Freedom of the mind...?

While traveling with a good friend this past weekend, we got into a discussion about the freedom of thought.  We are all given the amazing capacity to think freely and on out own.  As far as we know, we are the only species who is capable of thinking in ways that are not concrete.  The mind is capable of thinking through theories that are not actually physical.  We have the freedom to think what we want to think and how we want to think.  Yet, this is a double-edged sword.  I find that the difficulty in thinking freely is that we also have the freedom to over-think freely.  It is such a gift to be able to think and theorize about whatever we want, and there is a real issue with some people (myself included) thinking way too much about a situation and over-analyzing it.  I know people who seem to be good at accepting things as they are and just moving on from there, not really giving much more thought to the situation.  But being a free thinker can also be a curse in that is difficult NOT to over-think every situation and consider all possible outcomes.  How I find this to be troubling is that some people may find themselves in their own head so much that it's easier for everyday life to pass them by a little bit.  I can see how the mind could be a difficult reality for some people.  I can see how some people could get stuck in a yelling match with their mind and not be able to further discern fantasy from reality.  I can see how getting stuck in my own head while analyzing certain situations is not necessarily always a good thing.

What I learned from the mountain

I went snowboarding with a friend this weekend and sucked at it.  I had a heck of a time with it.  It was really frustrating and I knew that it just had to with a fear of falling and maybe even getting hurt.  But this would be a big deal for me since I'm working so hard to be a full-time working musician.  So in considering this, I look at the benefits of each of these things I'm working towards.  What is the point of getting better at snowboarding?  Well, it really enjoyable once you get good at it and there may even be some pride associated with being good at something that is fun to do and looks cool from a bystander perspective.  I get that.  What about the risk of getting hurt?  Although I agree that it's not a good thing to operate from a place of fear, I'm not sure that improving at snowboarding and getting hurt is worth the issues that would pose me as a working drummer.  So then it didn't become a huge deal that I wasn't very good at it.  I did what I could to enjoy it while I was there and was at peace with the fact that I just wasn't very good at it.  My favorite hashtag is #paulosmash.  But I don't have to smash everything.  Music is much to important to me.