Turning The Knob
In a classic study, scientists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert, confirmed what ancient eastern cultures have known for thousands of years; what Eckhart Tolle has been immortalized in the history books for writing; what you know intuitively any time you catch yourself having that conversation with the voice in your head about doing anything that isn’t the comfortable option—your happiness is tied directly to your ability to remain in the present moment.
If meditation is the fire in the forge removing impurities from your mind, then doing hard things is the hammer and anvil, shaping the stock of potential you are into the sword you can be.
You need the fire to prepare the metal, but without the hammer blows, you’re just a very pure lump of dead weight. Meditation gets you the clarity to do what is necessary, and therein lie the components of practical philosophy: clarity and action.
Your level of baseline contentment is dependent on how consistent you refocus your attention on what’s right in front of you, but your sense of purpose is determined by how often you push against the limits of potential. And it is good to live a contented, purposeful life! But you can’t have the former without the latter, and you don’t want the latter without the former, though it is necessary and even helpful to be discontent.
Walk up the hill huffing and puffing and don’t stop until you get to the top.
Persist in the work you hate while building something you love.
Take cold fucking showers, because in the end its not about being in the cold and suffering for your health, its about turning the knob—its all about taking that action and choosing the hard route. You are going to suffer in life—that’s non-negotiable—you might as well make it on your terms, because guess what, if you choose the hard thing now, everything else gets real easy.
If you can say, “hot water goes off now, thirty seconds” and then do it, you can say, “phone goes off now, go for a walk” and you will do it. When you say jump and the mind is quiet, the body jumps. When the mind is not trained it has a miniature tantrum, or simply scoffs at your pathetic attempts at control. Every time you turn that knob, you’re telling the mind who is in charge. So take charge.