Welcome to The Positive Piper’s first Thoughtful Thursday. Today, I’d like to take a look at a quote from the movie Fight Club:
“No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.” ~~Narrator
Breaking it Down
Distraction can stop you from seeing the beauty in the world
While there can be endless interpretation for these words – whether you’ve seen the movie or not – I find them to be readily applicable and useful to my life. You see, I think fear and distraction are two of the main weapons the Negativity Beast uses against us all. Just think about how much you could accomplish if your life was free of fear and distraction.
But it’s the rest of the quote that holds real significance for me…
How often do you let the trivial little things get in the way of the things you enjoy in life? How often do you:
- spend so much time playing host at a party that you fail to enjoy your guests?
- get so annoyed by running late to an event that you forget to have fun when you get there?
- let a petty annoyance ruin the time you spend with loved ones?
The list could go on and on, but I believe you get the drift.
Fighting Against Human Nature
The point is that human nature is to hold onto every tiny little frustration so you can rehash it in your head over and over and over again. While working at the computer, you might think of something that hurt you years ago and spend several hours reliving it. Seriously, how productive is that?
More importantly, how does something that upset you years ago make a difference in your life today? Don’t you have better things to do with all that wasted brain power? I’d like to think I do.
Of course, some things do matter. Some things are worth rehashing in your brain. The trouble is knowing what to keep and what to let slide.
Determining What’s Important to You
It doesn’t matter where I go or what I’m trying to do, people like to tell me about their troubles. To a degree, you expect this from friends and close family; it’s weird when a stranger does it at the grocery store, though. At first I tried to really talk it out with people, but that never seemed to work because we have the tendency to discount advice in favor of staying distracted or in fear.
So, I’d patiently listen to all the tales of woe – even in the grocery store – and follow up with these questions:
- Is this going to make a difference in your life in six months?
- How about a year?
- Five years?
- When you’re at the end of your life and reflecting back over your time here, will this even be a blip?
In most cases, people get silent. Why? Because most of the troubles we focus on don’t mean much in an extended perspective. (There are exceptions, but stay with me on this.)
How to Apply it to Your Life
So, if you can objectively say that today’s crisis is going to have lasting effects over the course of your life, hold onto it. It deserves your energy. If you can’t, stop playing into the hands of the Negativity Beast.
Let it go. I’ll say that again because it’s important. Let it go.
And don’t just say you’re going to let it go…REALLY put it out of your mind and keep it out.
What Does It Mean to You?
Alright, that’s just what the quote means to me. Now it’s your turn. You tell me what it means to live without fear, without distraction and to put everything that doesn’t make a real difference out of your mind.
Jen
“If you can change your mind, you can change your life.”
© 2011, Jen Whitten. All rights reserved. Using content from The Positive Piper without permission will cause the Negativity Beast to attack. BEWARE!
About Jen Whitten
Jen Whitten is a freelance writer, editor, consultant, blogger and ninja...yes, ninja. When not slaying the Negativity Beast, she enjoys writing fiction and baking delicious cookies. You can view her complete bio under the About menu.
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