Reality
"Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living happy, healthy and rewarding life."
by Marilu Henner
So sticking to reality and being realistic the way to live happily
1- Reality is full of disasters. Illusion is an outlet tham we can resort to.
Although reality is full of suffering and hardships, yet this is the only way that reality uses in building up a balanced, strong and thankful personality. Illusion might comfort people but it's dangerous because it makes them naïve, weak and very sensitive. There's no permanent suffering. Reality offers some precious moments of happiness and pleasure that remain in our memory forever.
Ex: Who doesn't know Oprah Winfrey?! Who doesn't respect her and admire her?!She experienced lots of hardships in her childhood. She spent her first 6 years without her parents in poverty. She was raped at the age of 9 and got pregnant at the age of 14. Her baby died. She was fired from her job many times yet she never gave up this merciless reality to a world of illusions and rosy dreams.
Ex: what if Lattakia was hit by a tornado. Will you sit in your bed imagining that you are in Paris or Dubie spending a nice vacation?? Or will you run as fast as you can to find a shelter?
2- Without imagination we are transformed into machines and robots that keep working all the time.
"I think what makes us human is our interconnectedness among people. It's our ability to form and maintain relationships. It's the barometer by which we call ourselves human."
By Thomas Jane
So being human is connected to relationships with others. By illusions we isolate ourselves from society and lock ourselves in our imaginary world. In the contrary, Reality keeps us in touch with our families, friends and community.
"Our flaws are what make us human. If we can accept them as a part of who we are, they really don't have to be an issue."
By Ellen DeGeneres
Imagination and Illusions take us to an ideal world that has no suffering and mistakes. In reality people make mistakes repeatedly. It's in the human nature to make mistakes and feel regret then correct their mistakes. Illusions don not have such things.
As a result we fig that illusions and imagination are what transform human not only to robots but to corpse (dead body)
1- Reality helps us avoid mistakes and failure because when we stick to reality we see thing as they are. By reality we can know the truth of everything around us, so we can avoid being hurt, making mistakes and failure. Illusions give us what we want. Imagination enables ego to blind our eyes.
Ex: The Greek tried for 10 years to conquer Troy but they couldn't because Troy was like a part from the mountain. Trojans felt glorious that they took the wooden horse as a victory trophy. Their illusions made them think highly of themselves so they were defeated.
2- Reality is active while illusion is passive. Sticking to reality directs us to improvement and development. Illusions give us what we want so we stop working hard to achieve our goals. Illusions keep in the same place due to the thought that you can have whatever you want through imagination.
Ex: the whole world would have never known light if Thomas Edison drowned in dreams full of lights. He tried 1,000 times before he could make the light bulb.
3- By imagination we can motivate ourselves to achieve our goals. Imagination helps us in putting our goals and targets.
Imagining success can motivate you only for a short time. When you realize that you are standing still you'll be upset. If you really wanna motivate yourself walk a step towards your goal. Finding that work is rewarding and that you are nearer to your target is a better motivation to continue. "A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step"
4- Imagination is the mother of scientific inventions and arts.
"Necessity is the mother of invention". Due to the fact that reality is not perfect and ideal, people are always in need. So reality is the mother of invention. Illusions are rosy dreams that take us to an idealist world. Imagination has no value without applying it to reality.
Ex: how many inventions died in the minds of people because they never applied them to reality?? What is the value of all this modern technology if it remained as imagination?
3- Sticking to reality is the only way to live happily and have healthy relationships with others. When you stop making expectations about people you'll have more friends and a better social life. When you stop judging others from their appearance, you'll have more opportunities and fewer fears. How many times you discovered that that person who you thought is the last person you'd ever befriend turned out to be very kind and helpful.
Being realistic helps you criticize yourself and know your real abilities. When you're able to criticize yourself you become humble. Illusion justifies your mistakes so you grow arrogant and people hate you. Illusion makes you think highly of yourself and puts you in a lot of embarrassing situations as what usually happens with guys.
Ex: once upon a time there was that usual guy that loves a girl but she doesn't know. He imagined how is he gonna tell her time after time giving credit to himself that he is handsome and that she's gonna return his love immediately. The conversation with her in his mind is something like:
He: hi
She: hi, I was waiting for you for my whole life…..etc.
But in reality this is what happens..
He: hi
She: hi
He: (&$%^#$%@
4- Reality offers real experience and is the only way to discover the world. No matter how illusions are realistic they can't be as strong as real experience. Illusion can take you in a tour around the world but the real experience will always be better even if it included some hardships. Real experience teaches you and allows you to discover the world. Illusion keeps in ignorant .
Ex: In old ages people thought that violent natural phenomena is a kind of god's wrath. So they sacrificed each other in order to gain gods satisfaction.
Sometimes we run out of means to solve problems so imagination is an outlet.
Ex: Hellene Keller is a deaf blind. She is the first person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She helped to establish the American Civil Liberties Union. She met every Us president along her life. She befriended Mark Twain, Alexander Graham Bell and Charlie Chaplin.
Is there worse than her situation?? Yet she never resorted to illusions and dreams. I believe that there is a solution for every problem as long as you stick to reality.
Imagination allows us to imagine solution to our problems
Imagine as you like reality is very far from illusions and full of surprises that you can't expect. There's no use of these solutions unless you apply them to reality. reality is the basic that you can't separate yourself from.
