A Positive Double Standard (link re: improving and getting along better)

We can't help but feel as though we have free will. It is impossible to just sit and "see what happens" - our thoughts and urges continue regardless of our understanding of physics.

So while we individually go through life "making choices," we can be happier when we realize that no one around us has free will. And we can also forgive ourselves and learn better when the initial conditions of the universe conspired to have us make "mistakes."

James Brown has an interesting, thoughtful take on this from a "self-help" perspective: A Positive Double Standard.