Sometimes, we have to read about the tricks that the mind and the world plays upon us before we can recognise these traits for ourselves. Did you ever mope around moaning about your lack of motivation? Why did I put such and such off? Or where did the impulse to buy that completely useless mathom ( (c) Tolkien) come from.
Here are three that I will be on the lookout for. The first is the throwaway society. Do you remember that phrase? Well, it works up to a point. But in order to throw away something, you have to touch it. And as soon as you touch a momento, come that initial reluctance, that hint of sentiment, and the clutter grows.
If the touchy-feely vibe is depressing enough for cynics like me, then what stimulates that impulse buy. What renders the rational mind halting lame? Well, the clue is there: Hunger, Angerness, Tiredness and Loneliness are the four horsemen that provoke retail therapy. Not so much HALT as pass GO and buy some useless artefact on the way.
And when you are surrounded by the clutter that your HALT mentality has bought, you will be on the path to meta-misery, that overwhelming wave of put off for as long as possible, because you feel too demotivated to act.
You are wired to be miserable, shop till you drop and enter the circles of hell. Smile :)