You’ll notice that most of the people who actually look you in the eye (and there aren’t many anymore), aren’t really there.

They might come to life if you kick them in the shins, but they are slowly dying. You’ll most likely run into these people inside corporate America, but they’re everywhere. Maybe they are no different than you.

The full realization of themselves as individuals has been blocked and they are now, essentially, automatons. You personally know many of these people.

They are the people who always complain about jobs they hate, under bosses who hate them. Heavy lifting is your life sentence, and for most, escape seems next to impossible.

One would think, as Alan Watts has observed, that people coming home from this life would engage in all sorts of life-affirming activities and revelry, and really go about the business of life.

They danced, went out and played sports, read stories, ate dinner together, etc.

But what do we see?

Row after row of darkened houses, wilting in front of a “tweeting” screen.

And sleep? No, most of them are too depressed and anxious for that. If they ever get separated from their little screen, they won’t get more than 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night.

The problem boils down to the insanity of your thinking.

Needing something you don’t have is literally an insane thought. Of course you don’t really NEED it to be happy, because if you did, then you’d already have it, right?

Gratitude is free.

Love is free.

Nature is free.

The books are free.

The connection is free.

The move is free.

Thoughts are free.

Compassion is free.

The only things that cost real money are the things that people think they need and that are actually pushing them down a spiral of depression and fear.

The outside world seems like we hate it too. And why shouldn’t you? the outside world is a representation of how we feel about ourselves.

Pro Tip: This works for fitness too. If you like yourself, you will look better. Not the other way.

The costs of our self-oppressive lifestyles are eating away at the planet we need to survive. The only one we can go to right now.

How pathetic is that? Right now there are up to 100 BILLION habitable Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone, and we haven’t exactly been to any of them. We hate each other too much to leave.

I believe that every problem has a solution and the solution to this one is extremely simple.

In fact, we don’t even have to do anything extra. We just have to STOP.

In fact, we have to do LESS things to be happy.

Here are some:

STOP – Spending time with people you don’t like

STOP: buy things you can’t afford

STOP – Blaming other people for your current circumstances

STOP – Try to achieve something beyond yourself

STOP – Worry about what others think of you

Those could have been written by anyone, but they all work.

One of the common themes in my writing is the efficacy of using death as a motivator.

Scares a lot of people, sure. But there is almost nothing quite as helpful in helping us determine our priorities, align our lives with what will bring us the greatest happiness, and get down to business.

Because this cannot be.

There is simply more to life than wanting it to go faster.

There is more to life than competition with outside groups who share beliefs different from yours and mine.

There is more to life than just going through the motions, staying safe and anonymous until the day you die.

That’s no way to live, and it sure isn’t how I live my own life.

I do not experience any negative stress in my life (most weeks!) and I have limitless gratitude for all that I have been given. This is open to everyone. Including you. And your best friend. And the 30 friends of him.

In my work as a human rights activist, I see what this lifestyle is doing to us. Whether I want to or not, I see the effects every day.

But how can I reconcile this with my own life and the lives of other people who I know do NOT live that way? We are perfectly happy, doing what we love and making an impact on people’s lives. Every day.

That is what I want for you, my reader, and it is entirely within your control.

You can continue to live with your head down, accepting what you have been told to accept, or you can build a life free of misery and anguish.

I know what I would choose.

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