From the category archives:

freedom

The Means are Destroying The Ends

by Stephen Mills December 4, 2011

So many of us in particular and our culture in general have lost sight of the ends to which we should be striving. Things like freedom, intellectual growth, happiness, social relationships, and general well-being. We have allowed the means to these values to become the ends towards which we endlessly strive. We constantly are piling up the means, but forgetting the ends to which those should lead.

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How to Deal With Stupid, Needy, Irritating, Toxic, and Generally Crappy People

by Stephen Mills November 13, 2011

These kinds of people are not worth your time or stress. Every second of your life that you spend with someone who is a negative is not only a second you lose from something you value more, it takes something out of you. It’s not not neutral it is a draining negative. The effect of dealing with them will linger with you and continue to take away from your precious life. It’s like a left hook to the head followed by a right. And for particularly crappy people you might as well take an uppercut to the chin as well. You may suffer the effects for days to come.

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The Triumph of the Trivial

by Stephen Mills October 8, 2011

The other day I went to a blog I regularly read and I was dumbfounded by the subject of the new article on display. It was something like “How To Read More”. I thought he has to be kidding right? But no, in all seriousness the article was about how to read more with 10 strategies to accomplishing this amazing feat. I’m not naming the blog because this celebration of the trivial is not unique to that blog. This celebration of the trivial is widespread and I’ve been guilty of similar things myself. I’m sure the author thinks he is writing something valuable. But what struck me was wondering how many of the hundreds of thousands of subscribers to that blog thought it valuable? Is anyone besides me thinking this is useless trivia? I doubt it, at least not many. Other than to actually pick up more reading material and turn more pages, I’m not sure exactly what it is I need to know.

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Declare Your Personal Independence

by Stephen Mills July 5, 2011

On July 4th in the U.S. we celebrate our country’s independence. While I personally believe we have lost much of that spirit of independence with the explosive growth of government encroachment in our lives, we retain at least in theory a basic level of political freedom.

On the other hand, I believe the vast majority of us have voluntarily, if unknowingly, enslaved ourselves in other ways that are just as harmful to the stated values of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”.

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How To Deal With An Uncertain Future

by Stephen Mills April 10, 2011
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You need to develop general skills like people skills that can be useful no matter what you are doing. Develop the growth mindsets and the attitudes that lend themselves to peaceful well being, detachment from outcomes, and resilience. People who are resilient and resourceful are able to deal effectively anything that may arise in their lives down the road.

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How Letting Go of Control Brings You Freedom and Contentment

by Stephen Mills April 7, 2011

Trying to control people and events harms us and everyone around us. It blinds us to options and choices we can make that would greatly improve our lives emotionally, spiritually, creatively and financially. Instead we worry incessantly and become imprisoned by our fears, anger and anxiety, all of which consume inordinate amounts of needless time and energy. This time and energy could instead be devoted to pursuing our passions—if we are willing to lose some control in our lives.

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Why You Should Ignore Politics and Politicians

by Stephen Mills December 6, 2010
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Here is the basic question you need to ask yourself. Is it worth your time, effort, money, and mental well-being to keep up with or participate in political issues? For me, the answer is unquestioned no. I’ve been there and done that and since I actually cared so much about the issues, it was a never-ending source of disappointment and frustration. All the time I spent reading, listening, following, debating, wishing, hoping, and voting resulted in exactly ZERO difference.

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How to Make Great Decisions

by Stephen Mills November 28, 2010

The amount of anxiety that goes into most decisions is ridiculous. Further, the amount of time people spend making decisions, even the most trivial ones, is a life-wasting shame. Visit your local company meeting for endless examples of how to torture wage slaves with trivial decision making.

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The Problem With Causes, Crusades, or Organized Movements

by Stephen Mills November 20, 2010
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Causes, crusades, mass movements, especially organized ones, very seldom work; they usually end up with most people involved becoming frustrated and depressed. Usually the movement becomes an end in itself that takes on more importance than the original cause for which it was established. Preservation of the movement now takes priority and the formerly idealistic leaders end up trying to preserve the power and prestige they have gained as a result.

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Keep Your Eyes Off the Clock

by Stephen Mills September 11, 2010
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We have lost the ability to think about things in terms of themselves, and have instead started measuring everything by clock time. Instead of using clocks for the good they can bring, we have allowed them to control us and are taking orders from a ticking mechanical monster.

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