I was sitting in the chair of pain, waiting for my dentist to arrive to give me my options for repairing a worn out tooth implant. I noticed a sign on the wall in front of me, it said algorithm for treating a heart attack. Feeling a little guilty for getting out of the chair to read something that were perhaps for the dentist eyes only, I read what to me was a recipe on how to care for somebody who is having a heart attack. The attack probably was caused when the patient got a good look at the huge pair of pliers the dentist was going to use to pull a throbbing tooth from his jawbone. The click of the door announced that my dentist was here and would now divulge how much of a year’s wages he was going to extract from my pocket book to fix a worn out tooth implant. But first I had to ask him if I was correct in thinking that an algorithm was nothing more than a recipe on how to do something. His answer was “you're probably right, but doesn’t it sound much more assuring that I’m using an algorithm to save your life instead of a recipe to bake a cake”. So now it was my choice as to how badly I want to learn to eat steak on one side of my mouth and soup on the other side and save a pain to my wallet      

The point of my day at the dentist is to show that we all have recipes. So it follows that the more recipes (knowledge) we have or the more algorithms we have, the more freedom we have. That said there are supposed truths out there that we are taught in school that are not good recipes and if believed can render a satisfied mind more guilt filled than satisfied.

I’m sorry Abraham Lincoln but your magnificent Gettysburg Address has a serious flaw in it when you said “all men are created equal”, that’s a fallacy.  Reality says we are all created differently each in our own unique way never to be created exactly alike never, never again. So many will grant that and say instead all men will have equal opportunities this also misrepresents reality. A man who wants to play basketball and is 5’5” tall does not have the same opportunity that a man who is 6’5” tall has. So why don’t we revel in our differences our uniqueness freeing ourselves to be who we really are.

I think to have a satisfied mind you will always be shooting at a moving target because the circumstances that we encounter in our daily lives are always changing so being adaptable, flexible, changeable and toss in all the other kind and positive words that can cancel out ridge, dogmatic, strident and the dearth of other negative words that if we let them they can keep a satisfied mind hidden in the backwaters of a person's brain.

I think some of us may not like being trapped in our “one of a kind bodies”  but that again is reality. Oh yes we can change it a little. But after losing so many battles trying to live up to all the New Year's resolutions we’ve made. Maybe accepting what we have to work with and making peace with it is one of the keys to a satisfied mind.

Now your brain that’s a totally different story, it’s the place where there’s a very complex computer that can be reprogrammed but it ain’t easy. Why one person can spend his or her whole life living on the cutting edge of society and constantly experimenting with all the new ideas out there but never leaves any time to “stop and smell the roses”. Then there’s the opposite person who spends his or her whole life trying to hide from the painful side of life, too afraid to venture out to see what’s on the other side of their front door. So between these two extremes there is a signboard for all to read, it says “right now the best place to be is where you're at, so make the most of it.”

I not sure if I have a satisfied mind or maybe it’s a comfortable mind, either way they can roll with the punches and know that someday when our tenure here on earth is over, I do believe if you thought kindly of yourself amongst the living it follows that you get to take this attitude with you when you take your last breath. 

See Ya,

Jack