THE WHYS
ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT DETERMINERS OF LIFE
Tba, alter
"If we have a big enough why, we can do anything."
That idea, though, is associated with having to push through alot of sludge and pain. Yet sludge and pain are not a part of the why. It is just that some "end goals" may be worth the effort and pain necessary to attain them (though I purport that the pain can be minimized and/or virtually eliminated!).
The mother in the movie Wild, after a super tough life, with abuse, poverty, etc., with regard to having her two children as the result of her life: "It's not easy, but it's worth it!"
Stop and think about that for a moment...
Then apply it to your life.
What is it that has such long term, enduring value beyond all other things?
The top answers to that question are really, in my opinion, the answer to what your life is about - and what will bring you happiness. The fleeting moments of pleasure are soon gone, soon forgotten. It is those items of lasting value that are what fills our lives up with what feels truly good. And, it is that lasting value that our mind recalls in our background conversation, so that we experience it over and over, getting a repeating "return" on our investment in getting that which we value. (Establish clearly the importance of The BackGround Conversation that determines the quality of our lives.)
Now, we are interested in the subject of the whys not only to direct our lives toward something worthwhile, but to motivate us so that we do in fact get more of what is of value.
To do that we must understand human motivation and the bias our mechanical body/mind system has toward avoiding the negative (what we perceive as threatening or diminishing our survival) as prioritized over getting the positive. And it prioritizes the immediate over the long term (such prioritization served us in evolution, for there was not much of a "long term" 10,000 years ago).
Read the pieces in the sidebar to better fill this in for yourself - and, of course, list your best guess at your big whys in your life, stick them in your lifeplan notebook or fail to include them in your lifeplan.
