Change Your Life!

[Sam]

I'm posting this in the Mental Conditioning thread because most of my mental performance issues, as they relate to shooting, and all the life stuff that shooting seems to represent for me, seem to stem from a feeling of "lack" or of lacking something.

One of the marketing ploys that I notice most often is "Change Your Life". I first became aware of this particular ploy a few years ago when this very smug looking fitness model was hawking some expensive piece of home gym equipment on the TV. This dude is all, "look at me, look at my body, I'm so cool....and (implied) you're not." Immediately, I did not want to buy that piece of equipment, because to do so would be to admit that I did not accept my life and felt a need, almost a panic, to change it. (I don't mean to give the impression that I don't like to excercize. I love it.) I just don't like the suggestion that some salesman who is 30 years younger than me, and a whole lot better looking, gets to imply that there is something wrong with my life or my body because it isn't like his. I'm just not buying that. If it is so great, why does this stuff end up in yard sales?

Quite often, I suspect, peoples lives aren't nearly as "perfect" as they bravely try to represent. I mean look at the most recent example of a man who had it made, totally made, beautiful wife, kids, money, career, fame, and it wasn't enough. It's never enough. And I'm not taking about any famous man in particular. There is a new one every month. I hope my face never ends up staring back at me from a tabloid in the grocery store check out line. Karma can be a bitch.

There are all these financial products and services. Change your life! Not feeling manly enough? Change your life! Head going bare? Change your life! Need a new religion? Change your life! And one of my current favorites, H_ _ _ and Change. Ta DA! If change is desired, isn't a well reasoned plan better than h_ _ _?

All of this life changing, this being master of our own destiny, is relentless and tyrannical. And the real tyrant is ME! When are we ever good enough?

Tying it back to shooting..... A feeling of lack is never good. "Lack", is a subjective judgement that something is wrong. Objective judgements are useful. I did see my sights or I did not. I did control the trigger, or I did not. Subjective judgements, when self directed, are often just accusations. Non-acceptance of "what is". "I'm too slow", "that was stupid", "why did I do that?"

Change is one thing that is guaranteed! I don't need to try and change my life. Every day, I'm a different person that I was the day before. The same is true for my family and friends, the fitness model on the TV, and everyone on this earth that I don't even know. It's true for my body. It's true for my mind. And it is true for my eternal spirit. I want to have the wisdom and courage to embrace change. I mean change as it has been dealt to me by the Divine, Cosmic, Dealer of Destiny. To Love it, Live it, and someday.... die it. But, to fully let it work its purpose in and on me.

I didn't arrive at this opinion by buying into some system. I've tried being the master of my own destiny. It doesn't matter what system I try. I suck at it.

[Duane Thomas]

"It's amazing how much 'mature wisdom' resembles being too tired."

- Robert Anson Heinlein

[SiG Lady]

"...If it is so great, why does this stuff end up in yard sales?"

In part because it's a sales pitch/scam and in part because people don't always realize that 'changing your life' (turning to Fitness instead of, say, self-neglect) requires constant, daily effort (work), and they seldom have the self-mastery to CONTINUE the 'work' which is required for certain types of self-improvement programs.

[benos]

Thanks for the thought-provoking post Sam.

It brought to mind some recent Maku mozo!'s from Krishnamurti:

Do not pursue what should be, but understand what is.

As long as you are trying to be something other than what you actually are, your mind wears itself out.

What is most important is what is now, whether you can alter the way you live now.

There is no beginning and no ending. The implications are enormous.

A man asked, "Put me on the right path." And to that one says, please don't become anything.

Thnking about a problem is escape from the problem; for thinking is the problem, and the only problem.

-Krishnamurti

Becoming obscures being.

be

[AriM]

Sadly, it seems that marketing is driven by the premise that you are inferior, and can only be fulfilled by buying XYZ brand blah blah blah.....this is a researched mental tactic....just as the "power tie" or "game face" is.....it's a ploy to intimidate the weak and vulnerable...we all have our weaknesses, an advertiser figures that he/she will alienate a certain percentage of viewers/listeners, but enchant and provoke a larger percentage....the hired actor in the Ad. isn't to blame, it's the statistical and market research guys.....don't kill the messenger....

I think that the real culprits are the marketing teachers in universities, who recklessly teach our youth to follow practices, that they themselves have never tested or felt the repercussions of....teaching without responsibility....the machine that is the university and schooling system drives this.....compete, you have to be the best, if you aren't the best you are worthless....I would like to think that our society has evolved beyond simple Darwinian notions, but sadly, it hasn't

[Sam]

Thank you for those responses friends!

I am more aware of my trying, but I'm trying less and less, because of my awareness of it. I think that I tried because I thought it would yield some desired outcome. An outcome (hope) that seemed to be better than present reality. This is a simple concept to understand, but it requires constant awareness to live.

The society that swirls around us has customs that seem very strange to me. I was taught from an early age how to seek happiness, rather than how to be happy. Now, having become "too tired" as Heinlein put it, much what used to annoy or concern me seems like it is happening in a book or movie. The actors seem very concerned about how the drama will play out. And yet I seem to know from somewhere, that all is as it should be. I'm interested, but not overly so.

That Heinlein quote is a great one! It reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon we have on the board at work.

Dilbert is telling his boss, "Experience is just another word for .....losing hope."

Losing hope.

All hope is lost.

Abandon hope, all Ye who enter here. (That is almost as good as Maku Mozo)

As long as you are trying to be something other than what you actually are, your mind wears itself out.

Man, that is killer Brian!

[AriM]

Hope is a never ending tragedy for the feeble minded and weak spirited....

to seek out hope is to put forth faith that someone else and their miracle cure will solve your woes....

maybe we have no woes to begin with....

The first rule of marketing and salesmanship is to create a void within the potential customer....by god look how sad and pathetic your life is....you are nothing....but here, I have the solution XYZ brand gizmo will save you....you must have this product, you'll wonder how you made due without it.....HURRY up and act, supplies are limited!!!

seek happiness within, it is waiting to be discovered....

[leam]

Hmm...

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Prov 17:22 (NIV)

Hope is good medicine for the seasonal blahs, overcoming temprorary setbacks, and dealing with tough times. Hope helps you realize a rough stretch will end eventually. Yet it's easy to get caught up in what Sam describes; "hope I can look like him" or "hope this will solve my problems so I don't have to deal with them".

A couple lines later:

"A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth." Prov 17:24 (NIV)

Would that I had been discerning! My life has changed in many difficult ways these past many months and I'm hoping to learn some lessons! I know everything that comes into my life is for good; either to make me wiser, stronger, or to provide for someone else. There's a strong sense that I've looked to the ends of the earth for my needs. Hopefully, and with some effort, I can move towards wisdom as I think through the results of my lifestyle and reach some better conclusions that drive wiser behavior.

So I'd have to agree with the salesman, "stuff" will change your life. In this case I'm moving "stuff" out to make room for wisdom. Hopefully a more significant change.

Leam

[boz1911]

Wow......I'll be thinking about some of these all day long.

[Particulars]

AriM -- your teachers in universities, who recklessly teach our youth to follow practices, that they themselves have never tested or felt the repercussions of....teaching without responsibility.... statement nailed it -- after getting out of service with all I had seen and lived - and then going to college for social work degree - while working at job corps full time with inner city young adult males - I quickly saw that the teachers were basically on summer vacation all the time - they taught from books and tested on concepts - they were unaware of what living in the trenchs was like -- the education should have been me teaching them -- later after a few years using the degree in locked psychiatric setting I wanted a masters - but after 9 grad credits I couldn't do it - mainly because I was going toe to toe with instructors who didn't know what they was talking about besides big thoughts from a book - I saw the teaching without responsiblity your talking about - if you follow their teaching to the letter of the law it will get you beaten or killed -- and they completely missed the concept of teaching past the letter of law and reaching the spirit of the law -- which would give you a chance -- having been a kid on the streets of brooklyn growing up my survival skills were in place at a young age -- the real education in life comes from within and pondering what you see out there - books can lead - but not provide when your on the edge of the worlds insanity --

while working for the feds - there was a saying -- the majority of work is accomplished by those who have not yet reached their full level of incompendence -- - another one was - the majority of work is accomplished by those who have not yet learned how to get someone else to do it..

I think it was the great sax player charlie parker who said in order to really play well - learn everything there is to learn about the proper playing of music --------------- then forget all that and just play.. When I look at god I realize six billion other people are looking too and no one sees the same god - but the paradox is there is only one - and we have six billion chances of at least one person getting it right-

but I doubt it .. God is ever changing - and we are his creation created in his form - that might not mean his face his body - it might mean we are traveling right along with him through all changes - as the original poster suggests. I agree that in order to really live we must look past what we have always been handed and taught - its rather unsound.

[Sam]

Particulars, thank you for that post.

It reminded me of how much we, I mean individuals, are expected to conform. As a culture, we have embraced bravado. Especially in advertising.

Shameless self promoters abound. "If you can do it, it isn't bragging", the saying goes. I beg to differ. It is still bragging. If you can't do it and claim that you can, its called lying, not bragging. Bragging is self-aggrandizement. Self aggrandizement and delusions of grandeur are some times associated with mental imbalances or more commonly with the behavior of immature males. Being an immature male is something that I have years of experience with. Maybe mental imbalances too.

The point is, that I must constantly monitor my conscious mind for these tendencies. If they begin to creep to the forefront, it is my conscious mind that is controlling the action and not my true consciousness.

[j1b]

I'm hoping this will be a one post topic for me. Because we all believe what we believe and we all should abide by who we are which inherently means (hopefully) that how we live is different.

Change your life. What does that mean? Are we all prey to societal norms and the "sell" we all see on TV at night?

Hard to say. Yes and no. Ten years ago I didn't have a cell phone. Today I have two. One for my work life, one for my non-work life. Am I prey to society? Possibly. Actually, most certainly. As I suspect most on this forum are. We all bought into something that "living" doesn't dictate that we need. Is the belief in "change your life" is so sound that you're willing to give up your cell phone? I will give mine up, at some point. It is a point of certainty with me. They serve the purpose they do with me today, and tomorrow they simply will not.

What about how we're communicating right now? As I type on my PC or my Mac? As you type on yours. As we "surf the web" which by its very nature is a social and marketing tool. Inherently the web has no place in real life, it doesn't feed us. It doesn't keep us warm. It doesn't provide us water. It doesn't provide anything really, outside of societal access. Are we prey to society be experiencing BE.com? For me, today, the web is something I leverage. Tomorrow (tomorrow being the future and not necessarily how we define tomorrow) I will not.

Change is reality. The environment changes. Today it snowed. Yesterday it didn't. Next year, this same day in this same place, it'll do something different.

So the debate, to me, shouldn't be about change. It happens. You get fired. You get divorced. You get hired. You get married. Things change. It is what it is.

Is the debate about "more"? Is it about complacency?

I don't believe in the relentless pursuit of more simply for the sake of more. I do believe in continuous improvement. If continuous improvement means more, great. If continuous improvement means less, I'm good with that too. Defining improvement is difficult because you then have to define and put parameters around improvement. You have to create the measuring stick, and that'll cause debates too. Ultimately it doesn't matter. Sam Walton was worth billions and drove an old pickup. Nicholas Cage is worth millions and is going broke.

Today my life is about improvement. I just can not get my head around being complacent. I can't rationalize doing something and not wondering how to do it better. And I can't rationalize not wanting to figure out the better mouse trap. I like the guys that climb Everest and K2. I like Lewis and Clark. I like Abraham Lincoln. I like Martin Luther King. I like Rob Leatham. I like Aldren and Armstrong. I like Yeager. I like the Wright brothers.

You see, I like the pursuit of excellence. Which I guess makes me a victim of societal norms. Although I also Like Dick Proenneke, and not many know him. Someday I will check out. Someday I PROMISE I will not have a cell phone. And I won't miss it. It just isn't today, because today I need to continue the journey.

All of this begs the hypocritical question. Let's face it, shooting a $4,000 gun when a $400 gun is available off the shelf begs the question of who is innocent and who is guilty in the relentless pursuit of more. Were it not for the desire to achieve more there would be no compensator. There would be no big mag well. To take this conversation to another level, there'd be no autoloader or smokeless powder. Hell, there wouldn't be guns. There'd be a bent tree limb with a string in between flinging a skinny stick at game. And we could survive that way, or at least our great ancestors did . . .

So I don't know an answer to the debate Sam. How open to all of this are any of us? Good lord, taking this down a ton of notches, keep in mind at one point this forum had a thread "women we'd like to do" or something of the sort. Skinny women, who we know nothing about, and yet there is such a strong desire for sensual contact. Doesn't society dictate that as well? Do you know who Angelina Jolie is? Do you know what she looks like? Do you find her attractive? All three questions beg for answers not to the specific questions, but about why? Why do we know who she is? Why do we know what she looks like? Why do we (or at least some of us) find her attractive?

I like wanting more. I believe in it. I don't look for more from a superficial "Angelina Jolie" over my bride standpoint. I love my wife. I like my wife. I cherish my wife. I have no desire to try and see if there's "more" out there when it comes to my wife, or my family. I know.

On the flip side, when I shoot a stage I look for more. Always. I look for what could have been done better. And everything that I do better than yesterday changes my life. For the better. I like it. It's what I believe in. It is who I am, and I like that.

Jack

[Particulars]

remember always that opinions vary - I guess their is some sort of reality for me at least that god must be mentioned in the context of change - if you believe that he is an ever changing god and constantly changing into other things then we must assume as his creations we also are constantly changing - but we are given free will - to change however we want -- so jesus said be in the world but not of it- so to me that means if you can find enjoyment in what is available and your not hurting others then thats a positive interaction with the world as long as your not making those things your god - as you said jack - time and chance happens to us all - there were many old trucks in my past with rubber mats covering rust holes in the floor - now there is a cadillac truck and a jacked up mighty nice looking suburban - am I in love with them? NO - do I like driving them better than a beater? yes -- do they in anyway enhance my spiritual walk with god - no - except for me to say thank you -- there is a danger of existential nihilism if we do not find anything to interact with in the physical realm but also there is a danger of losing yourself if you put too much faith in materialism at best it is difficult to stay on a straight path always centered on salvation -- because we are human - however we are also told we cannot find salvation through works - which I take to mean we cannot do it by ourselves in our condition of being human -- we are here - what are we suppose to do - what is the meaning of shooting a gun at a target - well its like fishing or its like chess or its like art work or writing a poem - if it brings a joy then it is a simple thing that is keeping us focused on the many aspects of thought involved -- good point about the price on a gun - I once had a crappy little 22 pistol for 4 years - couldn't hit a jar four feet away with it - thats how crappy it was - had a 357 magnum for 20 years and never really thought about guns -- now I am old and have 10,000 tied up with them - has anything changed - well yes - I can afford them now - and they bring joy - why? because as you age you work yourself through many phases - and you pick up things and learn all about them then move on to the next thing - yes constantly changing jack - you got it - in psychiatry the term control variable is used - this is usually the psychiatrist your seeing who remains the constant when your changing meds or going to therapy - he represents the non changing element to gauge how you are responding to change -- so in the case of god and him being a change agent the wonderful thing is he remains a constant in what ever it is we are going through - because he probably doesn't forget who we use to be even if we forget or unless we ask him to forget because we see for ourselves who we were and know we are no longer that person - as you said - and I said in an earlier post there are six billion of us thinking six billion different ways - so debate will always be the tower of babel biz when we try to interact about things that matter to us like our perceptions - at best we look through dark colored glasses when we try to see someone elses perspective - however if god is in all of us to some degree we are handy tools to learn from - good lessons and bad lessons - the only one I don't debate with is god - because I always lose - I am given a thought here that there is a whole lot of soul sickness in the world and it has become a money making big business to treat the physical manifestations -however the meds can only work on the physical realm of our understanding - they cannot get far enough into us to ever treat the soul which is based in the spiritual realm - so to sum it up thats where change becomes a medicine - we are given the free will to see it for ourselves if we can by pass the ego and our arrogance of self - now remember I am writing all this and maybe its true or maybe its completely off the mark - I only know my god I do not know your god - only god knows us as one - we cannot know him as one - if we could agree as a unit on a world wide scale change would happen in a rather majestic way I think -- are the best shooters those who learn the set skills and separate themselves from thinking much - or are the best shooters those who are constantly thinking each moment through - and a third possibility - are the best shooters those who are underfire and want to live? Well of course there is no answer because each question has a million situations and just as many people with various reactions and behaviors behind it - I think the whole ad and marketing questions are just an illustration of something deeper - I have been peeved about the commercials about gold -- buy gold -- paper money worthless -- but not gold -- well to me whats the reality of that - we all agreed at some point in time that money meant something - so we barter with it but what is it - its four cents of ink and paper - whether its a one or a hundred -- likewise what is gold - something we all agreed on to make it mean something - what is it - its a metal taken out of the ground -- does it really have any more value than some sweet tarts - what if we agreed that gold meant nothing and sweet tarts did -- so this day to day stuff seems to involve us agreeing on something and giving it meaning -- I do not mean to offend anyone with my opinions - they are just part of my set skills and not intended to be any sort of know it all intrusion into however anyone else thinks - to address the topic mental conditioning - I think in the beginning god gave man a brain to serve the soul - and the soul would have always taken care of the brain and the mental aspects of thought - but something happened and the brain rebelled and the soul was unseated - and yet the soul remains - but if the mind don't change or allow for change or look for change the soul is landlocked - and responds with some kind of spiritual sorrow that registers with us as depression or many other kinds of illness both mental or physical -- okay if you have read this far thanks I agree jack - its a vary daunting task to lay it all out in a way thats understood by others - but the topic was here and if nothing more this is me seeing how the thought played out - as you said tomorrow it will be different because we are never in the same place for long - or at least we should strive for that - put me in a parked car for an hour and I will have traveled a million miles even though you think I have just been sitting there with the radio on - and I think one day we all be traveling faster than a speeding bullet ... yes I think good guns can make you happy - if thats where you are for that moment in time - just like a good meal can make you happy if your hungry - but you have to understand the meal don't last and you will be hungry again - a good meal is no good to you if your stuffed to begin with so why try to eat it - likewise shooting can make you happy if it brings you joy - but if it don't - why do it? sometimes change comes even if we don't want it to - why fight it. ya all trains eventually lose speed - (train of thought) - thanks - I won't tie up the thread with anymore pontifications..

[AriM]

AriM -- your teachers in universities, who recklessly teach our youth to follow practices, that they themselves have never tested or felt the repercussions of....teaching without responsibility.... statement nailed it -- after getting out of service with all I had seen and lived - and then going to college for social work degree - while working at job corps full time with inner city young adult males - I quickly saw that the teachers were basically on summer vacation all the time - they taught from books and tested on concepts - they were unaware of what living in the trenchs was like -- the education should have been me teaching them -- later after a few years using the degree in locked psychiatric setting I wanted a masters - but after 9 grad credits I couldn't do it - mainly because I was going toe to toe with instructors who didn't know what they was talking about besides big thoughts from a book - I saw the teaching without responsiblity your talking about - if you follow their teaching to the letter of the law it will get you beaten or killed -- and they completely missed the concept of teaching past the letter of law and reaching the spirit of the law -- which would give you a chance -- having been a kid on the streets of brooklyn growing up my survival skills were in place at a young age -- the real education in life comes from within and pondering what you see out there - books can lead - but not provide when your on the edge of the worlds insanity --

while working for the feds - there was a saying -- the majority of work is accomplished by those who have not yet reached their full level of incompendence -- - another one was - the majority of work is accomplished by those who have not yet learned how to get someone else to do it..

I think it was the great sax player charlie parker who said in order to really play well - learn everything there is to learn about the proper playing of music --------------- then forget all that and just play.. When I look at god I realize six billion other people are looking too and no one sees the same god - but the paradox is there is only one - and we have six billion chances of at least one person getting it right-

but I doubt it .. God is ever changing - and we are his creation created in his form - that might not mean his face his body - it might mean we are traveling right along with him through all changes - as the original poster suggests. I agree that in order to really live we must look past what we have always been handed and taught - its rather unsound.

I am with you 100%.....I remember going to engineering school....I had already been working in the business for a few years....but I mainly went to have the piece of paper (which I never got) and make new contacts....well let me tell you how hard it was to hold my tongue.....90% of what was being taught was book logic....and had NO practical applications, what so ever....I hate to knock higher education this way....but a book and a guy with ZERO practical experience can only take you so far...

then you hit the real world, and nothing is what you expected....and as you said, that kind of information, in a dangerous line of work, can get you killed....

well I didn't even bother to finish my engineering courses....I just couldn't sit there and watch some guy tell these wide eyed kids how to do things wrong....funny thing is....my "teacher" came to work for me at my studio some years later....

I really don't want to sound like I think I am above education, I am certainly not....that's why I am here on BE forums....I love to learn and be schooled....just not by some guy who has never done what he is trying to teach me....

maybe everything we need to know is already inside of us....and we just have to unlock it....I firmly believe that God is us...we have that inside...so as we have the perception of changing....it is really us conforming to the spirit with-in...just my thoughts on that, certainly can't prove it.....that's faith...

[leam]

I've found great personal struggle in defining "improvement". Laying out a path to improve is easy, I have dozens! Finding the right path for me seems near impossible. Accumulating things to trod each path has led to excess and now the pleasure of undefining those paths. Some I've trod for decades and stepping off them seems to leave me hollow. For so long I have been partly defined by certain things; it frightens to set them aside! Who am I, outside these definitions?

The funny part is that trodding here raised the real issue; I defined myself by what I did and not who I was. A logical path to follow, given the course of my life, but a sad one nonetheless. Introspection unlayers revelations. "So that's why I..." and "oh, that makes sense...sort of" moments abound.

Sam, your original premise is correct. Marketing is only a willing partner in our drive to find self-value. The question then becomes, what do we do about it? How do I take your revelation and add that fuel to my own? What can I say that will help someone else in their path?

Shooting; a microcosm of life.

Leam

[AriM]

I've found great personal struggle in defining "improvement". Laying out a path to improve is easy, I have dozens! Finding the right path for me seems near impossible. Accumulating things to trod each path has led to excess and now the pleasure of undefining those paths. Some I've trod for decades and stepping off them seems to leave me hollow. For so long I have been partly defined by certain things; it frightens to set them aside! Who am I, outside these definitions?

The funny part is that trodding here raised the real issue; I defined myself by what I did and not who I was. A logical path to follow, given the course of my life, but a sad one nonetheless. Introspection unlayers revelations. "So that's why I..." and "oh, that makes sense...sort of" moments abound.

Sam, your original premise is correct. Marketing is only a willing partner in our drive to find self-value. The question then becomes, what do we do about it? How do I take your revelation and add that fuel to my own? What can I say that will help someone else in their path?

Shooting; a microcosm of life.

Leam

Maybe each must find his/her own path....maybe that's the whole point of this life.....to find what is necessary for YOU as an individual, to move on to the next life....hope is just the expectation that someone else will solve things or that you might do something....."man I HOPE I will get that raise"...how about instead you say...."I am going to get that raise, no matter what it takes".....that way hope is abandoned and a REAL course of action is laid out....

[Sam]

Jack, I sure enjoyed your post!

I always liked that TV pitchman, Billy Mays. He said his stuff would help me take really bad stains out of my carpet.

Really bad stains.....That's something Billy and me had in common.

The point of my original post was that I don't feel much common ground with people who tell me I need to change my life. What other reference can they possible have to tell me this, except, their life? If only I was like them, my life would be better. It amazes me that people can be so presumptuous and judgmental. They might assume, for example, that because I don't wear a lot of jewelery or live in an expensive house that I don't have much wealth. Maybe I just don't have anything that they would recognize as wealth.

I like to work on tasks, instead. See the sights. Call the shot. Let Recoil Happen! (Tip 'o the hat to Ron.)

I can deal with simple tasks without losing focus. Changing my life is a pretty broad subject.

I can't focus broadly.

[AriM]

Jack, I sure enjoyed your post!

I always liked that TV pitchman, Billy Mays. He said his stuff would help me take really bad stains out of my carpet.

Really bad stains.....That's something Billy and me had in common.

The point of my original post was that I don't feel much common ground with people who tell me I need to change my life. What other reference can they possible have to tell me this, except, their life? If only I was like them, my life would be better. It amazes me that people can be so presumptuous and judgmental. They might assume, for example, that because I don't wear a lot of jewelery or live in an expensive house that I don't have much wealth. Maybe I just don't have anything that they would recognize as wealth.

I like to work on tasks, instead. See the sights. Call the shot. Let Recoil Happen! (Tip 'o the hat to Ron.)

I can deal with simple tasks without losing focus. Changing my life is a pretty broad subject.

I can't focus broadly.

but that's the scam.....no one is expecting you to actually change anything....it's a marketing ploy....to first degrade you and make you feel worthless, and then convince you that xxxx product will fill that void that has been created.....the british are coming the british are coming!!!

many frauds have been successfully pulled off, to prey on the weak and feeble minded....hope is just another tool to convince lazy folks that someone else or some device will do for them, what they can already do themselves....

I have something to sell you....and I won't charge anything for it....

first of all YOU ARE A WORTHLESS PILE OF CRAP, NO ONE LOVES YOU, WITHOUT MY ADVICE YOU ARE NOTHING!!!!

but wait I have a solution, buy XYZ brand ultra high performance unobtanium filled dumbells, and your life will be better....chicks will dig you, you will have lot's of money, a really bad ass car will magically appear in your driveway....all of your hair will grow back!!!

and here is the best part, put your faith and hope in my product, by paying me your money....

forget the fact that you can do all of the things I promised you on your own with out my fancy XYZ product.....pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!!!

hope is the reservation, that you wont' be doing anything to better your self, instead you will just sit on your worthless ass and wait for someone else to do it for you.....that's the American way!!!!

Edited December 25, 2009 by AriM

[benos]

I am more aware of my trying, but I'm trying less and less, because of my awareness of it.... This is a simple concept to understand, but it requires constant awareness to live.

That's it right there.

(See my signature for my thoughts on hope.)

be