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Why do some
people have lives that seem almost mythical, while other
people are content to exists at barely tolerable levels of
misery?
How is it that some people seem stellar compared to the bulk of
humanity? Where do people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oprah
Winfrey, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffet,
Sylvester Stallone, Bono, Madonna, Tiger Woods, Bill
Pearl, Frank Zane, Franco Colombo, Ram Dass, Colin Powell, Nelson Mandel, Bill Clinton, Bill
Kazimier, my friends, Phoenix, Neo, The Other Guy and other people of their ilk come from?
Are they fortunate enough to be born under a lucky star? Did
they pick the right parents; come from ideal families? Is it
superior genetics, or are they from the "Mother Ship"?
What about the rest of humanity? Why do most people seem
contented to live lives that they can barely tolerate?
Statistics show that yes... there are certain combination of
environmental and genetic properties that seem to contribute to
creation of high-functioning people. In addition, there are more
than a few examples of people that seem to shine despite
suffering all of the bad breaks and other's that have every
positive opportunity, yet live lives of desolate mediocrity...or
worse.
During my life I have noticed that remarkable people tend to
make remarkable choices. In retrospect, most of these remarkable
choices are usually simple logical choices, but perhaps what
makes them remarkable is that unlike most people they
consistently make these simple, basic and logical moves.
What makes these people fortunate enough to make these simple and
basically wise choices? Again, I think the answer is simple. I
have found that most of these remarkable people have had certain
peak moments or windows of profound insights into basic truths.
These insights cause them to understand that sometimes impulses
common to us all, must be ignored. Rewards must be withheld to
a later time, if at all...and often, these people seem to
understand that anything in life truly worth having must come at
the price of suffering; sometimes great suffering. The best of
these people tend to be constantly on the alert for these
moments of insight and the chance to sacrifice for their goals.
I have also noticed that the more notable of these people realize that practically
anything can be achieved...if and only if, you are willing to
pay the price.
Therein lies the dilemma for most people that live less than
satisfactory lives. They have trouble not indulging in every
whim or impulse that comes down the pike; they have no desire to
withhold rewards till a later date.
If they have any peak moments of insight, they inevitably ignore
them and go about indulging in their fleeting impulse. What
frustrates me the most about some of these people is that a
portion of them manage to excel in one or two areas of life.
For instances, they may manage to be a cracker jack business
person, or musician, yet a dismal failure in every other aspect
of their lives .
For years I worked in the Federal sector along side of people
that fell into this category. They may have disciplined
themselves to excel in college, scored high on a test to qualify
for government work, won awards for crossword competitions.
Yet were too lazy to apply themselves to anything else and more
often than not refusing to give up their indulges for a greater
deferred reward later; and instead were content to rest on their
minimal laurels.
In
addition, it is my assertion that their few accomplishments were
achieved only because of their overweening need for the high
regard and applause of their peers. Their accomplishments were
not the necessarily the result of a desire to become a sovereign
being seeking to fulfill a passionate desire to grow and in
actuality were never applied to their careers or life in
general.
This phenomena has often been a subject addressed by many
notable psychologists and other insightful authors.
Some of
the authors and books that come to mind which gives greater
detail and understanding of the mechanisms that both
high-functioning and dysfunctional people employ are: Dr. M.
Scott Peck in his various books, the most notable being The
Road Less Traveled, Phoenix Michaels in his
ground-breaking book "Who Am I?"
I also have my opinions from my years of
observations of the people I worked with and from the few years
I studied psychology.
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