we live and we learn, right?

     Have you ever wondered why something happened or why something didn't happen? I'm sure you have, we all have. We as humans cannot help and wonder why our life is the way it is. Today in psychology we talked about how outside factors affect the choices we make and the people we ultimately become. Is it fair to say that outside factors are responsible for the person you are or are we ultimately responsible?

     I believe that life is a collection of our choices, with each choice affecting the next step. It is true that each of us has had circumstances that shaped us, broke us down or really just messed with us. These experiences, both positive and negative, happen for a reason. But why? Did this bad experience happen because of a prior choice or did it just happen, out of no where? Regardless of what happens, our reaction is sometimes even more critical then the actual event that occurred. 

     Somehow it is harder to deal with the events that were self afflicted. The painful part is knowing that we caused pain to ourselves They say we live and we learn, but do we? I mean somehow there are mistakes we make over and over and over again. We cry, we experience pain, we promise ourselves "never again" but at some point, the same mistakes haunt us time over time. 

     We all posses arrogance and egotism and a lack of humility at one time or another and we all lie to ourselves. Funny how we can all agree these are horrible traits but at the same time we allow ourselves to behave in ways we don't approve of. Mankind is quite interesting to say the least, we contradict ourselves all the time. 

     So how to process all this? What are your weaknesses? What is hard to say "no" to? Why is it so easy to make bad choices but so hard sometimes to make the right choices? 

     I am not trying to sound negative, because despite all our collective failures, we still all manage to get along, cooperate and get things done. Pretty amazing, huh? Well ponder on my thoughts if you'd like and see how complex, frustrating, mesmerizing we all are.