Best Self Magazine

Are You Willing to Give up Your Utopian Constructs?

Are You Willing to Give up Your Utopian Constructs? by Gary Douglas. Photograph of a man's eyes with a band of light shining down it by Larm Rmah
Photograph by Larm Rmah

When you are willing to let go of the constructs you hold about what is ideal, you open yourself to the possibility of being present and engaged in life.

An ideal is something that you have judged to be greater than what is. 

I never have an ideal scene that I’m looking for and I don’t look for something to be greater than what is. I function from pragmatic choice, which means I deal with what is — with facts and observable occurrences rather than constructs and ideals. It’s got to be practical. It’s got to be something I can use. 

I ask, “How is this going to work? What is this going to look like? What is this going to lead to?” I look at, “What is it?” because what it

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