We are all guilty of this. Most of us know that it happens to some degree, but we have not been particularly adept at getting ourselves back on track. We may have a few habits, rituals, or routines, but when it comes to our thoughts and our actions, we tend to lose sight of the fact that we are a tiny part of something much larger.
As it turns out, the reason we’re still doing the same thing, feeling the same way, and reacting the same way is because there is a larger whole that we have not yet discovered. It might be in our heads, it might be in our daily routine, but we are part of a vast network and we cannot easily stop being part of it.
So we need to stop assuming that we cannot control our thoughts and actions. To think that we are an island in the mind, that we are a part of something much larger, and that we can’t stop being part of that larger whole is to deny ourselves and our existence. That kind of thinking can blind us to our own lives and actions. That kind of thinking can prevent us from being present in our own lives.
I know there are people who read this blog and say, “Wow, it sounds like I’ve gone mad.” I’m here to tell you, there is no such thing as “going mad,” but there are definitely some things that we are not able to control.
I have a friend who is a mental health professional. He said to me, “You know, there are times when I wish I could go back in time and prevent myself from doing what I’m doing right now.” That statement, even more so than the others, was the most reassuring comment I have ever heard in my life. We can choose our own lives and the choices we make to control them.
The same thing applies to the way we interact with others. We can choose how we treat others, but we can’t choose how we treat ourselves. We can’t choose to not feel sad, but we can choose to feel happy. We can’t choose to not feel like we miss our family terribly, but we can choose to feel like we have family. We can’t choose to not feel guilty, but we can choose to feel guilt-free.
I am not sure what makes this statement true, but I’ll agree with it. Yes, we can choose how we feel about ourselves. We can choose to feel sad, we can choose to feel happy. We can choose to feel guilty, we can choose to feel guilt-free.
So yeah, if you want to be happy, don’t feel guilty. If you want to feel guilty, don’t feel sad. If you want to feel happy, don’t feel guilty. If you want to feel like you have family, don’t feel guilty. If you want to feel like you don’t miss your family terribly, don’t feel guilty. If you want to feel guilty, don’t feel sad. If you want to feel like you have family, don’t feel guilty.
One of the things that draws me to the game is that the game world is so incredibly rich. You can go to a store, be surrounded by a thousand other people who are shopping, and then when you’re in the store and you realize you’re the only one left in a room, you feel a bit weird.
One of the things that drew me to the game was that I could imagine myself at an actual grocery store and then imagine myself at a store like that, and I could also imagine myself at a grocery store where things were much different from what I was at, and I could also imagine myself at a store like that.