseen forces of Fate.  “Free Will” is exercised most intently and effectively by challenging the “flow”, by questioning “things being as they are”, and by daring to make them better.  Having a Purpose/Mission … a BECAUSE, paying attention, discerning and adding VALUE, setting boundaries/barriers, gating and bridling, and doing things “like you mean it” will send the “Free Will Doubters” packing!  This will all take a good deal of GRIT [ref., Angela Duckworth].  But what a difference it will make in realizing a purposeful, “Free Will” Destiny rather than succumbing to a sorry, “programmed” Fate!  I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do with it!  Quartermaster  

Asymptotically Speaking

“In analytic geometry, an asymptote (/ˈæsɪmptoʊt/) of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero [but never actually GETS there] as they tend to infinity.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymptote

In practical terms, one can approach certain unassailable goals (e.g., perfection) forever WITHOUT ACTUALLY GETTING THERE.  However, such can still be increasingly and progressively approached … progressively distancing oneself from GROUND ZERO!  

Let’s consider the goal of owning a house with an ample front and back yard, plus a front porch, bordered by a white picket fence, on a restricted access street. 

One will likely start out – first – with a one-bedroom apartment with noisy neighbors on a busy street in a crowded neighborhood. 

Marriage – or collusion, with two or more people working, may bump that up to a two- or three-bedroom apartment in a more “upscale” environment. 

Adding children and losing one working person, but hustling a little to get a promotion, may hold things “even”.  The next promotion, combined with savings accrued along the way, may keep the momentum going.  But it’s going to take increasing amounts of “hustle”. 

In the end, one may not actually attain either the white picket fence or the front porch or both, but, all things considered, one may end up a lot further along with SOME SORT OF ENHANCED INDEPENDENT LIVING by diligently progressing toward the goal. 

The slope of the curve early in the workings is important.  A steeper slope creates momentum such that one can get closer to the goal a lot faster.  As graphed in this illustration, the slope of the curve is increased more by “Working Smarter” than it is by working harder!   However, if you overlay the graph with a plot showing an ACCELERATED RATE of energy expenditure, everything shifts to the left, showing a much faster approach to the goal. 

Imagine what the result would be by BOTH “working smarter” and putting forth more energy! 

In a competitive environment – for example, where a PROMOTION may be at stake – ENERGY OUTPUT and “Hustle” are critical. 

There’s an ancient parable about two hikers accidently encountering a bear in the woods.  The first hiker says, “(Groan!) There’s no way we can outrun that bear!”  But the second hiker replies, “All I have to do is outrun YOU!”

Two final thoughts:

First, in politics we hear about people “moving the goal posts” … making things more difficult to achieve than originally conceived or than having any “reasonable expectation” of achievement.  This might be called “Asymptotic Meddling”.   

Second, in sports, the “league” you’re in sets the asymptotic limits of expectation.   However, some [who probably “don’t know any better”] do not consider themselves personally constrained by the asymptote, and actually go on to exceed the asymptotic limits others are up against.  These “outliers” generally go on to the next higher league and may become “elite” athletes. 

The “Four Minute Mile” was one such asymptotic barrier for “middle distance runners” from the beginning of time to the early 1950s (although no one knows how fast the early Greek athletes were). 

“[Breaking this barrier] was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister in 3:59.4.  The "four-minute barrier" has since been broken by many male athletes, and is now the standard of all male professional middle distance runners. In the last 50 years the mile record has been lowered by almost 17 seconds, and currently stands at 3:43.13.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile

With or without “Bears in the Woods”, there is increased distancing from Ground Zero to be afforded and there are elite Asymptotic Heights to be approached that can make the journey extraordinarily fruitful – as opposed to “fitful” – and exhilarating.  Let’s get “smarter”, ENERGIZE and HUSTLE the best we can toward those Higher Heights and enjoy the view!   There are lots worse places to hang out than in the “League of Champions”!   Quartermaster

Quote of the Week

“While perfection may well be beyond realization in most circumstances, excellence is not.”  QM

Life is Like Parachuting

The annually updated book “What Color Is Your Parachute” by the late Richard Bolles has been a helpful life and career guide for multiple generations.  The basic thrust of the book is one of personally defining and designing … formulating and reformulating … a life path into which we can direct our main focus and energy with a high degree of resolve and purpose – thus creating our own unique “parachute” for our own Grand Leap into life.  [It’s available in most libraries, and worth at least one thorough perusal.]

Using the parachute paradigm, we have multiple choices in how we undertake the journey:

1)    Stay on the ground and never experience “lift-off”;

2)    Allow ourselves to get lofted into the air by whatever contrivances civilization offers (e.g., parents, schools, civic organizations, etc.), then take a Grand Leap into our own life journey from whatever altitude they have helped us attain;

3)    Never go above-and-beyond wherever find ourselves in the moment, with or without a “lofting lift”, never take the Grand Leap, and simply “hang on” to our comfort zone, living our lives vicariously thorough others;

NOTE: The forces that initially launch us will eventually run out and/or become redirected to other purposes, such that – at some point – we will be left either to fall or “fly under our own wind”.  This change in conditions may not be all that precipitous or obvious.  There may be no sudden “release of the reins” at the top.  That’s the way it SHOULD be … permitting a seamless transition from externally applied “lofting” power to internally generated “lofting” power ... except that the latter has to be fully engaged … and not only wishfully, wistfully, virtually or vicariously engaged!   

4)    Take the Grand Leap without a properly prepared parachute – or ANY parachute – and simply “wing it” all the way down.  [NOTE: “Winging it” rarely gains altitude!]  If you’re really lucky, you can latch onto someone else with a fully furled parachute and plenty of “wind in their sails”.  However, this is a highly perilous proposition with an uncertain outcome not necessarily targeted to optimize one’s personal preferences or potential.  Creating stabilizing “ballast” for smoother sailing is one thing, but becoming a “millstone” is quite another.  “Millstones” sometimes need to be cut loose. 

The personalized “color” of the parachute bears some relation to the preferred target upon which you’re intending to stake your future claims in life. 

It’s important to note that prevailing winds are subject to change in both force and direction without notice.  Thus, it helps not only to be able to “tack” against the wind, when necessary, but also to have significant anchoring or stabilizing ballast and to connect with significant others who can help catch the updrafts. 

Properly “Packing” your parachute and having intact, reliable panels – no matter what color they are – is really critical.  Consider the case of Charlie Plumb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqtUlMA3Jqo

 “Packing a parachute” is no trivial undertaking.  You may get only one “JUMP” in life … or you may need to take a dozen or more.   The landscape and seascape keep changing and we need to be both flexible and agile to take best advantage of the conditions in which we find ourselves. 

And most of us don’t have the luxury of having someone ELSE pack OUR parachute.  Parents, teachers, coaches, Scout Leaders, etc., all provide some of the raw material and heaps of guidance, but it’s really up to US to pick the right colors, get the REST of the material we need (mining the universe), fabricate the final product (masterful tools and skills are really helpful here), and get it “packed” just right to carry us through whatever “eventualities” we might encounter. 

So how are you doing?  Are you prepared … or in the process of preparing … for the biggest JUMP of your life – whatever that might be?  Let’s keep MINING for essential raw materials, MASTERING key tools and skills, and PACKING for the long haul and for the highest altitude we can attain.  I’ve gotta go now and work on MY next parachute.  It’s gonna have to have heavy duty, high altitude serviceability!  Quartermaster 

Epivolution

The story of human development – both individually and en masse – is one of both glorious and inglorious progression … driven by a combination of internal and external compelling forces, ideally toward bigger, stronger, smarter, more knowledgeable, more skilled, and more competitive attributes.  We don’t always get it right – and few of us make it the full distance providence would allow, but the trajectory UP is a compelling draw, though it is not for the faint of heart or weak of will! 

How far UP we can go has yet to be seen, since we’re not really there until “the fat lady sings.”  Our heritage – beginning with our DNA – gives us a basic “lifeprint” for survival, but also provides the capacity to craft, personally, the Destiny we would deign to claim.  The purpose of this offering is to suggest that the “lifeprint” we were handed can be modified to a considerable advantage – OR to a considerable disadvantage – depending on how we … combined with the forces of nature and civilization around us … shape it.

Epigenetic change is a supra-evolutionary process by which the expression of specific genes – or even of selected constellations of genes – in our already evolved genetic blueprint can be modified, either to complete normal development or to adapt to the environment in which we find ourselves.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics  Such changes go beyond normal homeostasis functions (such as hormonal changes, which only temporally and reversibly affect gene expression), involve chemical modification of DNA, and are generally permanent and heritable ... even though the underlying DNA sequence remains unaltered.   

Recent studies of behavior and addiction in rats and monkeys have elaborated details of behavioral sequelae to epigenetic change, but also suggested that epigenetic changes can be reversed ... for example by blocking the epigenetic process of DNA methylation. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/moshe_szyf_how_early_life_experience_is_written_into_dna#t-983123

The term I am using here – “Epivolution” – derives from a concatenation of the concepts of epigenetics and evolution to underscore the fact that “Whoever we are” genetically does not necessarily constrain us to “who we can become”.  And it takes only a slight “epi-metonymic

metamorphosis” in terminology to suggest an underlying “volition” … a willingness … to “morph” into something/someone more capacitized to succeed in a rapidly changing/evolving universe. 

Willingness drives the morph,

and

Inclination drives the direction of the morph.

Here’s where it gets both interesting and sobering:

“We are all exquisite reward detectors. 

It’s our evolutionary legacy.”

Anna Rose Childress

So, unless directed otherwise by our Executive Suite – or by that of some moderating external influence, we will go into default “Epivolution” toward whatever immediate, “bright shiny object” (reward) captures our fancy … and will continue on that journey indefinitely unless or until imposed upon by BOTH a change in WILL and acceptance of a “re-morphing” external influence.  

Such is the basis for 12-step addiction treatment programs.  One has to, first, admit to having a problem, then “WILL” oneself to change, and then accept professional and/or guided group therapy over an extended period to undergo a successful “Epivolution” to a more generative, more productive life-track. 

Now to a more esoteric, but even more personal challenge:  Can we self-manage an “Epivolution” toward a more generative, more productive life-track? 

I’m going to offer an emphatic YES!  But there is one catch: 

 First Principle of a Fulfilled Life

“Everything you deserve is going to take everything you’ve got.”

[But what ELSE – of any meaningful consequence – are you going to DO with your life?]

Here’s the practicality: Whether it’s epigenetic or epi-neuronal, behavior patterns beget similar behavior patterns.  And there seems to be an “organic” basis for the observation:

“Neurons that fire together wire together.”

Neuroscience Platitude

Thus, we form HABITS – generally connected inextricably to our reward system.  How do we BREAK habits that are not constructive or generative and create new habits that ARE?  Without access to epigenetic blocking agents or interloping external forces, we have to engage the higher-functioning cortex of the brain to reprogram the DNA (or the neurons that are "firing together") – at least figuratively if not literally!  So we have to invoke higher-order “Executive Privilege” to change our behavior to establish a new behavior – a new “brain wave” – pattern. 

I’m going to suggest finding or establishing a higher-order “Reward Zone” … along with more distant and more sustainably gratifying horizons of possibility, for starters.

“One definition of success might be:

refining our appetites

[e.g.,‘wanting’ what is most nobly and sustainably ‘good for us’] ,

while deepening our hunger

[e.g., for vibrant relationships and inspiring and enabling enlightenment –  

far above and beyond the horizon of ‘loaded’ pizza and double bacon cheeseburgers].”

Yahia Lababidi [annotated]

Current figuring sets the bar for significant, lasting behavioral change at around 66 days:

https://www.today.com/health/think-itll-take-21-days-make-your-resolution-habit-try-2D11826051   

Wouldn’t it be an interesting conjecture to suggest that sixty-six days may be the average time it takes for generative, non-chemically-assisted de-methylation of brain-based DNA to occur ...  ?

Brain plasticity is a growing, though still murky, area of investigation.  So we don’t know all of the “Ifs” or “Whys” or “Hows”.  But we know enough to start exploring ways we can take advantage of any brain plasticity we’ve got to engineer some positive “life plasticity”! 

Let’s “plasticize”, “de-methylate” and consciously … intentionally … re-engineer our way out of “same-old /\ same old, stuck-in-a-rut” foundering to a Destiny worth everything we’ve got.  You have a choice.  Run with it!  Quartermaster

Hand In A Vice

A fundamental conundrum in 21^st Century life is finding something of intrinsic, compelling, ultimate value into which we can unreservedly pour our time, energy and “unbridled spirit” for the duration.  Life is changing so fast, and there are so many superficial diversions/distractions to navigate through and around, that we remain largely adrift and unanchored in a sea of immense but untended possibilities.  Captain Ahab, adrift in the seven seas looking for an elusive white whale, perhaps reflected the angst of such condition best in “Moby Dick”:

“This is a cogent vice thou hast here, carpenter; let me feel its grip once … I like a good grip; I like to feel something in this slippery world that can hold, man.” 

                        Captain Ahab, Moby Dick, Chapter 108.

Herman Melville

Despite some evidence to the contrary, I believe one will find no shortage of youth who are both interested in and willing to commit to becoming “Ninja Warriors”, “Jedi Knights” and “Captain Ahabs” of the 21^st Century, but they don’t have any tangible “grab bars” – or a proper “vice” – they can clamp their hands into that will firmly connect them to that vision or goal. 

Crafting or capturing a Vision, Goal or Dream big enough

to serve as a worthy lifetime pursuit is probably JOB # 1 …

to be explored with all due intentionality

in the course of gaining basic knowledge and skills. 

But, besides having a worthy vision or goal and “grab bars” or a “vice” by which to latch onto it, there’s the challenge of “fleshing it out” to actionable execution.  Our best resource for both “Visioning” and “fleshing things out” is the disarmingly mundane matter of managing our UNSCHEDULED TIME. 

In the intrepid world of True Champions and Difference Makers, most especially including “Ninja Warriors” and “Jedi Knights”, there is no such thing as “Free Time”. 

Time not otherwise scheduled

is for building our “yellow brick road” to the future,

else we’re simply “killing time” … and losing critical ground.

One might dare to ask:

How much is wasted time going to cost in compromising MY future possibilities?

…

[Whatever it is, it’s much more

 – with accumulated interest –

than I’m going to be willing to pay retrospectively!]

An even more veiled challenge is that the high standard of living in first-world countries, most notably in the U.S., markedly subverts both the drive and sense of urgency for “fast-tracking” our way to a more profitable future … [it’s already HERE, isn’t it? (!)] … until it isn’t.  Competition in the rapidly growing global economy has had a markedly sobering impact on the formerly formidable U.S. business and industry enterprise.  What has become starkly evident is that:

COMPLACENCY IS NOT PART OF THE WINNING FORMULA

FOR DURABLE SUCCESS!

But, even if we are not “complacent”, there’s the recurring problem of “what to do” with our unscheduled time.  What a tragedy that youth are so frequently and easily BORED!   And what a tragedy that adults so soon feel the crushing and often irreversible impact of lost opportunity. 

It’s a very real challenge to figure out … 

what – most profitably – to do NOW … (in the next five minutes!)

where – most profitably – to go

who – most profitably – to look to for guidance

what – most profitably – to study/research/invest ourselves in NOW

If only we had “Something like a star … to stay our minds on, and be staid.”  [Robert Frost]

Finding a “Star” and defining the Mission, Vision, Goal, Dream, Purpose and/or Passion for one’s lifework can a daunting search.  But such will be both a strong, firmly-gripping, anchoring element and a supreme driving force.  The judicious use of unscheduled time to envision, define, reinforce and “flesh-out” such elements will make an incredible difference in how life plays out and in where we end up.  If you don’t yet have your hand "in a vice", with a Mission, Vision, Goal, Dream, Purpose and/or Passion for your life, find someone who does – or who at least has noble ideals and intentionality – and help that person / organization carry their lifework forward.  It will serve you amazingly well until you can “come into your own”.  Grab hold and Forge Onward!  Quartermaster

Demon Busting

"The Devil made me do it!"

Flip Wilson

“I fight my demons every day,

so I’ve got to continue to work at it.”

Jared Lorenzen

[en route to a goal of losing 100+ lbs.]

“Demons” seem to permeate our lives.  They show up nearly everywhere we turn. 

But they’re not just “out there” – many of them are embedded in our own constitution, making us our own worst enemy!  The apostle Paul – seeking Divine intervention – possibly said it best:

“... the good that I would, I do not,

and the evil which I would not, that I do!”

Romans 7:19 KJV

Paul understood that we can’t leave everything for the Almighty to keep bailing us out, especially when we keep selling our souls to the devil in “Faustian Bargains” … e.g., for that one, very last piece of cheese cake … for late nights out with the partying crowd … for indiscriminate tweeting and twittering … for not doing our homework … for immediate gratifications of all kinds.    

Fact is: We have “First-Responder” accountability for our own welfare

in dealing with our own “mini-demons”.

“Who’s driving?” is the first issue to be settled.  “Who’s in charge?” 

If we let the “demons” in our over-sized “Pleasure Center” have full reign, they will not only run rampant through all the vices and victimizations in short order, but will grow the Pleasure Center to an unwieldy predominating influence ... if they have not already done so!  

So we have to establish boundaries and keep ahead of the demons, who are experts at moving the goal posts. 

It helps to keep a “loaded” agenda in play, with postings that correspond as closely as possible to our intrinsic values and ultimate goals. 

And it helps immeasurably if our intrinsic values and ultimate goals are both unassailably noble and impeccably articulated.  Establishing and committing to meaningful “stretch goals” – both daily, hourly and life-long – is a great way to keep demons out of the loop.  

Finally, channeling our energies toward the most transcendent Mission, Purpose or Aspiration we can muster will leave most demons in the dust.  Only then can we leave it to the Almighty to take care of the rest! 

Let’s take full charge of our own welfare!  Be brutally intolerant of personal “demons” and unassailably committed to making YOU and YOUR WORLD the very best they can possibly be.  The alternatives are not nearly as attractive as one might think … or as the “demons” might have you believe, particularly compared in retrospect to “what mighta been”.  You’re gonna like the way you feel, and you're gonna like the more favorable space(s) you get to inhabit :: I guarantee it!  Quartermaster