'Tis the season to be a jackass...

It's funny how life works. Birthdays are a celebration that many hate. Halloween is a holiday where evil ideals such as death are rewarded with sweets. Christmas, the birth of Christ, the day that the mortal being of Jesus Christ was born just so happens to be the time when people are the biggest a-holes to all that come within a specified radius.

Determining the radius, or rather, radi-ass, is rather simple:

Note:

Brow and cheek slumping determine said radius

Objects (people) are denoted as 'X'

• Divide pre-brow by pre-cheek slump
• Multiple the girth of X by the remainder of Pre-brow/Post-brow slump
• Add the square root of Pre-cheek/Post-cheek slump to the product of Pre-brow/Pre-cheek slump
• Subtract the number of days to Christmas

There's your radi-ass.

All of which I preach on this blog has reached a true test. I honestly never realized that Christmas, my favorite holiday, would be the time I would have to work the hardest to practice what I preach. 

I find myself on the reactionary side, getting very angry with people. Every time I leave the house I am finding myself fighting more and more to remember that I have a choice: react emotionally or move on logically. 

I'm learning more and more that very few people think proactively. School does not teach us to think of why others act a certain way. Truthfully, how could any one teach that? It wasn't until I started teaching people how to use technology that I realized people  getting mean and rude about the subject I am teaching is because they don't get it and don't want to appear stupid. It's 100% human nature. I have always done that myself and I never realized it or really knew why. 

It may not be an answer as much as an observation, but people act the way they do at Christmas out of worry of letting down someone they care about. Or at least, that can be most of the reason. Some, I assume, shop because they don't want to hear someone else whine about it.

The above formula takes time to perfect and is highly scientific. Use it with caution.

I like quarters, but I prefer more change...

I am sure you've been on the edge of your seat thinking, "Geez, I wonder what Shawn Finer is thinking about right now?" 

Well folks, wait no longer, here's my thought of the moment.

What causes people to change? The answer is rather simple: Fear.

Now, don't think of this as a bad thing. Some people change in fear of being someone they don't want to be. Some change to ensure their loved one is happy in fear that they will leave. Some change their underwear so others stop asking awkward questions like, "What's the smell?"

It just might be the hardest thing anyone can do. And I am finding that everyone believes they "change" in some shape or form. But I also find that a lot of people's "change" is only temporary. So it really isn't change at all. It's a fad or a phase. True change is an entire new paradigm. True change is so much more than what someone says. It is what someone does (but this is the kicker) -- over a long period of time... for a lifetime, even.

So where does fear play in all of this? Well, people have different levels of fear. Think of a battered wife. Why do they stick with those abusive husbands? I can't really answer that, as I am sure it changes from situation to situation, but then, all of a sudden, after all the weakness and pain they have suffered, they finally leave. It's the point when the fear of being alone is finally topped by the fear of being harmed. Before that point, the fear of being alone, or whatever fear it may be causing them to stick around, was, for whatever reason, just that much stronger.

It's when fear hits that tipping point that a person makes that final choice.

I, like everyone else, thought fear made you weak. It's quite the opposite. It makes someone stronger. You just can't see it until someone goes from living in fear to accepting fear and doing something about it.

And I truly believe it isn't something you can force. Change takes a very long time. There's no end date, no beginning date. There are only milestones you can reach. Except for the underwear thing... change those quickly and often.