What is your default question?
I think most of us have a default question that we ask whenever there is a down moment, a slow moment, in our lives. This default question has great power over our happiness and well being. For many of us, the default question is "what do I want now?" The minute the business subsides, we ask ourselves, what do I want now? As philosophers over the centuries have observed, directing ourselves by the wants of the moment is almost certainly a formula for unhappiness. We are likely to be frequently frustrated. The open palm of desire knows no bounds, wanting is a bottomless pursuit. It is quite likely that a yawning gap will open between what we want and what the world is capable of providing. For myself, this question has often been "what should I be doing right now?" It turns out that this is also a problematic question. Just as wants are bottomless, so are achievements, and so are the problems of the world. If we are continually directed towards newly emerging nee...