How would you like today to be a great day? If fact, how would you like every day to be a great day?
Does this sound unrealistic? It’s not.
Check out this five-minute video that will change the way you look at life.
The Futility of False Guilt
Growing up, my family had a Siamese cat that lived with us for years. The cat died while I was away at college. I discovered it one weekend when I was visiting home. The cat had died in the closet of my bedroom. I don’t know whether the cat chose to crawl into my closet when he knew he was going to die, or whether he was trapped in there and unable to escape.
I’ll never know the answer to that question. When I found the cat, I didn’t remember whether the closet door had been ajar – which it usually was – or whether it was closed. Regardless, besides a feeling of deep sadness, I also felt incredible guilt.
Guilt is the feeling we experience when our behavior is not in line with our beliefs. Freud postulated that guilt is struggle between the ego and our conscience – what he referred to as the super-ego. Guilt is a very powerful emotion – and it’s also incredibly toxic.
I Have Met The Enemy
When I was in high-school, there was a group of tough kids who instilled fear into the hearts and minds of any who dared to tread upon their territory. They were called the Nike Gang – an uncreative homage to the brand of sneakers they all wore.
If you wanted to participate in any of the clubs to which they belonged, or become friendly with any of their members, you’d better have thick skin and incredibly high confidence.
I had neither. And I was terrified of the Nike Gang.
Each day while standing at my locker or walking between classes, I was filled with terrible anxiety that I would be accosted. I had helped tutor a girl in mathematics, and she was close friends with several members of the gang. Consequently, I was on their hit list.
Hypnotized by Form
When I was eleven or twelve years old, I saw a Lamborghini for the first time in my life. I was in awe. It was perhaps the most beautiful piece of machinery I had ever seen, and I was hooked.
I began drawing that car on tracing paper, my grade-school book covers, and anywhere else I found blank canvas. My daydreams were often filled with imaginations of owning such a captivating vehicle. When I grow up and make enough money, I have to buy that car.
That obsession lasted a couple years until I saw the first Macintosh computer. It ran a graphical user interface like nothing I had seen before, and the screen and mouse were simply gorgeous. I was fortunate enough to be enrolled in a university that would be supplying Macs to all incoming freshmen. For a while, my thoughts were completely consumed with receiving and programming that computer.
And so it is in all of life – we are so engrossed in the drama around us: people, potential, possessions. We are hypnotized by the world.
Is That So?
The Zen Master Hakuin lived in a small town in Japan, and was held in high regard by all who knew him. Many came to him seeking guidance and spiritual advice. Then it came to pass that the teenage daughter of one of his closest neighbours became pregnant. The parents demanded to know who the father was, and after much shouting and arguing, the daughter named Hakuin.
The parents were infuriated. They stormed over to the Zen Master’s home, pounding on the door and yelling accusations. “You scoundrel!” they hollered when he answered. “You got our daughter pregnant!”
“Is that so?” was all he said.
News of the scandal quickly spread throughout the small town. No one came to Hakuin for guidance anymore. He was not bothered. After a time, the child was born, the parents bringing it immediately to Hakuin’s house.