Friday thoughts on Jan 14, 2022

The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits.
We can never free ourselves from habits. The human being is a creature of habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones. We can trade in the habits of the amateur and the addict for the practice of the professional and the committed artist or entrepreneur.

– Steven Pressfield

After relationships, food is probably most commonly subject to our need for control: a neurotic impulse that comes from an avoidance of deep dialogue with the self. We project our needs on to food in the way we do with our partners; many people overstuffing to feed a spiritual hunger or denying themselves in order to establish a secure area of jurisdiction (and along the way commonly demonising this or that ingredient or compound such as sugar or carbohydrates).

– Darren Brown

Most problems seem to be caused by people trying to fix other people's problems.

Most of this "problem solving" is simply a matter of selfishness, of wanting to get your way. You want people to behave in a way you'd like. Since they are not, you'd like to help them with their problem so they will behave better.

From wars to coups to country partitions and what-not.

To smaller scale issues between people. Between you and your whoever - friend/spouse/parent/child.

Maybe we should shut up and stop trying to fix people's problems.

And on that note, we keep trying to fix our own problems all the time. Do we truly have a problem? Or are we just being an ass to ourselves and assuming we have a problem where there is none? And even if we do, being an ass is not going to help with resolving it.