Think

Thinking is hard. Well, not the kind of thinking that involves sentences such as "I love lamp." All cylinders need to be engaged for this sort of thinking. The kind of thinking which may cause smoke to come out of your ears--THAT sort of thinking.

There is usually a problem present to warrant such intense use of a brain. Not the usual "Should I run naked through the Barnes & Noble?" type of dilemma. I refer to problems such as "Should I stay married to this abusive man?", "Should I quit this job that I hate?", "Am I marrying the right person?", or "Should I have a DNR order in place before I have this surgery?"

Those who only think of themselves and what THEY want wouldn't find these questions daunting, because they would only consider themselves. The rest of us, however, have other people, and sometimes many consequences to consider. For instance, if a man is the main breadwinner in his family and he quits his job because his boss is a jerk, he may feel pretty justified. But if he can't get a new job, he's not the only one who suffers. His entire family suffers with him.

And so we think hard, and agonize about these sorts of questions, as they present themselves. We analyze the pros and the cons, we crunch numbers, we may consult books or the internet to research aspects of our question--anything to help us find an answer. We have to look deep within ourselves to examine our true motives and what we really want from life and determine how the answers might be wrapped up within us.

Some out there agonize over EVERY single decision they make, paralyzed with the fear of making the wrong decision. That isn't really necessary for most things, such as "paper or plastic?"(Hint: Plastic bags=BAD) We can 'wing it' on those sorts of choices, suffering no heart wrenching moments of guilt over whether we should go back and get the purple dress instead of the red one. It's the hard questions, and the hard decisions, that deserve our attention, where we should be spending our brainpower.

After all, the Barnes & Noble will still be there tomorrow.