Find Happiness 41: Goals Are Necessary, but They Shouldn’t Be Bear Traps

Many of us are regularly struck by the need to achieve a particular long-term goal. It could, for instance, be the need to earn more money, the need to improve a relationship or the need to build a house.

Our minds then rapidly proceed to formulate a plan of action to fulfill that goal.

For an energetic, driven individual, this can be an exciting, energizing, creative process; for a desperate individual it can be nerve-racking and emotionally draining. Either way, it usually ends up becoming an obsession of sorts, the degree of obsession depending on how important the goal is to you. The obsession can have the grip of a bear-trap.

The obsession can start as soon as you open your eyes in the morning. Aggregated over the day, it can occupy several hours. The trouble is, the ‘bear-trap’ can often make you ignore other important tasks that you have to perform, resulting in your life being lopsidedly developed.

The solution is to remove the bear-trap but keep the goal (let me reiterate that setting goals is definitely a good thing).

You do this by watching the entire goal and subsequent ideation process as an observer. You also observe the plan of action taking place; you observe your mind taking decisions, then operate your body to perform whichever actions were decided.

Being an observer prevents you from being trapped. You likely will not understand this by reading what I just wrote; try my prescription once, and you will.

To your freedom from bear-traps!

Tagged as: find happiness, finding happiness

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