I've thought about this a lot and I try to consicously avoid it.
On the other hand I think that the endless pursuit of novelty is wrong too, especially since commercialism and consumerism has created all sorts of phony, shallow or superficially novel goods and experiences for sale, I also think a lot of the talk of so called spontaneity is over rated too, breeding a sort of chaotic mindset and behaviour which eschews, ignores, dismisses or minimises consequences, especially negative ones for the self or others.
I agreed.
I think to a certain point present society had made either a dull monotony set of path with -not enough- time to pursue a personal life satisfaction-- or a chaotic, shallow pursuit towards sensation, novelty, pleasure that gave little meaning-- little long-term meaning.
I would say either side are bad. Then again, I guess it would depend for whom.
As far as I personally can tell, a lot of SP people in my life did not mind that either path at all. They go into droll monotony in the noon, and then went for a little hobby, a temporary fun afterwards / in the weekend. Life is well for them.
Sometimes relaxing involves the things you're habituated to and being unashamed about it or dropping the guilt for a while, then again breaks from being more productive are only good as breaks from an otherwise productive life.
Can you explain more about this?
The whole idea, and I know you didnt mention it, of the cliched "comfort zone" is something which really, really rags me, in some ways I think its a misnomer for "competence zone" and there's nothing wrong with being competent and working to your strengths as opposed to over reaching your capacities and fucking up, both for yourself and others, and a lot of the time people talking this way are wanting something, either to see people over reach and fail, or to move out of their "comfort zone" and into their "comfort zone" or behave in some otherwise "instrumental" fashion.
While I can see the truth in your perception, I also see that sometimes the opposite happens; we stay in our competence zone too long and it started becoming complacency; we don't grow. Competent =/= laziness, but at the same time working to one's strength =/= growth, so....
But the second part of your paragraph, about people talking this way are wanting something...really? Have you, um, experienced that?
As you get older and do things more, you tend to become habituated to things. Habit is an incredibly strong force in our lives even though we don't usually notice it.
The downside is that with habit comes a tendency toward excess, especially in this day and age. When you're acting out of habit, you're not really thinking about what you're doing; instead, you are probably being fueled by emotional fears and cravings.
I agreed. An almost Pavlovian reaction with the things that are simply there in this world.
That is why it is important to be mindful, and living mindfully is how to not live on autopilot. That way, you can keep experience fresh instead of letting all the details blur together and failing to notice the world in front of you.
Its easier said than done though. Like I said, habit is very powerful.
And also agreed. Being mindful is easier when you had a peaceful life with free time and lack of obstacles. Which aren't something existing for a lot of people.
With the way our culture is being woven; workplace and social and everything, it's tiring to keep up. Thus people started using shortcuts, life hacks, assumptions, habits, autopilots, schematas.
