Choosing between satisfaction for now or later

Related: Controlling Oneself, Mental Self-Reconfiguration, Your Two Halves

Why does the human tend towards certain things
Live Now, Don't Focus on Past
Decision making

you are either sacrificing the now for the later, or the later for the now.

Oftentimes unconstructive actions correspond to satisfaction for the now, the current state of existence, the short-term, and serve to alleviate the dissatisfaction with one’s current state in life through avoidance of the issues at hand, hence, unconstructive actions, because one’s issues continue to persist.

In contrast, usually constructive actions correspond to the satisfaction for the later, the future state of existence, the long-term and serve to alleviate the dissatisfaction with one’s current state in life through solving the issues at hand, hence, constructive actions.

Deciding between these two types of actions represents the ultra common struggle within every individual. One may choose

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Sometimes a byproduct of putting forth effort towards an activity that may result in better conditions for the future may be stress. One does not like to be stressed

If one could partake in an activity that one enjoyed, and that activity resulted in the betterment of that one’s future, then it would be a win-win situation.

A lot of the troubles the common people face is that their job, which results in the betterment of their future, also may result in stress at the present and immediate future. This is why when the common worker comes home, they want to partake in an activity that helps relieve them of their stress from earlier in the day. Usually, this activity is something that does not result in the betterment of their future.

Job
•Good for your future (more opportunity, independence, flexibility)
•Bad for present (stress, would rather be doing something enjoyable)

This is the conflicting situation a job presents

Oftentimes an individual is presented with the dilemma:
Pleasure: now vs. later

Drinking:
•you drink a lot – get buzzed – feel good in the present
•hangover – throw up – drink & drive – accident – feel bad in the future

Over the course of a lifetime, a human can become very proficient at certain things. Certain things are harder to learn than others, and therefore different things require different amounts of time in order to be good at. Also, different people have different learning capability and different learning styles. Through the course of one’s life, one chooses to focus their time on certain things. There will be certain things an individual will do only once and there are certain things an individual will do many times throughout the course of one’s life. Some things may have the potential to benefit the individual if performed many times repeatedly (piano, golf, investing). Other things may be detrimental and deteriorating to an individual if performed many times repeatedly (drinking, drug abuse, watching TV, overeating). What an individual chooses to focus their time on throughout life will determine how successful they become.

Why does the human tend towards certain things

Some people seem as if they need to find things to worry about all the time. Even when everything is in order, they need to find something to be concerned about.

What does one want to achieve in life? What are one’s ambitions, one’s reasons for living? What motivates a person?

People desire to move towards feelings perceived as “good” and stray away from feelings perceived as “bad”.

Why does it seem that for every action there must be a tradeoff between short-term and long-term gain?
Is there anything that will result in a short-term gain and a long-term gain?
Perhaps if you are in a relationship with someone that you love. Perhaps if you do work that you enjoy.

But it seems as though it is the actions that have a trade-off between short-term and long-term gain which are the ones that are dominant in terms of time spent occupying the mind.

What I seek to achieve is a peaceful mind, a mind without conflict, a mind that is in agreement with self.

Only actions that result in long-term gain are those which should be pursued.

Wandering mind

People seek to be normal. But being normal is relative.

Is it possible to maintain a peaceful mind regardless of the forces that act upon it?

People try to assess how they fit in relative to their environment, their surroundings.

Contentedness, satisfaction, fulfillment

	short-term satisfaction & long-term loss	long-term gain & short-term loss
procrastinate	X
thinking about sex	X
masturbate	X
exercise regularly		X
play videogames	X
study		X
popping pills	X
doing drugs	X
drinking	X
addictive behaviors	X
playing games	X
work		X
watch tv	X
have an affair	X
reading the bible
playing music

feelings or states of mind	good	bad
happiness	X
relaxed	X
calm	X
love	X
passion	X
nervousness		X
stress		X
uneasy		X
timid		X

Live Now, Don't Focus on Past

In the end, it doesn’t matter how you lived your life.
But it does matter to you how you are living your life right now at this very moment.

You can’t go back to the past and make changes or decisions.
You can’t travel to the future to make changes or decisions.

The only time you can make decisions are in the present.

But usually we either choose what we do in life for enjoyment of the short term, or for making sacrifices for the long term.

But if we do something in the short term that is for the long term, it will give us a sense of satisfaction in the short term because we know that we can feel better about the long term because of what we are doing in the short term.

Decision making

Develop a conscious future-mindedness to help you better make decisions with the future in mind. All decisions should be made based on implications for the future. How is a decision going to impact your future? Decisions should not be made based on the present or past. Decisions shouldn’t be made based on how you feel.

If one can develop a conscious future mindedness, then one will be better geared to handle decisions with the future in mind.

One can develop a conscious future-mindedness by regularly recognizing the impact and implications and results by making decisions by taking into account the future and not making decisions with regard to the present or past.

Entertainment vs Education

Obviously most people would prefer entertainment over education. Sometimes the two merge such as museums. Are they ever two separate things? To be educated is to learn and that in one way or another as long as people are conscious they are learning, as long as people have the ability to take in information from their surroundings and compile it in some way, they are learning. And whether people are being entertained or not they are always learning. Although, the value of what one learns varies at any one point in time. There is always something more valuable one could learn at any one point in time then what that one learns at that point in time. Entertainment and education are always merged; yet the value of education and degree of entertainment always varies at any one point in time. It takes effort for one to learn. The amount of effort exerted by one trying to learn something depends on the complexity of what that one is trying to learn. Things that are easier to learn require less effort and therefore are more acceptable for one to learn. Most people enjoy learning. There are very interesting things to learn yet they are so complex in order to grasp the concept that most people would rather not exert the effort to learn those things. People make a decision on whether or not to learn something new based on how much effort they will have to exert in order to learn something, whether there is something else of greater importance to learn, and the degree to which something peaks their interest. Except that the level of effort one is willing to exert to learn depends on the person and on any point in time. It is obvious that the more intelligent one is the easier it is for that one to grasp concepts and the less effort one has to exert in order to learn something. I categorize movies, television, music, etc. as simple entertainment. You do not have to exert much brainpower in order to grasp the concept and be entertained. What drives our species as a whole though? How does our technology keep growing? As we learn more and more as a whole, our species can keep advancing in terms of what we can do. Is our purpose to be entertained or to be educated? Education enables us to advance. Entertainment keeps people occupied. Entertainment as with education peaks people's interest. People enjoy being entertained as they do being educated. But it is easier to entertain someone then to educate someone. Maybe you have to be educated before you can be entertained. You have to understand a comedian's jokes before you can laugh at them. What is more important? I categorize anything that pleasures the human's senses as entertainment. Eating is crucial for our survival yet the taste of the food pleasures us. Sex is for reproduction yet it also provides pleasure. Biologically humans are persuaded to take these actions that promote species survival because of our genetic makeup. We are persuaded to take these actions because they feel good to us therefore we want to do those things. Even sleep, we get tired and so when we get in bed it feels good to lie down. Although sometimes what we feel as being good to ourselves is not the right thing to do at a given moment. Entertainment does such as television, movies, and music does not promote our species survival yet it gives us pleasure. Things that are different from the normal keep us entertained. The more complex a human mind is the more easily one becomes bored. Humans need things that keep their minds active. They want things that interest them. Sports is another form of simple entertainment, it is a form of physical entertainment. Sports keep a person healthy. But why do people enjoy watching a movie? Why does a person like or dislike a movie? Much of visual and audio entertainment has evolved into what revolves around sex and violence, action and special effects, some people are amused by simple humor like bodily functions or swearing, humor which requires little thought. The entertainment industry builds off of what people want to experience. Many times a movie might portray images that appeal to a viewer, such as the female figure in a provocative way, or a guy with guns blasting away at the enemy. Part of entertainment as such is to provide for one's fantasy. Largely people are interested in conversation or communication between others. People are interested in people, and sometimes people enjoy watching something where they can watch people interact in a new or unusual way. Every person has their own unique personality, and that keeps people interested in each other. People enjoy listening to music because it helps them visualize an atmosphere that they would enjoy. Or the music induces certain feelings that are pleasurable to a person. But with any form of entertainment there is education, and with any form of education there is entertainment. People go to school to be educated so that they can make a living for themselves and earn enough money so that they can provide for themselves and so that they can allow for themselves more entertainment then they would have otherwise. I think that to enjoy life is to be entertained. In order to enjoy something you have to be entertained in some way. Some people are willing to exert great effort to learn more and more simply because that is what drives them. That is what gives them pleasure. They are willing to exert great effort because when they learn what they do, it will make them more satisfied, because to know more than what they did before gives them satisfaction.