Apr 10, 2022·edited Apr 10, 2022Liked by Barry Brownstein
How do we shift from #NIMBY to realizing that #MBYIP, i.e., "not in my backyard" to "my backyard is poisoned"? Internal demons replicate in cascades that make toxic what should produce synergy and harmony. Lot's to digest.
I loved the title of your article. How spot on it is, countering the God Within espoused by Leo Tolstoy. Here is an article I wrote in 2018 on my Leadership Blog - https://vanguardldrship.wordpress.com/2018/12/10/the-foundation-of-happiness/. Seeking happiness in life is a quest few think about. I'm reminded of a song my Merle Haggard, That's the way love is in which is a line, "I've spent most all my life searching for that four-leaf clover." Happiness is the intrinsic reward of "feeling good about the good one just did for another."
Thank you for sharing your wisdom, which is why I subscribed to your essays.
As always, I'm impressed by the breadth of your knowledge, and this column includes some great excerpts from several sources, along with thoughtful reflection on their meaning. It is interesting to speculate on how we humans ended up with brains that are susceptible to coming under the spell of our own Dictator Within. Of course we are confronted with so many sensory inputs and potential mental challenges every moment of the day that we must filter most out and focus on the most important few. Taking a rigid attitude toward something is "efficient": it lets our mind engage elsewhere without distraction. But ideally, in moments of quiet we visit our Dictator and require him to justify his rules, on pain of discarding them if the reasons prove insufficient.
How do we shift from #NIMBY to realizing that #MBYIP, i.e., "not in my backyard" to "my backyard is poisoned"? Internal demons replicate in cascades that make toxic what should produce synergy and harmony. Lot's to digest.
I loved the title of your article. How spot on it is, countering the God Within espoused by Leo Tolstoy. Here is an article I wrote in 2018 on my Leadership Blog - https://vanguardldrship.wordpress.com/2018/12/10/the-foundation-of-happiness/. Seeking happiness in life is a quest few think about. I'm reminded of a song my Merle Haggard, That's the way love is in which is a line, "I've spent most all my life searching for that four-leaf clover." Happiness is the intrinsic reward of "feeling good about the good one just did for another."
Thank you for sharing your wisdom, which is why I subscribed to your essays.
As always, I'm impressed by the breadth of your knowledge, and this column includes some great excerpts from several sources, along with thoughtful reflection on their meaning. It is interesting to speculate on how we humans ended up with brains that are susceptible to coming under the spell of our own Dictator Within. Of course we are confronted with so many sensory inputs and potential mental challenges every moment of the day that we must filter most out and focus on the most important few. Taking a rigid attitude toward something is "efficient": it lets our mind engage elsewhere without distraction. But ideally, in moments of quiet we visit our Dictator and require him to justify his rules, on pain of discarding them if the reasons prove insufficient.
This is where the real healing begins. Thank you. 🙏