• The State of Flow and Becoming Addicted to Action

    There is much said about the state of flow. If you want to achieve genuine and non-esoteric flow, try action. Cascading action. Action which builds on top of preceding -- action. Action as in progress. Action as in creation as well as in evolution.

    Become addicted if you aren't already. More and more. Create. Evolve. Whatever it is but let it move and it keep it ever new. Progress. All the time. There shall be no single day without any -- even the smallest -- step towards the current and the next goal. Action.

    What did you do today to achieve immortality?

    As with publicity, almost any action, good or bad, is preferable to inaction and static being. Positive progress is obviously favorable -- though when in doubt, have it move in either direction, as long as it moves to begin with. If and since you work -- you do, don't you -- under the premise that each and every time you perform at the very best of your ability, that at that particular time, you can only excel and ask for more and more tasks to crunch.

    By following and cultivating this attitude it will be easier to do only one thing, that nobody will ever forget -- every day. Which, by the way, is just the minimal answer to the immortality question. What if you accomplish that one thing early in the morning, even before breakfast? Would you try and get done one more thing towards immortality? What about an entire series of things?

    Once you start a series of cascading actions, the addiction part is taking care of itself. This is flow. This is the point where it is commonly said that success is inevitable. It just doesn't work any other way because each event triggers -- almost domino-like -- the next and the following ones with the result becoming inevitable because of cause and effect.

    Please note that while some effects certainly do not require specific causes, and some causes produce no effects at all, it is equally certain that inaction -- unless no action is the desired cause -- is not going to cause any significant effect. In other words: No cause doesn't cause anything.

    One last thing: The use of the term addiction hints at some negative implications. While the focused, conscious obsession definitely helps with achieving your goal, the addiction has its downsides: Laser-like concentration tends to utilize other system's vital energy and you may destroy on one side as much as you are trying to build on the other side. Get rid of your addiction as soon as the negative issues outweigh the positive ones -- and yes, there are positive aspects with any addiction. Otherwise it wouldn't be such a problem in the first place. Remember that you're after the rewards.

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  • The Aficionado's Guide to Appreciation

    Use intentional and controlled deprivation of that which you love most -- be it food or any material good that you don't want to live without, or an abstract, positive addiction that you usually follow -- to vastly enhance your sensation of abundance.

    Deprive yourself through deliberately avoiding your object of desire for as long as you like -- or for as long as you want to enjoy the craving, for that matter. Watch yourself developing and executing the most arduous plans to actually get what you now really want.

    This makes for an interesting experience in conquering discipline from both sides, you will try to keep up the discipline to continue the experiment while at the same time, you'll want to satisfy your need, often a conditioned habit, a negative discipline.

    You will learn a lot about the energies hidden within you, only waiting to emerge and strike at the perfect moment. You are going to expend energies that just weren't there, or so you would have thought.

    You will experience real-world adventures and have amazing tales to tell about serving and satisfying nightly cravings, about exploring levels of creativity and ingenuity that give you a glance of your true capabilities. Then, compare your usual levels of productivity to these peak states of potential productivity.

    Observe the mixed feelings of satisfaction, when actually depleting the resource, the act of finishing until the last bit, only to replenish and start all over. Particularly noteworthy is the way you treat that last bit of what's left. Do you prepare to appreciate the final bit in a special way? Do you finish the remainder of the abundance like any other piece or do you throw it away, to avoid having to deal with the moment of absolutely nothing?

    What can we learn from these traits, the description of nothing less than classic addictive behavior, to make us even more happy and more beautiful?

    If you would only appreciate what you have while it lasts, you wouldn't have such a hard time when finally parting with what you never consciously enjoyed. The least you can do is to try to enjoy and celebrate every bit as if it were the last one.

    One more thing... this is an experiment designed to stimulate the mind. Please think chocolate or some rewards to use as the trigger for the craving reaction. Do not think oxygen, or any other vital supply.

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