Gold Leaf

It forces a the brain into a new perspective and seems to unlock different thoughts, or at least, different perspectives on old thoughts.

"Old thoughts"

I have a lot of those. But, I do tend to develop them, even if only slightly, as I learn and experience more and get a better understanding of the world in which I live.* Although we live and share the same planet,

Your world is different to mine.

Even neighbors or family members don't live in the same world as me, and no one lives in the same world as you either, because whatever we experience, how we experience is going to be individual and unique to the observer, to me, to you. It is like the temperature or spicy food, hot for one is mild for another, except it is pushed across every conceivable experience and affects us, whether we are aware of the effects or not - like how we rush decisions and often judge negatively when we are hungry or tired.

It also means that even if we have exactly the same conditions in reality, the outcomes are going to differ and perhaps significantly, because who we are matters, so how we see and handle the conditions will vary. While obviously on average, averages are going to apply, so those in better conditions than others will on average get better results through environmental opportunity, even if all things we re equal, inequality would soon set in.

Over the years on Hive, I have often been admonished for my views on investing, where people have said that "not every one can" and in many respects, this is true. Except in one thing where we are all equal - we all have an equal chance to best utilize our available resources, whatever those may be. Some people seem to have a lot but use it badly, while some others seem to be able to take very little and MacGyver it into much more. But, unless winning the lottery, it is requires a process starting with small steps and increasingly getting larger.

In some way, it is like the growth of a tree, where the sprout from the seed will root and eventually, there will be the first leaf which reaches out to get touched by the sunlight, encouraging more leaves to grow. A change is as good as a holiday - and small changes can lead to large journies.

The greatest oak, began as an acorn.

Are these sayings pithy? Are they meaningless?

Yes.

And no. Because while they are easy off the tongue and on the ear, there is truth in them, if willing to explore the depth of information that lays below the surface. And they are actionable, if willing to take that information and turn it into a view or belief that can be applied to change behavior. But, who has the time for that? People are too busy to learn about what affects them, especially because they focus on how they feel about being affected.

We want better than we have, but when we are spending our time on how we feel about our conditions, we aren't working out what is causing them, influencing them, what we can control and actually change in our behavior, to affect our outcomes. Instead, we can know we are suffering, but be largely oblivious to the root causes. Or, know what is causing and exactly how to act to improve conditions, but - not act.

Knowing, is not doing.

Do you know how to play golf or surf? It is easy, just read a book about technique and away you go. The more you read, the better you will be and if you read enough, you are going to be a professional in no time.

That is not how it works, is it?

Yet, that is how many of us seem to believe, because that is how we act. "I know what I should be doing" - but my position is, if you aren't doing what you know you should, you don't know it well enough. And this isn't about the amount of information about the topic at hand, it is about the information that takes that knowledge and turns it into movement. It is like the information that running is good for you, but not doing it. However, with the additional information of a hungry lion closing in, you will run - even if the effort is futile.

For us to act, we need to have the information required that motivates us to, where "motive" literally means moving. We need a reason to move, especially when what we need to do is uncomfortable, unfamiliar, painful, or horrible. Often, this reason is the "what's in it for me?" position, which can include acting for other people, even if it means just to feel good by helping.

And this is where I will turn it back to the investment side of things, as most people want more wealth, but they don't necessarily have the right information on how to accumulate it, given the resources they have. Outcomes will vary and there is no one-size-fits-all solution, so we have to take matters into our own hands and discover for ourselves what works, where modelling from others often points us in the right direction.

But still, we need to have a compelling reason to act, to change our behaviors from what has got us to this point today, to what will get us to where we want to be tomorrow. This is difficult, because the actions required often come with risk of loss and time, take energy and resources and are largely uncomfortable, because of the opportunity cost of movement. so, if our motivation isn't strong enough to change the direction of our motion, we are destined to stay on the same path, which many, isn't leading us to where we want to be, to experience what we want to experience, or feel the way we want to feel.

And looking back at that acorn sprouting the first leaf, we could see it as the journey to the branching of the tree filled with the millions of leaves, running a natural cycle of economic seasons, weathering the storms and, producing more acorns of possibility - and therefore, more chance at producing leaves of gold.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]