Go Easy On The Bottle

The downside of Western civilization is acting on the belief that we have to be nice to all Komodo dragons and invite them here, as they are just nice animals. That error is quite severe. It was the error of U. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who met with Adolf Hitler during World War II to sign a mutual peace treaty and returned to London proudly proclaiming peace for our time. Motivation quickly loses its appeal if we are made to feel ostracized and humiliated because of our choices. As a result, our motivations in adulthood may be experienced with suspicion if we think they might lead to the same kind of bad feeling and loneliness we felt as children. Fearful of being rejected and abandoned, we learn to turn against ourselves instead. We may still eye what we want, but we may feel conflicted about those impulses and eventually we may even stop being conscious of or paying attention to them. Your Motivation Made Life Harder for Your Parents Some children grow up learning that it is better not to follow their motivations and dreams because a highly motivated child makes life a great deal harder for a parent. As long as children have their own motivation and ideas about how they want to do things, the parents are going to be challenged. As self-centered parents have discovered, stopping a child's motivation early in life works extremely well for making the parents' lives easier. Easier, that is, until the onset of puberty, when kids begin to cope with new hormonal surges that give a huge boost to their motivations. These formerly suppressed kids begin to get in touch with their desires and impulses again. Someone that you have no particular feelings toward. You are all alike; Send all of your hopes for their well-being to them. Silently repeat this phrase three times, sending the wishes to that person. Just like I hope to, may you live a good life with health and happiness. Think of another acquaintance who you know, but don't have any particular feelings toward.

You are all alike; Send all of your hopes for their well-being to them. Silently repeat this phrase three times, sending the wishes to that person. May your life be full of happiness and well-being. Hitler scoffed at Chamberlain's stupidity. In signing the Munich Agreement, Hitler had promised Chamberlain that, if given certain territories, he would not invade others. Within a year, as bombs rained down on the U. Of course, Hitler was playing the wolf in sheep's clothing and had never intended to honor their agreement. Chamberlain's lack of realism (cal. Chamberlain's intention was virtuous (500), but his capability was weak. Similar dynamics occur in recent times when political leaders naively trust in the goodwill of nations who actually have every intention of using nuclear weapons to destroy us. Appeasement of terrorism calibrates at the level of lower mind (155) and is viewed by terrorists as weakness and cowardice. To predators, sitting ducks deserve what they get, like car owners who leave the keys in unlocked cars. Tolerance (cal. It is very common for therapists to hear from parents how good and obedient their children were until adolescence. The sleeping monster of suppressed motivation then reawakens. Too Nice, Too Little Motivation Motivation requires some self-absorption - no question about it - but it may have become more important for us to be liked and approved of than to act on our own drives. We can become too focused on what other people think of us. We may work so hard at being a nice guy or a good girl that we blunt our own motivational drive.

It is sometimes hard to be really nice and really motivated at the same time. When you're truly motivated, you need intense self-focus and a kind of constructive self-centeredness. This means that sometimes you may not have a lot left over for extra social niceties and putting other people first. When you are motivated and act upon it, you may collide with other people's wishes. Now imagine the whole world in front of you. All of the living beings in the world are just like you; Send all of your warm wishes to them. Silently repeat this phrase three times, sending your wishes to every living being in the world. May your life be full of happiness and well-being. Gently bring your awareness back to yourself. Take a deep breath in and then out. Bring awareness to your body and mind. Think about how you feel after doing this meditation. Open your eyes and continue your day. Just like a wolf pack senses the weakness of its prey, so do aggressors take advantage of America's naive idealism. Consciousness calibration reveals the truth of any political or diplomatic conflict, as the underlying intention of each side can be discovered instantly. As noted in the list of countries in Truth vs. Falsehood, certain countries and/or their leaders calibrate at a level that warrants acute discernment, especially if they possess, or are actively gaining, nuclear capacity. Countries or political movements that calibrate under 200 are, in contrast, driven by values such as hatred. While it is currently politically fashionable to be tolerant, it could be said that it is better to be a live realist than a dead relativist.

The media contribute to the lack of realism as a consequence of the illusion created by the catchy meme Fair and balanced. The implication, of course, is that, via relativism, falsehood is of equal value to truth, a rather absurd presumption just on face value. As an example, we can take that the earth is flat as a fair-and-balanced affirmative to the view that the earth is round. This can be further elaborated based on the fallacious meme There are two sides to any question. This is an unavoidable hazard when you have energetic motives flying around. However, such activity is not going to hurt the feelings of anyone who really has your best interests at heart. They will be willing to work with you because they will value your growth. A person truly on your side can tolerate a little neglect for a big project and is happy about your successes. However, the person who expects you to sacrifice your true nature for him or her will be extremely sensitive to how nicely you are treating them. Their feelings will become the focus more than what you are trying to accomplish. Swallowing Other People's Attitudes When we were very young, our motivation, our irresistible force, was stopped frequently by the immovable object of our parents' prohibition. At two years old, it was a clear-cut fight between us and them. The enemy, as far as our true self was concerned, was on the outside. Once you've completed the meditation, you should feel a little better. You may feel relaxed and calm. You may even feel more compassion for others. If you don't, that's okay. Keep practicing loving-kindness meditation to gain the benefits from it. If this isn't your cup of tea, try some other kinds of meditation.

If you want a more physical kind of meditation, try yoga, qigong, or taiji (thai chi). Yoga is often considered to be very relaxing as it uses movements and breathing to help calm the body. It can sometimes be triggering for people, so if you've experienced trauma or PTSD, proceed with caution or do yoga with someone who understands trauma. There is some evidence that yoga can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and the vagus nerve. United States society collectively calibrates at 421 (as of November 2007). In contrast, the critics of America collectively calibrate at 190. Whereas peace vigils calibrate at 305, peace demonstrations are at 170. Free speech as a concept calibrates at 340, but free speech as it is practiced in the U. In current society there is the popularity of having an overt, strident anti-American antiestablishment attitude (Hollywoodism, cal. Whereas the bumper sticker Question Authority is hostile and calibrates at 160, honest disagreement calibrates at 495. A study of Western civilization indicates that its overall level of consciousness is currently in decline such that even formal education is no longer a safeguard against blatant nonintegrity and the gross falsehoods pervasive in the media and academia. The most practical countermeasures are: Spiritual alignment with truth (which facilitates a favorable shift in brain chemistry) Intellectual sophistication via familiarity with the Great articles of the Western World We had no question that our motivation was sacred and something to fight for. It was us against them, with the lines drawn clearly. However, as we got older, we were persuaded to take in ideas and opinions about ourselves that did not originate within us, simply because we wanted so badly to belong to a group. We began the lifelong process of swallowing other people's attitudes. On the positive side, this is how we developed a conscience and learned to be concerned about right and wrong. Yet there was much we swallowed that was not useful and was just plain indigestible.