“The Unexamined life is not worth living.” ~Socrates
When we think about our lives, we rarely think about our lives. No, the previous sentence is not a typo, it is a belief. Maybe a better articulation is to write the sentence: When we think about our lives, we rarely think about our lives. The underlined “think” is essential, for it differentiates the same word in two radically different connotations; “think” means the normal definition of the word, whereas think is a deeper meaning that includes a significant commitment. We must strive for the underline. (A similar pattern is exuded in reading: one can read a book, or one can read a book.)
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results, then why do we bother setting New Years resolutions (NYRs)? USA Today estimates that 80% of NYRs fail while Forbes magazine and New York Magazine both estimate a bleaker 92% failure rate within the calendar year. The failure is not only unsurprising, but is preventable!
I just concluded rereading George Orwell’s grim novel 1984. The book painted a bleak picture of our future; however, such a future filled with “Big Brother,” “Thought Police,” and criminalization of nearly everything we enjoy, never came to exist (and I will venture to guess that it never will). Thought the fictitious world will remain fiction, one pillar of the made-up governmental structure remains terrifying to me: “Ignorance is Strength.”
In 2005, Steve Jobs spoke to the graduates of Stanford University. In doing so, Jobs articulated one of the most impactful addresses to a graduating class in history. His parting words included: “And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
thereisnopeak.com 