Are each and everyone one of us put here for a purpose?  If you’ve ever seen the television show “Lost,” at one point in the series, we see someone tell a character in the show (Desmond) that he was put on earth for one single reason, and that in his entire life, he would only do one “great” thing.  That has to make you think a little.  Is everyone on earth put here to do one “great” thing?  I like to think so.  I like to think that I will make a big difference.  In reality though, of course we will all make a change in life.  The movie “The Butterfly Effect” is a perfect example.  Have you ever sat back and thought if you have made a difference in the world?  Maybe you should start smaller.  Have you made a big difference in your family’s life?  In your friends lives?  In your coworkers lives?  Who you hang around with is of utmost importance.

I was talking to a very good friend the other day about my life, and where I want to go with it.  I told him how I felt that I was almost at a crossroad, and wasn’t sure what to do, and how I wasn’t feeling as content as I used to.  He mentioned to me the end of the movie “Saving Private Ryan,” where at the end of the movie, the main character is standing there and asks his wife to tell him that he “lived a good life.” Glenn (my friend) told me how this was so touching to him, because it made him think to himself the same thing.  And even when Glenn told me, it had an impact.  Have I lived a good life?  When I’m 60 or 70, or whatever age I’m going to die at, will I be able to look back and say, yes, I lived a good life,  I did what I was “meant” to do,  I fulfilled that purpose, etc…  I want to be a life-changer.  I don’t want to be a 9 to 5 guy, one that just gets by in life.  I don’t want to be one that just pays the rent, pays the taxes, owns nice stuff, has a kid, etc… I’m not saying I don’t want to do those things, I am just saying that I want to be more than that.  I challenge you.  Every single person can make a difference.  Especially in America.  It’s the best place on earth, freedom of speech, religion, etc…  I’m not saying become a zealot, go out and start preaching and things like that.  All I’m saying is that the power of you as an individual is ridiculously powerful, and most people do not understand that.  I hate pessimism so much.  There is nothing on earth that will ruin my day more than when someone is pessimistic about a situation.  Studies have shown that optimistic people in life generally live longer, and are more successful (Source).  I believe this is simply because attitude is so important in life.  I know it, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there are hundreds of people that will read this and think, what can I do?  How can I change the world?   You’d be surprised.  I was at a conference a few months back about entrepreneurs, and a man was speaking on how when he first opened his restaurant, he gave out flowers, and he said that the people would light up and their entire attitude would change.  Even something so small can have such an impact.  Think about it.

Today’s post is on people.  Actually I can see a pattern here, looks like I’m posting about once a month now, so maybe I’ll stick to that.  Today’s subject is people, and how they assume they are the center of attention.  I mean think about it, even yourself; You find it hard to believe that other people or somewhere else in the world, or even there in your city, that are doing things that you aren’t involved in.  I know this sounds a little hard to swallow, but bear with me.  If you watch people and how they act, they think it’s all about them.  99.9% of the time they don’t care what happens to anyone, it’s all about number one.  And just as I said, I think we’re all guilty of this to an extent, but it’s just hard to see out of our own eyes.  I myself don’t understand why people love to hear about the lives of celebrities.  Who cares!?  Why is it important for me to know that Angelina Jolie got a new husband or got divorced or whatever?  It doesn’t matter!  A little off subject, but still!

I just don’t understand the world.  Why does it seem like things were easier as a kid?  Why does it feel like my life is getting more complicated?  I found a grey hair in my head people.  Did you read that right?  A grey hair!  That scares the hell out of me.  I can’t help but to worry sometimes.  I mean it doesn’t keep me up at night, but sure I stress about things, just like most people.  I guess as a child everyone just seemed more happy.  Maybe it was because I was more happy?  Maybe I smiled at people more than I do now, hence them smiling back?  Who knows?  I absolutely detest all these people on Myspace etc… that think they are big celebrities or “popular” amongst the people.  What is that?  Delusions I think.  It’s so funny to me how people have to make themselves feel good by doing certain things, or treating people some way.  I observed something today at lunch.  There was an attractive girl sitting at a table near mine, probably 19 or 20, and an extremely overweight boy, probably 18 or 19 years old, sitting at the table next to her.  I sat back and observed the situation, because once or twice I noticed that he asked her to nudge her chair up so he could squeeze through a space.  After he walked off, she looked at the rest of her “attractive” friends, and laughed at him.  I can kind of understand that, but they took it to the next level almost.  She kept looking over at him and shaking her head in disgust, subsequently laughing.  It hurt my feelings for that guy a lot, but it just reinforced the fact that the majority of people are ass holes.  It never fails, almost every single attractive girl in the world is a bitch, with the exception of maybe like 1%.  I think most of that attitude just comes from how she was brought up and treated.  Just about every single one of my friends oogle over girls like that and do whatever they ask, and that is ridiculous.  A dumb blonde chick that doesn’t know jack-shit about a job can get it if she’s attractive.  What is our world coming to?

*Suggested Topic by Karlee* 

Do surroundings shape a person’s personality or is it set from birth?  Ya know that’s a really interesting question.  I think the personality of a person is based purely on the surroundings of when he/she grew up.  There was actually a book, alternate history of course, where Hitler was raised in a different family, with different parents, etc… and he grew up to be a great man.  Granted we can’t base facts off of fiction books, lets take a look at some facts.  Just look at your parents.  How much are you like them?  Most people grow up to be, in at least one way, just like their parents.  They inherit those traits.  There is a lot of controversy on whether or not humans have instincts.  Well I know for a fact that humans are born with basic instincts.  No one is taught how to smile, or to pull away from pain when it hurts, or to eat when you’re hungry, drink when they’re thirsty.  It’s natural.  It’s built into our bodies.

Now, I think genetic make-up has a lot to do with skills in the world.  I believe that any human being, that isn’t mentally handicapped, is able to learn and do anything if enough effort is put forth.  Granted, some people are going to grasp it better than others, but I believe our brains are generally able to learn and comprehend things the same.  Now some people are pure genius, and don’t have to be taught, and are gifted beyond belief, and others have to work at it.  But back on topic, yes I believe our personalities are shaped by our surroundings.  Freud claimed that he believed a person’s personality is based solely on the age of 6 months to 2 and a half years, and who we spend our time with during that period is who we will be most like.  Now if you think about it, most people are going to spend their whole childhood with their parents, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s genetic or surroundings, simply because the child has both, if that makes sense.  He/she has the genetic make-up of their parents, and will also be spending their childhood with his/her parents.  But in closing, I believe it’s solely surroundings, environment, and how the child is treated that shapes their personality.

How powerful is our mind?  Ever wonder that?  I think it’s very powerful.  I think it affects every single thing we do in life.  Actually, I believe that your mouth and brain work together and have a way of shaping your future.  Of course not in enormous ways, but I think our attitude on things in life is extremely important.  I think pessimistic attitudes hinder us, and optimistic attitudes move us forward.  I really believe that optimistic people are more successful in life.  I heard a saying once that said, “Borrow money from a pessimist, he won’t expect to get it back.”  So much in a little statement, if you think about it.  But back to the point, I think our mind has the power to destroy and heal.  Maybe that’s how miracles are performed?  Of course they are still through God, but maybe God put the ability to heal ourselves inside our body, and we have yet to discover that power? 

You hear so many different theories on how much of our brain we use.  Some say 2% to 3%, and others say up to 10%.  Can you imagine if we were able to use our entire brain?  I don’t know much about this topic, but I can only imagine.  I’m sure we would see things a lot more clearly.  It’s hard to accept the fact that we only use such a small percentage of our brain.  I mean lets face it, men are arrogant.  They find it hard to believe that.  I mean honestly, to stray off topic a bit, that’s the issue with believing in God.  Men have a hard time comprehending that there is a power out there that they can’t understand, and can’t comprehend.  I don’t think we were meant to understand God though.  Have you ever sat down and tried to comprehend living for eternity?  What happens?  It’s almost like you short circuit, and you can’t think for a second. It’s because we can’t imagine that.  It’s just a hard thing to believe.  Maybe our faith is directly tied to how much brain power we use?  Maybe it’s always the mind healing the body when miraculous things happen?  Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen a pessimist healed from anything, or heard stories of it for that matter.  The mind is a very powerful thing.  Some people have trouble controlling it.  Actually I used to have major problems controlling my thoughts, and stuff would run wild, but you have to gain control over that.  I also used to have trouble sleeping, but I remember I would tell myself, “I am going to sleep good tonight” and every time I would say it, I would begin to get tired, no lie.  Now my question is, when you have a dream that foretells the future, or perhaps the next day, is that because your mind was preparing for what it assumed was going to happen, or was it some type of divine intervention?  There’s no way to know, but it’s definitely interesting stuff.

Define happiness.  What makes us happy?  Is it subjective?  I think so.  But where does happiness really come from?  Does it come with who we really spend time with, or friends, families, lovers, or does it come from within?  I’ll never forget, someone was unhappy with their current lover at the time, about a year and a half ago, and I asked her, “Are you truly happy?  Because it comes from who you spend time with, who loves you, how people treat you, so are you truly ‘happy?’ “She told me that she disagreed, and she thought happiness came from within.  I can respect that.  So define happiness for me.  Not a bookshelf definition, just your thoughts on it.  I want replies, so if you’re reading this, do me a favor and tell me your thoughts.  And like I said, personal thoughts, not dictionary definitions.

Decisions based on emotion versus logic. Why does emotion always triumph? Emotions and logic are directly proportionate. When one goes up, the other goes down, and vice-versa. Why is this? Because the truth is, we don’t have the ability to think both ways at once. I’m the king of emotional thinking. I do things on the fly without thinking, and make impulsive decisions. Not only in big decisions, but small things too. I cannot fathom how I can sit here, and hate life one day, and absolutely love it the next. I hate that I have no control over it. I hate that I have made stupid decisions in my life, that I can look at now, and say, why the hell did I do that? What was I thinking? What is the deal with that? How can I be so logical now, but I was so illogical at the time? I just get the feeling that I don’t control my life sometimes, when I’m so caught up in emotions. Just like the first couple of sentences said, it’s emotion versus logic. 

I remember a phrase I thought up during Hurricane Katrina back in September, and I’ve never forgotten it. It was “Life is nothing but a series of events, fortunate or unfortunate.” I know it’s not much really but it meant a lot to me at the time. Katrina gave me a lot of time to ponder a lot of things, and I felt like when I got my life back and started, I was going to do a lot of things different. That wasn’t completely true though. Don’t get me wrong, I did for a while. I lived my life a lot better after that disaster, because I realized how much a lot in my life was worth. However, I easily slipped back into my previous state of taking everything for granted, and living the way I did. Don’t get me wrong when I say that, it wasn’t like I was a drug addict or anything like that, it’s just I thought I had things worked out, but I was wrong.Funny that I mention emotional ups and downs. As I was writing this blog, a dream that I had last night immediately came to mind. I remember I was somewhere like Florida or somewhere on a coast, and I was surfing. The waves were huge; I can’t put into words how large they were. But I remember I had major troubles staying on the surfboard. Upon writing this blog and remembering the dream, I looked up the meaning of surfing.

Surfing

To dream that you are surfing, indicates the ups and downs of some emotional situation or relationship. You may feel overwhelmed. One minute you can be in control of your emotions and the next minute you are not.

I would pretty much say that’s accurate.  Isn’t that strange how dreams can mean certain things or portray certain parts of our personality or feelings at a certain time?

You know it’s just like I always say, sometimes I love life, and sometimes I hate it.  Well what do I love about it?  A lot, but it seems to me like the bad tries it’s best to overshadow the good.  I have so many good people in my life.  I have so many excellent friends, family, and everything.  What makes it bad though?  Uncertainty.  Most definitely uncertainty of my future.  That is probably my biggest fear in life.  I don’t know what the future will bring, I have no clue.  Sometimes life feels predictable, but you know what?  It isn’t.  Not a bit.  Just when you think you have things worked out, just when you think everything is just fine, and have the world figured out, you get a curveball.  Life screws you.  It messes with your head.  It takes you to a place that you wish you could escape, but at the same time, you don’t.  

“Yes,” said Frog, reaching for a cookie, “we need willpower.”   

“What is willpower?” asked Toad.   

“Willpower is trying hard not to do something you really want to do,” said Frog  

I know that’s so dumb to bring up, but I really cannot express what it did for me.  That doesn’t state anything that I don’t know, but it had an enormous impact on me.  It shows me just how much we can learn from such a simple statement.  We have to have willpower in our life, we have to have that drive that stops us from doing stupid things, but the problem is, sometimes there is no passion, no desire to stop. That takes us to another point, meant-to-be versus chaos.  Ever been in a situation that feels so right, but you know it isn’t going to happen (or at least you think it can’t) but you continue anyway?  I’ve been in a couple of those in my life, and they aren’t fun.  But you know sometimes you have to take a step back and look at life, and just know that whatever happens is how things were meant to be.