REMAINING AWARE

I will be proactive and grateful, so that I may REMAIN AWARE of, and profit from, all aspects of reality, especially those golden opportunities that may be disguised as hardships or problems.

REMAINING AWARE: One of the unfortunate ways in which most people choose to deal with problems or challenges (or reality in general) is to simply avoid thinking about them. This is tragic for more reasons than I would have time to list in one blog entry. People refer to being "in denial". As human beings, our capacity to think is what sets us apart from other species and is our tool of survival. Choosing to not fully utilize this capacity by avoiding dealing with things we perceive to be unpleasant or are simply inconvenient is akin to choosing not to live.
People sometimes choose to "deny" things and/or combine this with rationalization/justification for either not doing things they should, or doing things they should know better than to do. (often because they become enamored with their whims like the child who thows a tantrum when his mother tells him he can't have candy before dinner.)
The first act of evil that precedes any other is the decision not to think, and therefore this is the ultimate evil.
We should remember that once we have established something as a daily priority, (one that we realize will lead to succeeding at living a full and happy life) and we fail to execute that priority on any given day, any justification other than a true crisis we may use, is simpy an attempt to avoid being aware that we simply chose not to live in alignment with our values that day. Developing the habit of doing this leads to sure disaster.
By being proactive and grateful and looking for the opportunity in every situation, (which is always there), we recognize the advantages of always being aware of reality (of always CHOOSING to THINK),and we reap countless benefits for doing so.
The irony is that we not only gain nothing from denial but always create larger problems instead.
There is nothing so unpleasant to deal with, that we can't make it worse by avoiding it.
As Ayn Rand put so eloquently: "I'm not brave enough to be a coward."

Thanks again for reading.