…am I losing my stoke every purchase I think I need?

The Words

I recently read that capitalism and consumerism may have caused more people being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. After that I read an article about the late Pat Curren, a famous surfboard shaper. He was able to come up with his lasting designs because of the lack of outside influence from the internet. Some would say anyways. How bizarre to me. Then later on that week, I watched an Oasis interview where Noel Gallagher goes into his fears that the internet will cause creativity to diminish. First off what’s up with my algorithm these days? And am I losing my stoke every purchase I think I need?

Let’s break it down to what focus is. It’s a singular form of foci. Who the hell says foci? Can you focus on two things at once? You can say that “I’m focused on a couple things right now.” But are you really? What’s your focus right now in this minute. What are your foci this very second? I guess you can astro-project or visualize yourself into focusing on multiple foci back-to-back. But wouldn’t that just be you focusing on astro-projecting something singular as the main theme. Then all of the sudden you get text message. An ad pops up. Someone calls you about your cars extended warranty. It takes a bit to go back into your focus trance. Even talking or writing on focusing is distracting. Try it. All the distractions come in. You start to hear and sense your distractions in the room. All the objects emitting an invisible energy field or simply not emitting something. That weird elephant my sister got for my coffee table is making me think of a real elephant.

The true master doesn’t say he is the master. The true focus doesn’t realize it is focus.

Is true focus just closing your eyes and sitting there in the silence? My minds too distracting on its own. My stomach makes noises. I got a soreness somewhere in my muscles usually. I can’t focus while meditating, but my mind does get a bit more creative and imaginative. Do you realize how many monks probably fall asleep? I’m losing my stoke just thinking about focusing. Is the act of focusing simply not thinking about focusing? The true master doesn’t say he is the master. The true focus doesn’t realize it is focus.

The Advice

I’ll keep it short and simple. Everytime I want to purchase something these are my new processes that I mentally and physically go through.

1. The things we own end up owning us. A good lesson from fight club. If you don’t want that object owning you for a longtime maybe consider renting it, if possible. Try it out first, get a freebie. If you want this thing to end up owning a chunk of your existence, then go for it. Ask yourself “Do I want to be this thing’s bitch?” If you have no choice, then it’s probably a necessity.
2. Make a purchasing schedule. Put this new item you want on a list or calendar and set the purchase date sometime in the future. I recommend at least 1 or 2 months in the future. What happens here is your brain thinks you actually got the item in the future. You made a contract with the future you to purchase an item but, you can get out of that contract without any or many fees. If you are willing to have that object be a part of your existence and owning your smooth ass then you took the first step. You don’t have to think too much of it until that date arrives. Most likely you will end up wanting something else and you are jockeying your purchasing schedule around. Soon enough you never end up purchasing that initial item you had planned on purchasing in November. You simply figured something else was much more worthy of your soul.

Keep the stoke ladies and ladydudes. Until next time!