The rabbit holes run deep in my life. I have many priorities that I’ve collected over the years. The past couple of years of regularly meditating on this statement have illuminated this fact.
If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?
It’s a profound question that pushes me to think about why I engage in any activity. Two years later and I’m still struggling with too many priorities.
My Priorities
I’ve whittled down my priority list to four things.
- Order
- Health
- Family
- Entrepreneurship
I’m still distracted by these things.
- Learning EVERYTHING
- Politics
- Social Media
- News
I’ve recently found that my obsession with gaining knowledge has clouded my mind. Signals from wise philosophers have made their way into my consciousness.
All The Things
A reward for a diverse collection of knowledge is a pragmatic philosophy; as I expose myself to diverse thoughts, my perspective changes. I realize that what I’m doing could very well be a futile path towards my goals. It makes me look up and think about my next move, and oftentimes longer than required.
Desires that reward me with long-term benefits are the most difficult to tame. It’s a blind spot that deters me even when I know that desire is a path to suffering. Doing all the things I desire to get the rewards I want is not my path to fulfillment. It’s a path to short-term happiness. I am punished by this behavior and am given a muddled mind in return for all my hard work.
The Cheshire Cat
Being mad, from where I’m sitting, is a default behavior of humanity. Many of us regularly sit in a chair, situated towards the front of a hunk of metal, and we hurtle ourselves through space for random reasons and sometimes no reason at all. We guzzle poison in the form of a well marketed drink or a tasty treat then we pray to our gods as we writhe in pain the next day. We are truly mad, and that’s OK.