If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
In a world where delayed gratification is torture, and we are more and more stimulated across all 5 senses, constantly, every day. It's harder to accept boredom in any part of our lives.
Why do we even need to accept this? Why should it even be considered something we should tolerate?
Because it's a space in our ever crowded mental world to leave room to breath, to not think and not do.
But just be.
"The right thing, is the right thing"- subjective, but that's the gist.
In a world where we've let ourselves be conditioned by the whims and flows of our current society, from what's normal or acceptable, we're going to have a hard time once we snap out of this and realise what we're doing is not right.
And not in the "big" areas of our lives, but in the small every day choices we make that we know are not right. What we're eating, what we're watching or reading, or not reading. The time we waste on social media, or aimlessly browsing the web.
Especially in our thoughts and daily practices of self-control and perspectives. Are we making the right, or good choices?
Making things larger than they are is a great environment to feel pressure and "uncomfortableness" everywhere you go.
"Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius talks about being in harmony with nature and that everything happens exactly as it should so why should we feel uncomfortable with things as they happen?
Lately there's been a lot of "What" from a lot of people, and not enough "How".
It's too often "What" is wrong with the world, examples, citations and evidence ad nauseum of all the ways this world sucks and is failing us.
"E leai se mea e fou i lalo le la" There is nothing new under the Sun- is how I feel about all the "look!" and "gotcha!" proclamations on social media.
It takes an amount of cognitive load to do anything, and our reserves for this i.e. "willpower" is finite.
So why do we waste it on shallow endeavours?
To answer this question we must go deeper, or step back far enough to see the bigger issues at play for why we do this.
Reading Cal Newport's book "Deep Work".
There's a lot to consider and refactor ones modern life in order to reap the benefits of his philosophy. But just like I believe in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, that turning up consistently will reap benefits, so too will deploying Cal's advice and recommendations in this book.
There's always a cost, or price to any investment or acquisition.
The real question, is whether you are willing to wear it.
We can only try.
"Geographicals" in AA terms is just changing location without changing yourself.
Or worse, changing location hoping this would change your 'self'.
But there is no change unless you choose to, and a change of scenery is just that- scenery. But with the same storylines, with the same plot holes.
Because everywhere you go, "there you are".
If you're going to go anywhere, go "inside".
Change self. Change world.
I've lived and experience life through this body (115kg Samoan, Male) and this context (NZ born, living in a metro city, working in Tech).
That experience is going to be different to anyone else, no matter how many of those things we have in common i.e. age, ethnicity, city etc.
I don't know what it's like to be you- I have an idea, I can empathise, theorise and hypothesize, but I don't really "know".
What I do know, is the difference in the things that I present (size, colour, age) elicits certain responses from people who experience "me".
Those experiences aren't always positive ones.
The famous Batman quote:
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"
To me, says "overshooting the mark" or losing your way.
I know a "once great" man, who was a master of his craft, and year in, year out, he couldn't miss.
Nowadays he can't seem to hit anything at any time.
The game is simple, so keep it simple.
The machine is massive. Yes. But you don't eat an elephant whole. You break it down; divide and conquer; all these gems, these pearls of wisdom, gained on the blood, sweat and tears of everyone who went before us.
Leave the ego aside. Listen. Learn. Act.
The problems affecting the Pasifika community are many. They are complicated issues. They are inter-generational. They are systemic.
But the game. The game is simple.