Did you know that you were “born to become yourself by creating the experiences that you live”? In other words, you were meant to be the person you are right now… by doing the sorts of things only you would do! Doesn’t that feel good and kind of automatic, like you can just exist without doing anything and you’ve come into yourself like some kind of evolved higher specimen of human?
Not so fast, Siddhartha. There’s actually steps you’ll need to take to create the roadmap to your ultimate life. Seven little steps, in fact. All you have to do is make an ideal island, then an island of experience, then map your island of enhancement (this could take months!), create your islands of enlightenment, go island-hopping for provisions and information, incorporate new information into your island of experience and your ideal island, REPEAT, and then sit back and claim your ideal island, you salty dawg, you. Sound easy? Now let’s get started!
First, let’s just say that nobody does adventures like Odysseus, and nobody does life porn better than Oprah, bestower of light orbs of hope, sponsor of these here steps to a better life. Combining those two things is like shooting light orbs of hope into a barrel. I got not beef with that. Where I do get beefy is with the extent to which this life porn merely pimps out both the illusion of control — that your best self, your better life, your Goopiest existence is all but a few choices/diets/cleanses/overseas trips away/pinboards away — and that potentially the whole point of existence in some ways is the search for this more perfect union. If that were about giving more and consuming less or any other arguably better ways of living for the greater good, it’d be one thing. But it is so often linked inextricably to the upper-middle class cult of the prettiest/skinniest/most indulged self, the sort of people who actually have the free time to wonder what to do with a half-eaten jar of non-organic strawberry jam.
But no matter, we’ve got some islands to hop!
Tools you’ll need to “create a map of your own epic tomorrows — a magically morphing guide that will get more detailed and accurate as you travel”:
Computer and printer
Magazines
Photos from your private collection
A roll of butcher paper or a clean stretch of wall
Paper
Scissors
Markers
Tape
And it goes without saying that you’ll need money, loads of free time, physical space, and an education that has provided you with an understanding of the Odysseus metaphor. Hint: You are Odysseus, only one better, because you’re you! And you are great!
Step 1: Make an ideal island. Get out those magazines and pictures and create a vision-collage of your “perfect life” — look for “appealing images” and images that are “viscerally appealing” that make you go “Oooh” “Aaah” and “Mmmm.” So, Gwyneth Paltrow and brownies? Keep in mind, “The vision of your ideal life doesn’t have to look possible, just delicious.” YES BROWNIES!! Note: Most people give up here, or what I like to refer to as, “use Pinterest instead.” But not us. We will forge ahead to our perfect life!
Step 2: Make an Island of Experience. Now make a collage of your life as it is now:
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