fantasies of the future

Every day when we wake up, we face a tremendous challenge to our self-esteem. Will the challenge work or raise our children? Earn enough money or go to college? None of these or any items similar to them.

Instead, our challenge is to expand our self-confidence and enjoy life. But, you may say, how can I enjoy life when I have (select one) too many bills to pay, my kids are screaming and yelling, my boss is an old curmudgeon (young, decrepit, biased), I don’t have enough money, etc etc etc

Every time I hear someone say these words, I quickly think of the millions of people who live in third world countries, who would be willing to enter your life or mine. They know we’re living like kings and queens, and they just don’t appreciate what we have. Remember, what you are earning places you in the 99th percentile of all humans in the world. That’s right, regardless of your income level, you’re in the top one percent of the other six or seven billion.

Having said that, I am well aware of how overwhelmed, stressed, pressured and unhappy we can feel.

So if we’re in the top one percent, why aren’t we happy?

Simple, we are spending too much time thinking about what if, could, should and similar thoughts.

Why can your dog almost get run over and two or three minutes later be happy as a clam (especially if you have a dog treat or ball to throw)? Again simple: dogs just don’t think about things as much as we do.

The real problem is that the things we usually think about just don’t happen. Studies have shown that about 98% of the things we worry/think about just don’t happen. The result is that we have consumed an enormous amount of energy (worry consumes energy, believe me) thinking about our fantasies of the future.