From those at the top to those at the bottom, lust, pornography, addiction, money, power, greed, conceit, and pride can bring you down. No one is immune.
We make decisions many times a day. The mindstate we are in influences those decisions.
- Hungry for food? It’s likely we will be a little short and possibly grumpy—“hangry.” Decisions made may be hasty and not well thought out.
- Tired? The same.
- Stressed? Same again.
- Bored? Yep, different decisions are made.
- Lonely? Same.
- Resentful? Same.
- Aroused? Either being sexually excited, emotionally stirred up (a speech can arouse hope, or a strange noise can arouse suspicion), or awakened from sleep? Yep, these also affect the decisions we make.
What Drives Our Choices?
Whether it’s the 7 deadly sins or the emotional frameworks defined by psychologists:
- Paul Ekman Group: Identified six original universal facial expressions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise) and later added contempt.
- Robert Plutchik: Proposed an emotion classification wheel with eight core feelings (joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation).
- UC Berkeley Study: Identified 27 distinct categories of emotion.
Whatever framework you look at, the core truth remains: they affect our decisions.
The J. Paul Getty Story
J. Paul Getty, one of the richest men in the world at the time, wrote in How to Be Rich (1965):
"I stopped for the night at a hotel in a small town in the Auvergne. Tired after the long and difficult drive… For some reason, I awoke about two A.M., acutely aware that I wanted a cigarette.
The only way I could hope to obtain any cigarettes was by dressing and then going to the railroad station, which was located at least six blocks away.
The prospect was not very pleasant. The rain still pelted down outside. My car was garaged a considerable distance from the hotel and, in any event, I had been warned the garage closed at midnight and did not reopen until six o'clock in the morning. The chances of getting a taxi were nil.
All in all, it was clear that if I was to have the cigarette I wanted so badly, I would have to walk to the railroad station—and back—through the pouring rain. But the desire to smoke gnawed at me and, perversely, the more I contemplated the difficulties entailed in getting a cigarette, the more desperately I wanted to have one. And so I took off my pajamas and started putting on my clothes. I was completely dressed and reaching for my raincoat when I abruptly stopped and began to laugh—at myself.
It had suddenly struck me that my actions were illogical, even ludicrous.
There I stood, a supposedly intelligent human being, a supposedly responsible and fairly successful businessman who considered himself sensible enough to give other people orders. Yet I was ready to leave my comfortable hotel room in the middle of the night and slosh a dozen blocks through a driving rainstorm for no other reason than that I wanted a cigarette—because I felt that I 'had' to have one.
For the first time in my life, I was brought face to face with the realization that I had developed a habit so strong that I was willing—automatically and unthinkingly—to let myself in for a very great deal of personal discomfort merely to satisfy it.
…I'd allowed myself to form a habit that had grown completely out of hand and was obviously operating contrary to my best interests, producing no commensurately beneficial results. Suddenly sharply aware of this, I rebelled mentally. I needed only a moment to arrive at a decision. I considered it an excellent idea—and an ideal time and place—to rid myself of a habit that was certainly doing me no good."
Mindstates Have Consequences
Do I need to convince you more?
It doesn’t matter your status, political persuasion, or best intentions. Your mindstate affects your decisions. Your decisions have consequences.
Every action (or inaction) has a consequence.
- What is a helpful and healthy consequence for you and those you love?
- What about the community that supports you and your loved ones?
- Is it a healthy community? Could it be healthier?
Book a call to discuss your mindstates, decisions, and resulting behaviors.
👉 Book a Call with David Today
Recommended Reading & Next Steps:
- Methods of Recovery: How Broken Trust Is Actually Rebuilt — The 6-step relational reconstruction blueprint.
- What Do Mind-Altering Drugs, Porn, and Unicorn Blood Have in Common? — Breaking the cycle of compulsive seeking.
- Cleaning Up Your Mess: Pause the Oars, Get Quiet, Clarity Arises — Stepping off the mousewheel of distraction.
- What Are You Not Saying? — How sitting in stillness lets the mind decompress and reveal what needs attending to.