Evangelical Consumers vs. Band Wagon Minimalists

I love reading my Facebook feed on Black Firday. It's a battle between the Evangelical Consumers and the Band Wagon Minimalists. I gotta give it up to the people standing in line at Walmart at midnight. They are a symbol for what we truly are. People are consumers. It's what we do. We work all week to fill our immediate needs, then out immediate wants, followed by our future needs and wants. It's just our our nature. I'd like to punch everyone in the face who boycotts Black Friday and owns a dishwasher or a TV. You're not Tyler Durdon and you're sure as hell not Siddhārtha. We are impulsive creatures who rarly resist our urges to consume and reproduce. So to all the Band Wagon Minimalists...If you sell all your worldly possessions, seek enlightment, and update your facebook status from a public library, I'll start taking your cathartic updates a little more seriosuly. In the mean time you can find me at a department store frantically sorting through a mountain of $5 t-shirts trying to find my size.

The look at me generation

Phil DeFranco said it best in a vlog last month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbT7GSFMfBQ

Generation Y truly is an overly self important group; focused entirely on how things effect them with no vision for the greater good. We spent so many years in school being told we are special and some day we'll all grow up to be astronauts or the president. Which is essential bullshit because who's going to scrub toilets if everyone is flying to the moon. We use Email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, foursquare, etc to broadcast what we are doing and rarely bother to acknowledge anyone elses existence in these mediums unless it directly affects us. We walk right past homeless people as if they don't exist. We believe everyone else is stupid if they don't agree with our point of view. Our relationships burn out because they don't fit the high school romantic comedy movie plot we've been sold by Hollywood for our entire lives. We become easily defeated because we were never asked to try harder or told we failed. If our parents beat us we'd threaten to call CPS as if they didn't have a reason too. Mine should have beat the crap out of me and more often.

It's only at almost 30 that I'm able to appreciate just waking up alive, having a skill people are willing to pay me for, having an amazingly supportive family, and opening a fridge full of food. I'm becomeing more aware of others around me. Their well being is more and more important to me now. Possessions mean less and less. My relationships mean more and more. I'm becoming fearless with my feelings. I'm no longer affraid of rejections. I do anything I can to own the way I feel in hopes its contagious. I wont bend on my principals no matter the dollar amount or the popularity it will gain me. I feel like I can do my part to unwind the selfishness and entire generation has spun into a huge web of bullshit. How focused are you on your self?

Turn the head phones up

I couldn't get into my grove this morning or the last few days for that matter. It's not that I'm over whelmed with problems. I'm breaking my comfort zone and it puts me on edge. I makes me very uncertain. It's completely necessary and I fell so alive but I can't do it all the time yet. When the chaos becomes to much to take I digress into the comfort of music.

Listening to: Dashboard Confessional Pandora Radio

Music is the closest thing man has come to nature. It's a cheap substitute for the the 10,000 ft hike with a breathtaking view. It doesn't even compare to days with mile high thunderheads that let me know how small I am. Nothing has ever been able to replace that feeling. Music is my heroin. It's doesn't fix the anxiety, it staves it off long enough for me to face it head on. When things get heavy, like right now, I run to it for comfort.

Who's to blame?

I remember being 17 and angry at the world. I was angry that "thing aren't the way they were supposed to be." I constantly pointed fingers at everyone else. I would say malicious things to mame just because I had the wit and the ability to manipulate. This was the height of my complete lack of responsibly. It's easier to live with your self when when you don't have to take responsibility for life letting you down. This mindset slowly faded for about 10 years.

By 27 it was very rare for me to blame anyone else. I took extra steps (I still do) to figure out how I could fix or change the situation. I often say things that surprise people because I admit outright I screwed up. I may not have the solution yet and I may continue to do stupid things but the first step is taking personal responsibility.

Because I feel like I've come this far I see finger pointing as a serious weakness. The worst thing someone can say is "you made me do it." Really??? I put a gun to your head? C'mon! Tony Robins talks often about perception. He constantly ask's "Why did he/she react that way to me or a situation?" He then drawn a hopefully accurate conclusion from asking probing questions and tries to rectify the situation. He does this because if he blamed the other person for their reaction then he would not have the power to change the outcome. It's much harder to change someone else instead of yourself.

Buddha said. "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him."

I choose purity. I choose to be self aware. I choose to take responsibility for my actions and the environment they create. I choose the road to improvement because even though it is a treacherous one, it's a much more fulfilling one than the well traveled path.

If you had parents like mine

If you had parents like mine you'd be 28, penniless, and not have a worry in the world. You'd have a safety net the size of the grand canyon. Every day you'd wake up feeling like you had the opportunity to do anything. That's because I do. I grew up with no wants. My entire child hood was, well...blessed to use a religious word. All 3 of us kids had it well. I don't have a clue what it's like to go without. I don't take it for granted...not any more. I've been given the opportunity to take risks. It's a luxury few people have. It's a mental freedom that I cant explain. All of it is because I have some pretty damn awesome parents. I can't thank them enough though I hardly do in person. Maybe they'll read this. Maybe I'll change the world and have the opportunity to thanks them publicly. Maybe I'll gather all the kind words as I lay flowers on their head stones. No matter the time, they wont be expecting it. It was all done out of selflessness. It's only now, that I have a kid of my own, that I can truly understand this.