Inside our minds there is an I Need part of us. This part of our mind has no function in our make up other than to think of things that we Need. Some of them are passing fantasy such as being so wealthy we never have to work or want for anything again. Other I Need’s are something we fleetingly think about, or see as we are out and about.

There is a built in mechanism that balances the I Need part of us. It lives in a more real surrounding, and helps us to control our I Need part of us. I Need identifies something that it knows we can not live without at that moment and those thoughts about it flood our mind.

The mechanism that helps control our I Need is what I think of as Let’s Be Real. Let’s Be Real reminds us that we are sitting in class, doing our job which requires our attention at the moment, or lets our mind wander into possible reasons why we really do not need whatever it is I Need has thought up for us. Let’s Be Real is also a good tool to have in our make up. Let’s Be Real shows us exactly what we we need to be doing or will have to to achieve whatever it is I Need has set us to thinking about.

For example, I need spots a nice piece of jewelry, or a nice car and takes over our thought process. Let’s Be Real jumps in and shows us if we can or can not have our I need filled that moment, or shows us what changes we need to make in our life to have that jewelry or nice car. Usually we listen to both I Need and Let’s Be Real all day long as thoughts run through our minds and counter thoughts or counter possibilities follow shortly. Normally we are not even aware these things are going on until someone points it out to us, such as right now.

At moments however Let’s Be Real can cause us as many problems as I Need does. Because they live as a part of us and float into and out of our thoughts I Need and Let’s Be Real do not have a complete understanding of our real life situation. For example, I Need tells us we need something. We know immediately that what ever it is we need is well out of our current economic ability. Let’s Be Real pauses for a moment and then lets us know that all we need to do to afford it is quit eating, then we will have money for the item that I Need has identified.

We recognize immediately that not eating is not a reasonable choice, and whatever I Need has decided we can not live without floats into the backwaters of our thoughts. But when Let’s Be Real makes different choices we are sometimes fooled into thinking they are very reasonable and we can make those changes to satisfy I Need.

Car salesmen if they are good at their jobs make use of this defect of ours, so do high pressure electronics, cell phones sellers, and purveyors of other common items. Let’s Be Real tells us that if we save some on our funny money, use a little less water and electricity, and drink less soda that we will have enough money to afford whatever has caught our attention.

This is true. If we do those things we should have enough money to afford whatever I Need has planted in our thoughts as something we can not live without. Where we find ourselves in trouble is after a few days of sacrificing to be able to afford what we now own, I Need wants those needs we dropped to afford our newest need filled. So we rationalize, well maybe one soda won’t hurt. Maybe a longer shower or bath today won’t make that much difference. Soon we find ourselves right back where we were, only we have another expense squeezing our stretched budget. Of course during this time I Need starts looking for something new we can not live without.