An Old Friend

I visited an old friend today. No, not a high school girl friend nor a college roommate, but Reason Magazine (online). As an avid reader for a decade, I found the format and the attitude both familiar and fun. I enjoyed the political commentary; every politician even close to an issue was well skewered, some were even happily eviscerated. I loved the attacks on our exploding huge-mega-government and the offbeat mistakes of Joe Biden. The “brickbat” section with its familiar exposure of the over-the-top excesses of strong-arm minded cops was still there, as was my internal rebellion against authority in the wrong.

But when I finished what felt like it should have been an enjoyable, informative and fun read; I simply sat there depressed. Why move? Why work? Why raise kids? Why try at anything?  Why not have that extra large triple machiato caffeinated something and follow it with a Jack Daniels chaser?  Why not?  Nothing matters.  It is not use at all.

It was in that moment that I realized why I had left years ago. The constant focus on the negative had depressed me, and caused me innumerable mistakes including one very big one where I bailed on some quite profitable R.E. investments because I was afraid of government confiscation. Yes I know, that is a one 10,000,000 chance, but I was young and had just made my first real money. I suppose my success spooked me. 

Where is the problem? What is the Error? At the end of the day with the perspective of experience it is easy to identify. Here in the U.S. most things work. Some innocents get arrested, certainly. Some people grow up in poverty, certainly. Some people live lives of pain and suffering, certainly.  But this is not the norm. Mostly, here in the states, things work and we have it pretty good.

Some call focusing on the Negatives of our world, “being realistic.”  The optimists among us hear it from early childhood “Oh be realistic!  You can’t do this, or you can’t do that.” Focusing on the Negative (capitals intentional!) is equated with profundity, with thoughtfulness and with the “objective analysis” of academia. 

But focusing on these Negatives unremittingly over years does nothing positive. Rather, it depresses us, it slows our forward motion and it restricts our actions. This depression often hides just below the surface of our mind. Unidentified, it works with insidious pressure to limit our lives in uncountable ways.

As human beings we can’t move forward without hope.  We need that internal conviction that we can succeed and grow.  If we don’t have it, we die.  We die inside, slowly and alone; long before we ever near the grave.

Sometimes we must trust, not in blind belief, but rather in the conviction that this is, as Ayn Rand once said, a “benevolent universe.”  Not that our universe is a gentle touchy-feely place, but that as human beings we are designed to function, and succeed, and be happy in this context and in this universe. Based on this conviction we take a calculated “leap of faith” and go to grad school, or start a business, or fall in love. All the while not knowing what will happen next.

So will I return to Reason Magazine again? Yes, I believe in reason, in free minds and in a rational meeting of those minds in the market.  But, I will not dive in deeply nor will I spend many precious hours of my life there. I will manage my time and I will focus preserving the positive forward driven perspective that I have spent years cultivating.  It is this that allows a human being to function; it is this that drives a human being to make a difference.

Think about this in your lives. Do you spend too much time watching the evening news? Do you browse the news of the depressing and depressed in the Major or minor media?  I have definitely been guilty of it.

Consider giving yourself a permanent bad news diet. Look at the good stuff. Go to TED and listen to the best of the best. Read Ray Kurzweil, or Don Tapscott or Tony Robbins or Stephen Covey or Juan Enriquez. Pick up a magazine like Wired or Inc. and get some real perspective on the world, not the unremitting “bad” that used to sell newspapers so effectively, and now sells clicks by the billions.

Where you focus IS where you live in this moment, and it will control much of your personal future.

Watch for the sequel later this week. “The Lion in the Underbrush” 

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