#1 You are not powerless.
At yesterday’s welcome session here at FreedomFest, T.K. Coleman (Director of Entrepreneurial Education at FEE) said something I really liked:
“The philosophy of human powerlessness is the greatest lie in human history.”
(I think that’s exactly right, but I might be off by a word—it went by quickly.)
So much can be said about that. In the aggregate, humans are waiting to be led, to be shown what to do by “experts,” etc. To some degree, we’re wired this way—to find our place in the hierarchy and follow the leader. And certainly there are some people who have great expertise or the charisma, wisdom, and determination to make good leaders.
But each of us can also be more powerful than we know. The first step is to realizing exactly that: YOU can be more powerful than you realize.
This realization can have a powerful effect in individual lives, and, if enough people have it, a powerful effect on human society in general. Far too much of human suffering is the result of the force imposed by those who claim to have authority over us. The first step to undoing that is to recognize that you have your own power. That you are an authority unto yourself when it comes to your own life. Claim your power. Stop ceding it to others.
#2 Clouds
On a drive to Connecticut a few weeks ago, I found myself looking at the clouds. It was a perfect day for cloud watching—a sky filled with those big, fluffy cumulus clouds that look like highly textured mashed potatoes. Such clouds allow for the phenomenon of pareidolia to reveal not just basic shapes, but great details.
And so it was on this drive, in which I saw…
A baby elephant
A flying pig wearing a fez
Several angels
A cartoon piggy
A harp seal with a plaintive face
A turtle eating a sandwich
A Chinese dragon
For some reason, the cartoonish nature of the creatures I was seeing was actually making me giggle out loud. I have heard that it is not dignified for a grown man to giggle, but, well, there it is. It was funny and it made me laugh. I thought perhaps I had had too much chocolate or something, but then a few days later, the same thing happened.
I highly recommend forgetting about what is considered dignified and just letting yourself laugh at clouds. Life is too short not to.
#3 Chance meetings
Look who we ran into last night at the evening reception: