Archive for April, 2009

Last night I was studying Kanji (Japanese chracters) and came across the character for “stubborn or obstinate”. The thing that was so interesting about the character was the truth in the story it tells. The Japanese character for stubborn (頑) is made of two basic elements. The first is (元) which means “beginning” and the second is (頁) meaning “page”. So basically, the character means the beginning page. Or even better, someone refusing to move past the first page and therefore stubborn.

This stubbornness seems to cause a lot of the worlds problems. Once we learn something (especially as a child) it helps gain a view of the world. To change the things we learn would change our perceptions of the world.  And so we tend to resist these changes even if the ideas we hold are not accurate or beneficial.  If you think about it, it wasn’t that long ago that we thought the world was flat, the sun rotated the earth, or that we were burning people for being witches. Now, I am not going to go into religions and morals, but I think the world would be a better place if everyone kept themselves open to change and questions the things they are taught. Too often we take the words of “teachers” to be “fact”, when many times they are just opinions or beliefs.

There is a great e-book titled Software For Your Brain that not only covers how these thought processes came about, but also how to turn yourself into a better thinker and a happier person. I highly recommend it. It is a fun read and best of all it is a free download! Though be careful. It might just change your view of things!

Software for your Brain

What is really important to you? What matters the most in your life? This is a question we often hear, and most people tend to have very similar answers. My family, my friends,  and my health are probably the three answers I hear the most. And I truly believe this is what’s important to most people. Unfortunately, a lot of the time our actions often don’t reflect this. We get too caught up in work, the pursuit of money, houses, toys, etc, and forget about what really matters. So how do  we make sure we are working towards the things that are really important? Keep it simple.

I have realized that I can’t do everything. But I can do a few things very well if I focus all my energy on them. Limiting my focus to only a few things also keeps my life very simple and clear. I know what my goals are and that makes them easier to achieve. It also makes it very easy to break up my day into allotted time spots.

Since there are only a few things I need to do each day I have very few distractions. I can work towards the things that are important to me more efficiently. I don’t have to remember a large number of tasks and I don’t have to worry about not finishing everything.

Now I know a lot of people think this is impossible for there lifestyle. And if you are unwilling to change and give up things that are less important to you for ones that are more important, then they are probably right. But give it a try for just a week. Choose four things that are the most important to you and only allow time for those 4 things. Cut everything else out. Try it for just one week and see what happens!