May 10, 2023 by Brian Weiner No CommentsChanging The World One Thought At A Time., Lessons From The Mountain

The greatest prison people live in is the fear of what other people think.

How important is it to you to always be what everybody else expects you to be? Do you expand significant time adjusting variables in your life so that others will think of you as you wish for them to? When we are younger and more susceptible to societal pressures, we are more readily willing to adapt various aspects of ourselves so that others will walk away with the proper impression. In the end, does this really serve us or does it imprison us?

Trying to live your life by constraining your behavior to impress others, is one of the single biggest pitfalls in life.

Working to stay in the good graces of everyone around you comes with significant penalties in life. In the course of trying to make yourselves over such that others will readily approve of you can be an exhausting task that does not easily get solved. Instead, we might find ourselves in a perpetual battle for control over our own lives, predicated upon the misconception that we are harboring that by making continual adjustments of ourselves, we will in some way, shape or form earn the comprehensive respect from all parties around us.

In my experience, I have not found this to be true. At a certain point in time, there are just going to be a percentage of the population that is never going to approve of you, regardless of anything that you might say, or do now or in the future. Consequently, we find ourselves looking at numerous options, trying to discern what we need to do in order to be successful, and still be ourselves.

In the end, as we get older, I think we become that much more aware that a life spent being ourselves is incredibly more fulfilling than a life span trying to be what everybody else wants us to be. While there are obviously exceptions to this, as long as you are staying within reasonable and moral boundaries, I do not believe that we need to be anything other than who we truly are, for everything else is a masquerade…and wouldn’t you rather spend your life being genuine, than being an illusion for everyone else to falsely admire?

At a certain point in time, a life well lived is a life that has been infused with every aspect of whatever we ultimately harbor within, that makes us incredibly unique individuals. Rather than spending your life imprisoned by the expectations of others, perhaps it would be a much wiser decision to awaken to this reality at a much earlier age in life and flourish, by being the remarkably genuine human being that you truly are.

Happy Wednesday!

Please follow and like us:

Written by Brian Weiner

When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!