The will to power

If I weren't able to contain the temptation and allowed my alter ego to write a blog, it would probably be called willtopower.blogspot.com.

Unfortunately, any merit of Nietzche's phrase was long ago sullied by the Nazis. Let's just say "will to achieve" then, shall we?

More importantly, however, for the individual trying to live a life open to serendipity, the unmitigated expression of "the will to achieve" can get in the way of making the right decisions in life. Thinking too much with your head can lead to faulty choices that result in grief. The same may be said of making choices based too much on your heart's desire. The key to successful living, from a serendipitous perspective, is to have some loose goals--a direction in life--but to remain open to possibilities that may avail themselves.

This might be called the power of positive thinking, but "positive thinking" too often emphasizes that one must always be manically, ecstatically happy, or worse, connotes the mentality of those fly by night business marketing seminars that only produce money for the "gurus" who sell them.

I think one can have an approach to life that allows room for other, more realistic moods. Being up is great, but being down offers time for reflection--and very often, being down is the time when we should be listening to our inner voices.

Find the right balance between working toward your goals, and being open to spontaneous discoveries that may provide you with new and more fruitful options in life.