Loved the post!
My question: how do you respond to friends who believe that their desires simply
aren't on the menu? They choose to complain about the lack of an item (e.g. I want a job in this field, this income, etc. but I can't do it without this degree, and I don't want to be a student again, ergo I can't have what I want and it sucks, blah.) They neither order something that they
do believe is within their power to order, nor take action toward their desires in spite of their negative beliefs.
Maybe the answer is that I need to move to another table
Or tell them that we'll go out to dinner only when they're ready to order