Cranial Conditioning

"I was thinking, over thinking, cause there's just too many scenarios to analyze"
          --Relient K, "Over Thinking"

A few weeks ago, I listened to a speech given by Earl Nightingale. It was titled "The Strangest Secret", and discussed the power we have to control our minds positively to improve our outlook on life. The secret, strange because it is misunderstood by humans yet life-altering, suggests "We become what we think about".

In "This is Water" by Wallace, Nightingale's bold statement is portrayed as effective for finding meaning to life. He discusses how daily duties of adulthood, such as waiting in a checkout line after a long day at work, can be examined in a broader and positive manner. A human can "look at how repulsive most of them [people] are, and how stupid and cow-like and dead-eyed and nonhuman they seem ... how annoying and rude it is" (para 16). As well as this, he uses the woman in the checkout line "who just screamed at her kid" to convey the "annoying and miserable" conditions of life. She may be a"low-wage clerk" who has to support her "husband dying of bone cancer", yet mankind judges her without empathy.

"Thinking this way tends to be so easy and automatic that it doesn't have to be a choice"(Wallace para 19). Also, thinking this way "will get negative results" (Nightingale). Life will not have meaning and humans will achieve absolutely nothing with a pessimistic perception. Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor, said: “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.” You have the power to choose your perception. Discover who you want to become and set your mind on a specific goal. Eventually, you will achieve.

Wallace states that "it will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred"(para 23). He explains this to college students because he understands that having a positive outlook is vital for a positive and successful life, and they are just beginning their journey.

So, be the "lord of [your] tiny skull-sized kingdom", and direct your mind to become who you want to be.

Earl Nightingale