We are not Gold Miners, we are creatures of habit. We only do what is immediately rewarding, period. We don’t search through tons of dirt to get something rewarding. We do what is rewarding now. Creatures of habit do what is rewarding,and try to do that again.
Most of us lead sad lives of going from biological reward to biological reward. We go from food to more food to maybe sex, sleep and do it again. It's what we find rewarding. We might get a random reward of uniqueness while watching TV, but mostly we just sullenly wait for the next biological reward. Some of us get bored with that and turn to drugs and alcohol a short circuit to more biological rewards. Yes, we are sad creatures of habit, living day after day in the empty space of the universe on a planet that is dying.
It is only the lucky few that get PTSD, that are saved. Yes, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTSD. Yes, that or Gold Fever. Reality for them is not real. They see things that just aren’t there. The Gold Miner see’s gold in plain old dirt. But each shovel of dirt gives him a reward. He hardly pays attention to or cares about the biological rewards. He believes there is gold in “that there dirt” and he is going to get it.
It sounds like believing is the key or cause of this Gold Fever or PTSD. But believing is fake, isn’t it? It is only rewarded if it is real. For Gold Fever and PTSD, It is real! It’s not a belief, It is REAL! They are way beyond belief.
But for PTSD patients, we know it is not real. The treatment is to help the patient calm down and connect to what is real. Then they are able to connect with what is really real and live normal lives.
That is what you want, right? You want to live a normal life, don’t you? Normal, average, boring lives? Living day to boring day from biological reward to biological reward, that’s what you want, right?
Would you rather make up a story your Mom is an alien and is going to eat you for food? Is that a little more exciting? Or, better, your sister is a Zombie and her and a group of Zombies are going to take over the world and imprison you. That’s more real, isn’t it!
What is your story? We all have a story, don’t we? We all have a story and it is real for us. What is real for you? Is your sister a Zombie? What is real for you and how, really, does the world work?
Gold Miners, Soldiers with PTSD, Alien Moms, Zombie sisters, they all have stories that are real to them. It’s the only way creatures of habit like us can get those extra rewards. It’s the only way creatures of habit can get rewards beyond their biological being.
How do we get these stories? How do we get these “Real” stories? Who cares? What’s really great is we can! Isn’t it fantastic! There is a way for us to get more than just biological rewards. I mean the Gold Miners rewards were so great, he hardly paid attention to his biological rewards. But he was, a little off, like the PTSD soldier and the person with the Zombie Mom. I’ve met some Moms, that this could be ….. I’d better stop there.
So who sold you and me on our story? We did get sold, didn’t we? Or did the Gold Miner with Gold Fever get sold? Did we really land on the Moon? Do kids really have to go to school? Is your neighbor really a Werewolf?
What is real, anyway? How do we know? For me: My experiences and what I know about the world and myself tell me what’s real. WOW! Did you hear me? I said: what “I KNOW”, not what “I believe”. Yikes! Is it a fact …….. or is it a belief?
My wife is Catholic. She says converts to her faith are very impressive. Their belief is stronger and cleaner than hers. She was a born believer. That just means she was raised that way and she accepted the faith without question. She just believes, because that is the way it is. That is what is real for her.
There is enough debate about religion, that the word belief had to be invented to explain the differences in what is real for different people. But explaining it, is very easy. We see in color and a dog sees in black and white. When I look into the refrigerator for food, I can’t find it. My wife comes over, gets it and comments, “I told you where it was.” It was like magic, it all of a sudden appeared. My wife is a magician! My kids don’t see mess. They are like the dog with black and white. They see toys, fun and I see mess. Reality is very interesting, isn’t it! So let’s have some fun, OK? …. Come on! OK?
What if we could invent reality? This is the way it’s going to work. There are going to be rules. We need rules. A writer was explaining story telling to some young writers and he said there are three rules. You must follow these rules to be successful. Pay attention! When I tell you the rules, follow them. He pauses, … then continues …. the problem is nobody knows the rules, but they are very important. He didn’t know the rules, but I do! The rules are they are “Your Rules” of reality. You even get to make the rules up, but you must follow the rules when you make them up! There’s the rule: You must follow the rules you make up!
But! There is always a “But”. The “but” or the catch is very important too! Pay attention. Your culture, society, family, friends and even strangers are going to try to sell you on their rules and even the reality they made up. They even went so far as to make up a rule that you would be easily sold and controlled.
If you don’t think that is true, go to any Mcdonald's fast food restaurant and sit down. Just sit there for a moment. Now, feel! Yes, feel deep in your soul. Do you “KNOW” what to do at a place like this? Step back in your mind, do you know how you should feel and think about this food? Sold and Controlled!
OK, OK, Let’s take a deep breath and accept! Accept what? We have three things to accept. First, we are biological, genetic creatures and stuck with that. Can you accept that, please. If you are only 5 ft tall, it’s not going to change right now. Please, please, quit complaining and making excuses about it. We are creating a new reality here.
Next we live in some sort of physical world, maybe with gravity. Whatever the situation, get off all the “Humph” and excuses and accept it. It is what it is. We have to work with it. We are creating a new reality here.
Next, we have a culture, society, family, friends and strangers selling us a story they made up. Got it? Biology, physical world, culture stuff are all pretty solid realities for us. We need to just start by accepting them. No, fighting, complaining, blaming, or any other distracting stuff with them, OK? They just are. Accept them and let’s get on to creating a new reality.
Are you ready? Now, finally, it is your turn! What’s your story? No, No, No, this is not time to look inside yourself to see what you’ve been sold. No, Now is the time to “make it up!” Yes, Make it up! You are probably didn’t get much training in this, did you? This will be fun! How should we approach this?
When children are growing up, they make up all kinds of crazy stories. You were a kid once, weren’t you? Then you know how to do this. I did too! I played and acted out some great stories, a least until I was sold by society that I wasn’t that great. I warned you, sell and control. I did have a few good days after that and saw a few glimpses of greatness. This continued, until I became a solid adult and gloried in my biological meals. A long way from my childhood greatness. As a child, I was an amazing football receiver, I had daring adventurer, was a super cool spy, definitely was batman with a cave better than any they have shown in the movies, yet. Yes, I could come up with some crazy realities, but that was then, What do I do now?
Business is all about numbers, facts, predictability and hard cold reality. But there is always that stupid, unrealistic visionary leading them. You buy stocks in companies where the stupid visionary takes a totally unreal idea and makes it happen. So here is this new crazy reality, the physical world, biological creatures and culture: strategize, plan, test, adjust and play out a story and bring the new reality into being.
Did you read or understand it is all about accepting and just working with what is now. It is working with the made up realities of your biology, physical world and culture. I think we used the word “accept”. We did agree, didn’t we. We agreed to get off all the fuss about our biology, our situation or physical world, our culture, didn’t we? We agreed, to just work with it, right? Good!
Now, back to writing our story! Are you a good speaker? You get to make it up, are you? Are you sexy? Make it up! You are the new sexy! Nice, eh? No diets, mommy makeovers, going to gym or anything. It’s your story! You get to make it up! This is not time to hold back. You only while you are here to write your story. Don’t wait until your gone! Go for it!
We are going to write, adjust, re-write and come up with an amazing story. But! You know there is always a but. Here we go again. So here it is: “it’s just a story!” The others are just a story, too! Don’t get discouraged, we just feel they are real So are we going to sell ourselves on our made up story? NO! We will know we are sold and it will still feel fake and unreal.
We need to do the “PTSD” thing and knock ourselves into the total sense that our story is real! We need to catch “Gold Fever” and know there is gold in our story. So here is the kicker, your story is real!
You know how to put together a 50 piece jigsaw puzzle with the picture on the box. It is like that. You have the picture and all the pieces. You just have to put it together. How do you get better at putting puzzles together: >> by doing more of them. I’ve seen people put together 500 piece puzzles of blue water. They don’t complain, hesitate, blame, get stopped by it’s difficulty, or anything. They even get a little excited and jump in and go for it.
I started you out at a 50 piece puzzle. I recommend you do that. Write a story about a little aspect of your life and bring it to life. You will learn to work with your biology, your physical situation and your culture. You may not be that good to start with, but you will get better as you continue to write your story.
Get into the details. That’s where the rewards are. Go to college, get a good job, get married, retire and die is not the details. That’s what I did. I only added kids after my wife sold me on them. WOW! That was one of the best things I ever added to my story.
I didn’t plan, strategize, figure anything. Somehow I got sold I wasn’t capable and that stuff wasn’t really all that important for a guy like me. I just went with the flow of their story and did my best. Write my story, I was too overwhelmed by their story. I was sold and controlled.
Your story doesn’t have to be exotic, fancy or amazing to someone else. It only has to be rewarding to you! How rewarding? Start with a few short stories and see where you go. It just has to be rewarding and valuable to you! Money isn’t everything, but keep it in balance as it helps. Your family isn’t everything, but keep it in balance as it helps. Your health isn’t everything, but keep it in balance as it helps. Your growth isn’t everything, but keep it in balance as it helps. You decide. You will have many areas in life that are important.
Your story will have breadth and depth and probably some other dimensions as well. Start off small and develop your story to incorporate as many areas of your life as possible. Make it amazing, exciting, fun, bold, daring, loving and all the adjectives you want to use to write your story with. It’s your story. Start writing and never stop.
Don’t get sold your story is too dangerous. Don’t get sold your story is impossible. Don’t get sold your story is too unreal. Don’t get sold you are too old, too young, too short, too tall, too anything to make your story happen. Your story is real and up to you to make happen. Put your story in the stars with a constellation of life.
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