Something that is concerning is the general lack of self awareness in peoples lives. I am in no way implying I have it aced myself but I am just saying I am aware of it. For example someone is getting depressed or overwhelmed and they are genuinely under pressure but it is rare for people to do some self work. Sitting in front of a screen is not really downtime as it doesn’t let you reflect or spend some time in your own head. Reading is better but it’s also a distraction.

Now I know a lot of people don’t want to be in their own head and they are aware of their self avoidance. A lot of people master this. I am not saying they are wrong but avoiding yourself doesn’t help because you are putting off peace of mind. Now admittedly I would put the blame on our hypercompetitive culture. Hypercompetitive in a way that doesn’t really mean success but excessively working, distracting, kind of rats maze type stuff.

The main reason people are stressed is that there is no way out of the maze. The more stuff you get the more stuff to manage and most people know that more money and more stuff is just a mythical way out. It kind of is like a thought bubble that you can imagine, lotto, prizes, gift vouchers, more work and higher pay. Then there is the existential meat cage mentality, a kind of dread of being in the capitalist maze and being in an exploitable body.

Yet if we spent forty minutes to an hour a day just looking after ourselves, being in the moment, being present, dealing with our meat cage and working out how to control our minds and our bodies what would happen then? The internal movie playing in your head over and over again, the movie that is  lived in our head which is every bit of crap we gleaned our whole life we might get some self awareness instead. 

That would in turn stop the horror show behind our eyes and we would be left with reality. Reality is to some extent formless, in that anything can happen but it is in most cases rather benign. Maybe being in the moment would provide some relief and it would be kind of boring but if you think of the cycles we put ourselves through which are disturbing there is at least some solace.

As an example, say you spent your time in a boring job, you enjoyed horror movies. You are sometimes obsessed over the opposite sex coming into your work. You go on some dates and one person is taking it slow so you jump ship. You decide to give a convicted domestic abuser who has done jail time a red hot go. The sex is good but the harassment, stalking, him waiting outside your apartment in a car, breaking into your lobby etc etc.

Now in a way, you have made your life what you love, which is horror movies. You treat the guy you bailed on like an idiot and everyone really is on the side of the abuser. Give the guy a second chance they say, you can’t judge a book by its cover blah blah blah. The thing is this story is actually real. People want to be victims, the abuser is always defended. The people who actually understand the real situation are ignored. That is reality.

What I really want to get across is that most people aren’t really in the top tier of real bad shit. Some people just get overtired and then they get a flu and go through those phases. Yet you can break the cycle just by employing a simple routine of being in the moment even for an hour a day. Then you can reset. Eating kale isn’t going to help or some wellness fad. Just straight up self awareness and self knowledge. At the very least accepting your limitations and finding peace in that not dread.