The SnowHow

Tag: Choices

  • The Villain Is The Hero Of His Own Story!

    It’s always someone else’s fault! No, it really is! It is definitely not your fault right?

    My boss is an asshole and he does not pay me enough, my partner just does not get me, the world is unfair, the little guy does not stand a chance, the rich/banks/government stops me at every turn, in fact everyone has got it in for me!

    Well, that sucks!

    You might be surprised how many people walk around each day with variations on that theme. The thing is they are right! All of those things are true. Let me explain.

    Your reality is based around the thoughts that you think each day. If you believe it, then it is true. Well, at least for you. You see as many people have stated we become our controlling thoughts. If we see the world as “out to get us” then more often than not you will find a way to make that true. As Robert Anton Wilson stated “What the thinker thinks, the prover proves!” actually quick tip go read his book Prometheus Rising it is one of the few life changing books, in fact read all his books.

    Moving on, you see most of us think we are the good guy that we are doing right and that we are good people. The thing is this works for virtually everyone. John Dillinger when asked why he robbed banks said “because that is where the money is” he didn’t believe he was a thief he believed he was a liberator of money from the evil banks/government.

    Hitler probably believed that bringing forth the master race was a noble pursuit no matter how he achieved this. Same goes for all empire builders in history Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon etc.

    You see pretty much no one sees themselves as the bad guy.

    So in human terms we have normally three categories of people The Good Guys, The Bad Guys who think they are good and The Victims.

    The Bad guys we have discussed, so lets get on with the other two.

    Before I discuss the Good Guys let’s talk about The Victims.

    The Victims as I have mentioned believe that everyone has got it in for them. They see no opportunity, they think everyone doesn’t seem to understand them. They believe life’s golden ticket has been stolen from them, and as I have mentioned for them this is true.

    Does this hold up under examination?

    Well do you know what if you live in the third world, a war zone or say sub-Saharan Africa, then do you know what you may be justified in your stance. For the rest of us well, I’m not so sure.

    I’ll tell you the reason why. Pretty much all of us are the product of each and every choice we have ever made. In fact if you are reading this every choice you have ever made led you to reading this at this moment in time.

    Each day we make a plethora of different choices that affect us in the moment and also our future.

    The more good choices we make on average the better our life turns out. The more bad choices we make then on average the worse our life turns out. Yes there are exceptions to every rule, but for most people that runs true.

    Victims tend to point fingers outwards and blame other people. They never point the finger back at themselves and take personal responsibility. They think their fate is set by the hand that they have been given. And so it is!

    The Good Guys, they have a different mindset to The Victims and The Bad Guys, you see the good guys often started out just like The Victims or could have taken a pathway that would have led them to becoming The Bad Guys. The thing is they didn’t they made better choices!

    Let me say that again, they made better choices.

    You see the good guys take a look at their lot in life and decide they will take a stand for themselves. (hey, for some the lucky ones this is almost inbuilt and requires very little in the way of effort. Good for them!) They make solid choices that lead them onwards and upwards.

    The Good Guys if they start in The Victim place, don’t accept that as their final outcome and ask themselves how they can go about improving their situation. They make a better choice for themselves.

    Maybe it is to study hard in school, maybe instead of going to the bar for a beer or sitting at home watching soaps and drinking wine, they go to the library and pick up a book. Maybe they go ask the advice of someone who has already lifted themselves up and out of a similar situation. Maybe they work doubly hard on themselves rather than complaining about the way life is hard.

    You see we all get to be who we are… The Good Guy, The Bad Guy and The Victim by our choices.

    Yes, I know sometimes bad things happen to good people, sometimes really horrendous and horrible things happen to good people but the person we become after that happens will also depend on how we choose to deal with it. We are our the accumulation of our choices over time.

    So for now make better choices! Choose one area of your life right now that is not working for you and choose to do something about it.

    Snowy

  • What Bugsy Malone Can Teach Us About Success!

    The thing is with knowledge you have to take it as and when you find it.

    For years when people have asked me where do you get all your best ideas I used to tell them Bugsy Malone. Partially as a joke but secretly there was a lot of truth in what I said.

    You see Bugsy is not just a great film, there is also a lot of great wisdom in there that is often overlooked by those who watch it.

    If you are not familiar with the film it is Alan Parkers take on the gangster film. The difference is that all the characters are played by children. The guns don’t shoot bullets they shoot custard. The cars are peddle power. Much of the dialogue comes in the form of song. So if you will Bugsy is in essence a gangster musical with kids.

    As a child I was mesmerised by the film oh how I wanted a splurge gun and a peddle car. Jodie Forster as Tallulah was my idea of all thing glamorous, there were definitely no girls like here in my school.

    Scott Baio who played the eponymous title character was the very definition of all that was cool! He was smart he was funny, he was street savvy and he seemed always to be one step ahead of the game.

    All that is unimportant for the purpose of this article, the important point is that, in the songs there was wisdom. Some of it truly profound.

    Yep I know what your are thinking, really in a kids film? I tell thee yes!

    Ok you want proof!

    Have you ever procrastinated about anything or said to yourself i can do that tomorrow? Yep! We all have that is part of the human condition right?

    Well the film gives us some advice on the subject from the song Tomorrow. In the film there is a character who keeps on trying to get an audition for a job as a dancer from the owner of a speak easy. Everyday the owner says to the character ok you can get an audition tomorrow. The lyrics state “Tomorrow never comes, tomorrow a resting place for bums!”

    Clearly stating that if you put off living your life for too long you might end up in the worst off all situations living like a down and out! Our character knows that there is no tomorrow he states “what kind of fool do they take me for!”

    The thing is he also gives us the cure for being put off. He says “I won’t take no for an answer!” Or to put it another way I will take control of my own fate and not be at the whims of others! The whole song is a masterclass in seeing how you claim control of your fate!

    You want some more advice from Bugsy, in a song entitled “Down and Out” it gives us a cure from complaining about your situation. At the start of the song we hear these lyrics.

    You don’t have to sit around
    Complaining ’bout the way your life has wound up
    Think of all the time you waste
    And time’s a precious thing to let go by

    Talk about philosophy hidden in plain sight!

    They also go on to give your there cure in the very next lyric it says..

    Sure you’ve hit the bottom
    But remember you’ll be building from the ground up
    Ev’ry day’s another step
    That takes you even closer to the sky, so give a try

    It goes on a little further to tell us how we do it by really taking a stand for ourselves and how we can start to make progress by taking a chance and making some new changes!

    Fight and fight some more
    Until you know the world is ready to receive you

    So be a man you know you can’t be certain
    That you’ll lose until you try, so give it a try

    You want some more?

    Ok how about Karma or if you prefer sow and reap or to put it another way, if you provide value first, then you will reap the rewards! We here this in the lyrics..

    You give a little love
    And it all comes back to you

    Simple, yet completely accurate.

    It also goes on to tell you about the importance of Character and how we should strive to keep ourselves to our highest standards and be impeccable with our word after all….

    You know you gonna be remembered
    For the things you say and do

    I won’t go on any more about just how good a film Bugsy is because every time I watch it I think for both children and adults it is a philosophical masterpiece.

    That said I will leave you will one final lesson from Bugsy Malone it comes in the form of telling us that we become the sum total of the choices we make and it is never to late to start making better ones.

    We could’ve been anything
    That we wanted to be
    Yes, that decision was ours

    We could’ve been anything
    That we wanted to be
    And it’s not too late to change
    I’d be delighted to give it some thought
    May-be you’ll agree that we really ought

    There are so many other great bits of wisdom in the film take the time to watch it if you haven’t or reacquaint yourself with it if you have.

    Hey, maybe you will realise somewhere in the film that you really can be anything that you want to be.

    Until next time.

    Snowy