Welcome to Simple Philosophy! This site is dedicated to presenting simple, straightforward information to help you improve the quality of your life and identify and define your dreams. In keeping with the theme of this site, please visit my about page to find out about me and my motivation for developing this site. The thing to remember is my vision for this site it to become an online community of persons that have realized there is more to life than just existing in a mundane day to day existence. Therefore, I encourage honest, vigorous comments on the content posted here. If you disagree with me, then let’s hear it. If you agree with me please respond; however, I ask that you share with the community your personal experience that causes you to feel this way. If everyone agrees with what I post, while it will make me feel omniscient and important, it will not improve others. I have found over the years, that everyone has something of value to share…that your personal experience may be the key that unlocks a mystery for someone else.
A quote from Benjamin Franklin has always resonated with me. Franklin once said, “A rut is merely a grave with the ends kicked out” (I may have paraphrased a bit). He also said, “Many men die at 25, but wait until they are 65 to be buried”. What Franklin is talking about are the habits we adopt of living in our comfort zones and being afraid to enter the unknown realms of change and living our dreams. There is always risk involved with living our lives in accordance with our dreams or in the manner that God has intended for us; however, settling for just “good enough” and “getting by” is the same as our spirit and souls dying young and existing in our physical shells until it just gives out from overuse or just plain boredom.
Personal Responsibility
A real hot button is the tendency for our current society to continually make excuses and not take personal responsibility for their actions. There is a common used axiom (usually spoken by those who should take heed) that states, “Excuses are like a**holes…everyone has one!”. How many times have you heard a child, co-worker, spouse, fill in the blank say, “It’s my fault, but….”? What comes after the “but” is the excuse (they would argue reason) why it really was not their fault. The person thinks they are taking responsibility; however, what they are really trying to do is shift the blame to someone else. In politics the Republicans are always blaming the Democrats for expensive social programs, and the Demos are always blaming the Republicans for the deficit. What everyone keeps forgetting is the current situation, whatever it is, is the end result of personal decisions that were consciously made by someone or a group of people.
Therefore, let us get something straight. Whatever your current situation, be it either good or bad, it is the result of an accumulation of prior decisions or lack thereof. Remember failing to act is a conscious action. In the case of inaction, a person is either unsure or afraid to act. So instead of potentially making a mistake, they opt to do nothing, in which case others make the decision for them. How many agree that other people will generally make decisions that will not be in your best interest? So a failure to act will result in a bad or undesirable circumstance.
In the popular book The Secretby Rhonda Byrne she states, “Your life right now is a reflection of your past thoughts.” When I read this it hit me like a ton of bricks! The implications are that whatever my financial, marital, work, etc. circumstances are I am responsible by virtue of my past thoughts and actions. It caused me to retreat to a Starbucks (to effectively look at your life, I believe you need to get away from your normal environment) with my journal and take an inventory of my life so far. Some things I liked and a lot was pretty disappointing. The important thing is to take ownership (another word for responsibility) of the things you do not like and fix it! While you cannot un-ring the bell, a person can take control of their thoughts and actions and move forward with intentional action.
Life must be lived intentionally! I will leave you with a word picture…a living vital salmon is always swimming upstream to spawn and perpetuate the species, and a dead fish will always be carried downstream by the current. If you hear yourself responding to the questions, “How’s it going?” with the answer, “Just going with flow!” STOP and ask yourself if you are going to live a vital, intentional life or just be a cold, dead fish. Whatever the answer, step up and take ownership and be responsible for the answer!