querying the mind for interesting thoughts related to what I've picked up or realized recently, these three words appeared in response: modes of being;
that we each have certain modes of being; we switch between them during the day; we switch between them during the year; during specific periods of our lives; throughout our lives; they are multilayered and we can be in several at once;
some work towards increasing our well-being, some decrease it; sometimes there is a short-term increase, long term decrease, sometimes the opposite; it's really difficult being a human today; maybe not just today; but the particular difficulties of today have to do with the rate of change; of social norms, of technological progress; the structure of society, the dominant systems and ideas; they shape us greatly, whether we want it or not;
to effectively exist in the modern "civilized" world we have to often go against our natural instincts, our biological programming, etc. it's easy to say things like "listen to your body", but what does that mean really? same for things like "step out of your comfort zone" or "do the thing that hurts" or however that's put; these platitudes, rules of thumb, heuristics only get you so far; you still have to know how and when to apply them, how they fit into your particular life; there is no magical rule that works in every situation; life is confusing and full of exceptions
you can have two people who seemingly follow opposite rules and values and they both make it work; or they both don't; some of it is down to luck, some intelligence, some attitude, some loops of reinforcement... ultimately there really is no guarantees or clear paths; you have to try to do your best with what is immediately around you; the surest things are here and now; outside of that is speculation;