Decisions must be made. In order to make the best decision, we think. We have the ability to be proactive and to predict an outcome rather than to simply respond to a situation. I do often ponder in situations where others may only experience. For me, I wouldn't change my ability to ponder for anything. I love my curiosity. I believe I am curious because I seek to accumulate data that may be useful for decisions in the future, even if the use is not immediately apparent.
Thinking, as it seems to me, is the process of coming to a decision. The more you think about a topic the longer it takes to make a decision. Thinking can lead to a more robust solution, it can also lead to no solution.
In philosophical terms, in order to feel any personal level of success, at some point you need to lay some sort of a foundation. One needs some underlying decision that will hold at least some sort of influence on other value judgements. What is most valuable to me? How do I determine whether I am supporting what is valuable to me? Is that not how we determine success? Not all decisions are based upon that foundation, but you may be surprised by the scope of those that are.
What should I eat today? Well, should I strive to be healthy or not? Should I avoid eating meat so I don't support the violent methods used to produce it? Will being healthy assist in supporting my underlying values in some fundamental way? Will having a healthy body help in producing a healthy mind? Is having a healthy mind valuable enough to forgoe the temporary pleasure of this food that is not healthy? Will I really avoid unhealthy food the next time if I choose to induldge this one time?
Of course, that is a rather superficial example, but that is kind of the point. I find that most people either have massive trouble laying that initial foundation or they just settle into what society accepts as the normal foundation, commonly religion or material accumulation of wealth, sex, etc. Those people then judge their success by the collective metrics produced by society. The truly fascinating people are those which have developed their own values and metrics that are separate from society. Is there anything beyond that last statement that defines an eccentric?
If you build a solid foundation that is also robust, you probably wouldn't have too many problems making decisions in the future. Oh, and if you find a good one, be sure to let me know.
Mine, right now, is completely catered around the accumulation of knowledge, and I don't mean what some BS University tells me I should know, although at some point I do plan to return to a University. As for what lifestyle will maximize my abilities to accumulate as much knowledge as posible, well that is a work in progress. I am most certainly my own worst enemy in that regard.
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