Delusional

Sometimes I can hardly bear being at the gym.  There are lots of things there that might cause this reaction, but the thing that drives me nuts is seeing all the crazy things people do thinking that they are getting a better workout.  Putting extra weight on the machine, more resistance on the stairmaster, more incline on the treadmill, then contorting themselves into weird positions to make it work.  It just seems delusional.  And, sadly, it seems so darn representative of the general delusional nature of our society—just a giant disconnect in the quest for results.

So the question this brings up for me is “where am I delusional?”  I too have blindspots where I am contorting myself into false realities—where are they?  When I start looking, I feel like I see them everywhere.  Virtually all the time, I am thinking that something should be different than it is.  It is quite incredible how little time I spend in the reality of the present moment.  I should be happier, I should have more clients, I should write more, my marriage should be different, I should wake up earlier, I should have gone for a bike ride instead of coming to the gym.  This is delusion—I just looked it up in the dictionary.  Delude means to deceive the mind.  Delusion means a false belief or opinion.  Since the Buddha and the ancient yogis talk about delusion, we can know that it something that we humans do, but it does seem like perhaps Americans have taken it to a whole new level (watch the movie Inside Job about the 2008 financial fiasco if you’re not sure).

I do like having a visual though.  When I catch myself shoulding, I can picture those folks at the gym and remember how ridiculous it is to deny reality.