creating – the paradise paradox

The Episode:

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The Story:

Many people are content to cruise through life without thinking too deeply about things, without questioning their own motivations, focusing on personal development, formulating a long-term plan, developing a strategy and being as honest as they possibly can with the man in the mirror. Without introspection, self-analysis and self-knowledge, one can be lead down the wrong path, mislead by their culture, mass media, friends and family, dictated to about what is important without ever extending the glance beyond the veil, beyond the superficial.

As I once wrote:
“You better be really sure of who you are and what you want from yourself,
Because there’s a lot of people who’d prefer you be someone else.”

It’s no surprise that years later many people can wake up to a mid-life crisis, or worse, a death-bed crisis, realising that they’ve wasted their lives and being so far off-target, that they don’t even know how to get back to shore. The stereotype of a middle-aged man buying a sports car and dating a much younger, attractive and vapid woman is a tragic manifestation of this, the man trying to recapture his youth, while at the same time not really remembering what it means to be young, to be full of hope about making a better world, open to possibilities and having the audacity to confront established norms. A new Ferrari and a set of fake tits in your face doesn’t even qualify as a consolation prize.

What does it take to be successful? What does it mean to be successful? Who can help you be successful, and what is the real meaning of the phrase “self-reliance”? We explore these questions and more with our friend Charlie “Carlos” Selman, discussing an essay by Exosphere founder Skinner Layne, “The Critical Point”. Join us as we embark on a journey of self-exploration in the next exciting chapter of … The Paradise Paradox!