Input or Output?

Are you living an input life or are you living an output life?


Input is an experience observed... watching... waiting....
Output is creating... doing.... action...


Input is safe. Output is risk.
Input is quiet. Output is speaking up.
Input is watching a screen displaying, "That is." 
Output is launching a scream, exclaiming, "I am!"

(Output is also taking a risk to make an over-the-top example because you like the way it has an internal rhyme) ;)


It's not that a life should be all one way, input or output, but have you considered if you're doing enough of each?

Some think of output in a creative aspect and say, "I'm not creative...talented..." etc.
Well better to write bad poetry than none at all I say.
Better to sing sour notes in the shower loud as you can instead of staying silent & safe.
Better to write a journal to explore your own thoughts than to only read or watch others' journeys.
Do it for your sake.  Do it for it's sake.  Do it now and think later about the audience.



Do you spend hour after hour following others in sports?
Or find your own competitions, challenges, struggles to win?

Is the aspect of human nature - the drive to win, drilled into us from thousands and thousands of years of conflict now confined to colorful characters on a tv screen or computer game world?

Are your emotions diluted and distracted into some prime time soap opera?  Caught up watching other people's pretend lives and other people's dreams?

Is it really what you want?



Also, what is the content of what you are inputting or outputting?

If you listen to lots of sad songs, you will spend a lot more time down.
If you only watch violence, you're not going to come away all chill and relaxed.  At the very least you will be more aggressive in your outlook.
And the opposite it true. If you input comedy you will output more laughter, even later on without that input.

There is a time and place for every shade of the emotional spectrum, just be conscious about what colors you choose to fill your life with day to day.


Are you reaching out to others or waiting and watching?

I spent years mostly waiting and watching on the edges....quite a safe place.
But when you start stepping out, you might find the masses to be mostly waiting themselves in their own safe shadows.

When you put things out there people will judge you.
Sometimes loudly, sometimes silently.
Some will not like what you do, some will not even like you...but that's ok.
Because you will like yourself more from taking the action of outputting, and a person's opinion of themselves is worth more than a stadium full of critics' opinions.

    Disagree with that last statement?
    I don't really care, because I like it.  ;)


"Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" a book title teaches.


How about interacting with friends?  Input or output?
Well that is a bit of both and is one of the few areas where we could perhaps use more input than output because input in that situation is listening.

Are we really listening to others?
Are we really seeking to understand them?  Their experiences, what they are feeling and thinking?

Or are we waiting for our turn to talk?
Are we thinking only of what we will say?
Maybe something witty or funny, or maybe thinking of what response we will say so that they will think we understand them and are listening. Or are we really taking in what they are saying so that we will understand them, even if that leads to a response of a few moments of silence?

If we are listening are we doing it through our own experiences of life or trying to see it through theirs?

Are you like a doctor diagnosing from just a quick look at the patient?
"Oh, I've got the answer...I've got the advice." "Hurry up and finish talking so I can tell you how it is!"

Well you don't know.  We never really do.
But are we even really trying to understand?

Some people have convos like they are fighting for air...waiting for their turn to jump in. Sometimes we have convos where it seems like we're listening but we're really tuned to station WIIFM. (What's In It For Me)  Listening to them, but asking ourselves how this relates to ourselves.

You can see it in some peoples' eyes as you talk to them.
You can also hear it in your own mind sometimes too.

I'm often guilty of those crimes myself.
But as a criminal and yet a critic I ask once again...

Are you living an input or an output life?

And is it what you want?

Currently reading : The Woman Who Swallowed a Toothbrush: And Other Weird Medical Case Histories By MD, Rob Myers Release date: 01 May, 2003

6:17 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Desiring Desire

CAESAR:  Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
That could be moved to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
        - Julius Caesar   by William Shakespeare


The heat was broken and the place was freezing. 

It would be a few days before the landlord would have someone out to fix it but luckily the place was so small that I could run a hot shower for a few minutes and steam up the whole place.  There were barely any windows to get steamed up because this place that I was living 10 years ago was a converted one car stand-alone garage.  It felt like a cage..a small box…but I felt motivated.  I felt on fire to make something happen, to get something going. 

At the time I was working on getting a business of my own started, selling books by mail order, and on music projects.  I remember how intense and inspired I was to make it happen.  How I would push through problems and frustrations that would come up because I had to make it happen.

I want that feeling back.



Over the past few years I feel I'm coasting in many ways.  I do what has to be done but not what should be done to get to the next level to really push my potential.   Occasionally I'll get fired up and get some things moving but it will often fade.  A spark of inspiration – and a bit of forward motion before it fizzles.  I feel I coast a lot on an image and on comparisons of my successes against many of my peers, instead of against my potential, against possibilities.



Challenge Creates Champions
Speaking of peers, I could certainly use more enemies. A man needs proper enemies to prosper.   Maybe I come off too likeable but I really could use more people telling me I can't do something because then I am pushed to prove them wrong. 

The opposite may be true for many people.  They may need more positive reinforcement to inspire them, but I feel I got enough of that from my family growing up and thrive off the opposite.



How To Do It?
I think there are two main aspects to turn desire into reality:

-By keeping a vision in mind of what is wanted in imagination to 'taste it' at least daily.
-By eliminating distractions, at least during certain periods of time during the day etc. so that desire will not be forgotten or satified in different ways off the path.


Distractions Are The Death Of Dreams
I remember pacing miles into the floor of the house  I was living at before that place, before that "box" I mentioned….pacing and plotting…pacing and planning full of ideas and energy and actions.   That was a much nicer place but I had to get away from the distractions.  Roommates always around and friends of friends….the TV always around tempting... tempting to 'take it eaaaaasy'  'take a break'  'relax and go for the fun right now'.

One good thing about the "box" is it had none of those distractions.  No TV, internet, roommates….  Nothing but ideas, possibilities, plans & plotting.

Distractions are so easy to slip into.  So many ways to escape.  So many easy ways always around us with such quick rewards of pleasure versus the more difficult path of work towards what you really want and need, with it's rewards much further down the road.

Much like what she mentions about distractions here:

"Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass."
        -Fran Lebowitz



Fuel Unfocused Often Flounders & Fails
Desire still requires a plan.  It requires proper focus towards the right paths.  Much like how desire is a fuel and fuel alone would be random fire, but fuel in a car can get you somewhere. Desire mixed with the framework of a proper plan can get you somewhere too.

As dangerous as the random unfocused drive inside yourself can be, I'd say overall there are many more people out there with not enough motivation than with too much.



You Have To Become An Arsonist
There are many "firemen" in life that will come along and try to put your fire of desire out. They will give you all kinds of reasons why your idea or goal won't work and tell you to give it up, forget it, or tell you "You can't do it." You have to become an Arsonist. An arsonist sets fires. Every morning when you wake up you have to re-light and re-build the intensity of your fire of desire. You have to eat it, sleep it, walk it, talk it, and concentrate on it until it becomes a red-hot flaming, burning, obsessional desire that will eventually mow down all of the opposition you will face throughout each day. If you don't, your sizzle of desire will fizzle down to nothing. I'm not suggesting that you stop talking to or seeing your family and friends – what I'm saying is to keep focused day and night, seven days a week.
        -Rick Gettle            http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Carnegie-Secret-To-Success&id=159737


You have to keep your vision in mind daily.  You have to keep your expectations up that you can achieve that next level.  You have to be able to taste it even before it is real and to let that taste push you down the path to make it happen.

Image creates desire. You will want what you imagine.
        - J. G. Gallimore



The Hungriest Will Find Food
A few weeks ago, in seeking inspiration in various places, I watched the movie Rocky.  The main character is an amateur boxer who, through some lucky breaks, gets a chance to fight the current champion.  A memorable scene is where the champ is taking it all for granted…coasting….he's living it up in the celebrity aspect of his position at the top, making calls to send flowers to the mayor's wife and calling in arrangements for a  house in Hawaii..caught up in the good life, while one of the champ's assistants watches Rocky training on the local TV news, practicing for his shot at glory  by pounding away at the huge heavy hanging slabs of meat in a butcher's warehouse.  Punching away with the fire of a madman untill his own hands were hurting and raw as his 'punching bags'.

He wanted it more.  He was driven more. He was hungrier, while the other guy was coasting and taking it easy.


The Carnegie Secret
"A burning desire to be and to do is the starting point from which the dreamer must take off. Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness, or lack of ambition"
        -Napoleon Hill

Recently I've been rereading the classic book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  He mentions the word 'desire' in it over and over.  I think this is partly because the book was written in the 1930s and a more equivalent term these days would be 'motivation'.  But there's something more powerful, more intense, primal even in the word 'desire'. 

He also uses 'desire' interchangeably with 'belief' as in something you really want but also expect that it will happen.   Desire without a positive belief that it can be fulfilled will drive men mad.  A positive belief that something will happen without the burning craving for it to happen will make a person lazy and coasting as if they don't have to do anything to achieve that future.

The combination of desire + belief (positive expectation) will drive one to destiny.

Think and Grow Rich has an interesting background.  The young author was invited by Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest men in the world, to interview Carnegie's friends: multimillionaire tycoons, captains of industry, politicians and other powerful and successful people of the time to research the secrets of success.  Hill spent the next 20 years doing just that.   The wisdom he gained from Carnegie and the other's successes was distilled into the Carnegie Secret, explained by this passage from wikipedia....


The basic premise of the "Carnegie Secret" or "Carnegie Formula" is that whatever your mind focuses on, your mind will attract to you. He talks at length about the major importance of desire  in the lives of successful people. His proposition is that if you have a desire that is great enough, literally nothing can stop you from achieving your aim(s). He offers six steps to fuel desire so that it will become the "motivating master" of those who use the formula.

It should be interesting to note that two very accomplished people have stated, in writing, that Hill's book Think and Grow Rich was directly responsible for their success. The first was Arthur L. Williams who is listed on the Forbes 400 list as being worth over $1 Billion. He states in his book "All You Can Do Is All You Can Do - But All You Can Do Is Enough" that the "six steps" were the basis of his success in building a company that would eventually make him worth 10 figures. The second is S. Truett Cathy, the founder of the Chic-fil-a restaurants (a privately held corporation). He states in his book that he read Think and Grow Rich in high school and it changed his life. Mr. Cathy is also on the Forbes 400 list with a fortune estimated to be worth $900 Million.
        - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Hill


A couple of other excepts from Hill's Think and Grow Rich on desire:

Several years ago, one of my business associates became ill. He became worse as time went on and finally was taken to the hospital for an operation. The doctor warned me that there was little if any chance of my ever seeing him alive again.  But that was the doctor's opinion.  It was not the opinion of the patient.  Just before he was wheeled away, he whispered feebly, "Do not be disturbed, Chief I will be out of here in a few days."  The attending nurse looked at me with pity. But the patient did come through safely.  After it was all over, his physician said, "Nothing but his own desire to live saved him. He never would have pulled through if he had not refused to accept the possibility of death."

I believe in the power of desire backed by faith because I have seen this power lift men from lowly beginnings to places of power and wealth;  I have seen it rob the grave of its victims; I have seen it serve as the medium by which men staged a comeback after having been defeated in a hundred different ways."   (Napoleon Hill)

While it is certainly true that others who become ill may be filled with desire to get better and don't, desire greatly improves the chances for recovery.  The power of the mind is the placebo effect.  If someone doesn't want to get better or doesn't believe they will then they are much less likely to. 

The same is true in non-health success.  It is possible to fail in other pursuits even if one is filled with desire and that drives them to work towards a specific success, but the same person, refilled with belief, will pick themselves back up and try again perhaps along a different path which will likely lead to an eventual success.

Would a person without desire 'pick themselves back up and dust themselves off' to try again elsewhere?  Would they even try in the first place?  Doubtful!

Desire may not be a guarantee of success but it is the most important aspect of it.



A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield.  He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own.  He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy's country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them.  Addressing the men before the first battle, he said, "You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice – we win – or we perish!"
They won.
Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat.  Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success.    (Napoleon Hill)

A key word there is 'must be willing to burn bridges"  That isn't advice to necessarily take drastic actions which could have bad effects…you don't have to live in a box or burn all bridges, but it is showing the mindset…the intensity of desire needed to make things happen.

If the warrior was alone he wouldn't need to burn the ships as he would be filled with that intensity of drive.  He burned them to force his soldiers into that mindset, into that intensity of drive.


Desire is the Fire of Life
One must not lose desires. They are mighty stimulants to creativeness, to love, and to long life. 
        - Alexander A. Bogomoletz

Many people die soon after retirement because without the challenge and the purpose to drive them, they fade.  The human animal thrives on struggle.  It is the evolutionary story of our past.  The past's path to the present is one of overcoming obstacles and championing over challenges.

Multimillionaire music and television producer/star Simon Cowell (American Idol) went bankrupt after a failed business investment in his 30s, lost his house, and had to move back in with his parents.  Now, a little over 10 years later he is worth hundreds of millions of dollars but he misses some aspects of that drive to the top as he said "Being broke was exciting because getting there (to the top) is more fun than being there."  


The game can be more fun than the goal.

The wanting and the working even more of a rush than the reward.

Desire itself is the destination.


It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.
        -Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)




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Currently reading : The One Decision: Make the Single Choice That Will Lead to a Life of More By Judith Wright Release date: 28 December, 2006

2:39 PM - 12 Comments - 15 Kudos - Add Comment

Blisslessness

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Currently reading : Win the Crowd: Unlock the Secrets of Influence, Charisma, and Showmanship By Steve Cohen Release date: 14 June, 2005

4:58 PM - 8 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Tomorrow Is Never

Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.
-Michael Landon  1936-1991

Each day is a gamble and a gift.

Each day is also easily taken for granted.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed, but it is guaranteed that one day you won't have a tomorrow.  At least for this life that is...

I'm not a fan of the band korn but the other day I heard the singer interviewed on the radio.  He mentioned how his first real job was working for a funeral home..going around picking up the bodies and he said it intensely altered his perspective about life by seeing day after day people of all ages...all walks of life..all types of people whose lives were over and finished.  In many cases they didnt even expect it, they just began that day like any other, but it ended up being their last day alive.

He told of how it made him think a lot about how quick life is and how you never even know if you'll have a tomorrow so it led him to go for his dreams, risking and sacrificing to pursue music.

One aspect is even if your tomorrows do come, the chance to go for your various dreams may be over, and yet you may still have years left to look back and regret that, as mentioned in this excerpt from a book that I find moving and inspiring...

    "Procrastination, mere intention is the bane of human existence. Assigned to a geriatric rotation while serving my internship at a Veterans Administration psychiatric hospital, I had the opportunity to do "therapy" with a number of elderly veterans whose life circumstances had lead them to our hospital.  I put the word therapy in quotation marks, because in most of these encounters the patient was the teacher, and, in all honesty, I was the student.

    These men, from all walks of life and all levels of education and sophistication, taught this young doctor some important things in life. Paramount among those lessons was that every single one of them, approaching the end of his life, wished that he had done things that he had not.  One regretted that he had never returned to the Philippines to visit the grave of an old army buddy; another had dreamed of publishing his detective stories, but never "got up the guts to send off any manuscripts", another wished that he had spent more time with his teenage granddaughter before her tragic death in a car accident.

    Every one of them, in one way or another, said "Doc, dont waste it, son. When its over, its over."  With the wisdom of age and experience, each told me that he had intended so much more than he had ever done. They talked not only of actions not taken and opportunities lost, but of timing.  It is true that life presents windows of opportunity. Very often, the window of opportunity will be open for a time, but then slam shut forever. As you evaluate your life in the areas and the categories in which you feel moved to take action, recognize that you have to seize the opportunities when they present themselves, and create them when they do not."
    - Phillip C. McGraw, Phd  - Life Strategies

The catch is though that tomorrow often does come.  For many years it will likely come, although it is never guaranteed.  So living only for today can lead to tomorrows being worse than yesterdays. Perhaps the perspective to pursue is to plan for the future but dont count on it because one day it will not be there.

How many hours do you have left?
If you're 25 and have say, 50 years left of life, then that leaves 438,000 hours, with somewhere around 1/3 of that time sleeping and around another 1/3 of the time working then thats 150,000 hours of free time left.

400,000 is a big number to wrap your mind around but consider it this way: if you have 50 years left of life, then you have only 2,600 weekends left.

Thats a much smaller number to consider.and we all can consider how fast a weekend goes by...and then another....and another...

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!"
-attributed to Johann von Goethe

What is your perspective on this?

What would you regret not having done in your life if today ended up being your last day?

10:11 PM - 7 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

The Art of Introspection

Part of the art of introspection is in the power of silence.

I feel our society is constantly crowding our senses with sound ..input input input

In cars there is the ever present music from cds, radio, and now even beamed from above in satellites streaming sound down through the sky

Walking around or working out or most any other activities tiny mp3 players fill us with music....input input input.

In homes some people put on the tv or music just to have something on in the background. I've often done that myself..same as I do the other things I'm speaking about, but let me continue onward as a critic.

And of course the cell phones in cars or walking around ...one is never alone anywhere...  never away from it all at all.

But when we take time for silence there is often unexpected insight that will fill up the void from answers within.

I consider many aspects of the art of introspection to have 2 parts.

There is one level of introspection where your conscious mind is free to think deeply while your subconscious is preoccupied, for example quietly thinking while driving a car, or thinking while doing menial work.

There can be benefit and insight from this but for deeper introspection you may need to release your mind from such distractions as driving or other doings and sit quietly while you think.

There are two kinds of thinking too...very specific lines of thought where you sit down to ponder a problem..a question, a concept, something specific.

Another way to approach it is very generally where you sit down to think and let your mind take you to different things you need to think about.

Loosen up on the leash and let your thoughts take you to the places you need to ponder in your life.

Another set of two aspects to introspection is word-focused inner dialog based pondering versus more visual pondering.  Visualization can lead to very abstract answers and insight if you let your imagination run free to form whatever images it wants....daydreaming  or when going to sleep.  Let your mind imagine up random images.  Notice the details. Describe those details to focus them in your mind.  Let those pictures change and lead to other ones and ask yourself how can this be like the topic/question I am pondering?  You will often get an abstract answer..a new perspective based off that.  This can even be done without your own visualization just look around you to see what you can see, or flip open a magazine or book with pictures and such and ask yourself how is this like (what you are thinking about)?

And the last of the two aspects sets of introspection is thinking in silence vs thinking to music or rythmns that may stimulate your thoughts.   Sometimes rhythms such as music can be useful to think over but consider using music without vocals or with vocals in a language you dont understand. The reason being that processing the words you hear in the music can take you away from the words within your mind in the inner dialog of your introspection.

A useful trick is to set aside a specific amount of time, say 20 mins without distraction.  You will often think on something for part of the time, maybe 10 mins or so, and feel you have thought things out fully and gotten the insight you need, but if you sit for longer as you have promised yourself, then forcing yourself to fill up those minutes of more insight can take you to new levels past the plateau of the idea that you thought you had reached earlier.

Some paper is a very useful tool to jot down thoughts as they come and go as you introspect.  Otherwise insights may be stumbled upon and then forgotten later - especially with all the thoughts going on.

It isnt meditation. The goal is not to clear your mind of all thoughts or focus on a single thought, word, or even sound as in true mediation.  The aim of introspection is to flood yourself with thoughts, letting one trigger another....an idea turning into another and twisting into a third.  Concepts diverging and merging, twisting and turning like a water of thoughts rushing down streams and rivers in your mind.

I hope your thought streams will end up in an ocean of insight and answers for you.

8:14 PM - 5 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment

What's in your basket?

An orphan boy made his way from town to town in search of food and a roof over his head. More important, however, than his search for a full stomach and a comfortable, dry place to sleep, was his quest for something else--a reason.


"Why," he wondered, "must things be as difficult as they are? Do we make them so ourselves, or is it just meant to be that we should struggle as we do?"


These were wise thoughts for a boy as young as he was. It was just this type of thinking that prompted him, one day, to approach an elderly man, who happened to be traveling the same road. Why not ask him a question or two? On his back, the old man carried a large, covered, woven basket that appeared to be very heavy, especially for someone as old and tired as he. When they stopped to rest beside a small stream, the old man wearily settled his basket on the ground. To the boy it appeared as though the man carried all of his worldly goods in that one basket. In fact, it seemed to be a much heavier load than even a younger, much stronger man could carry very far.


"What’s in your basket that makes it so heavy?" the boy asked. "I’d be happy to carry it for you", he offered. "After all, I’m young and strong, and you are advanced in years".

"It’s nothing you could carry for me", the old man answered. "This is something I must carry for myself". "One day, he added, you’ll travel your own road and carry a basket just as weighted down as mine".


Over many days and many roads, the two walked long miles together. And although the boy often asked the old man questions about the lot of humans to toil as they do, there were no answers. Neither could he learn, try as he might, what treasure of such great worth was stowed in the old man’s basket. Sometimes, late at night, at the end of a long day’s journey, the boy would lie down pretending to sleep and would listen to the old man quietly talking to himself as, by the flickering light from a small fire, he sorted the contents of his basket. But in the morning, as always, he would say nothing.


One day, when the old man could walk no more, he revealed his secret. In their last few hours together, he explained to the boy not only the secret of the basket he carried, but also the reason why many humans struggle as they do. "In this basket", he told his youthful companion, "are all the beliefs about myself--that were not true". "These are the stones that have weighted down my journey. On my back I have carried every pebble of doubt, every grain of uncertainty, and every millstone of misdirection that I have encountered. Without these, I could have gone far. I could have lived the dreams I once harbored in my mind. But I have ended up here at the end of my journey with my dreams unfulfilled." And without even unwrapping the braided cords that bound the basket to his shoulders, the old man closed his eyes and went to sleep for the last time.


Before the boy himself bedded down that night, he untied each cord that bound the basket to the old man and, lifting it free, carefully set it on the ground. Then, he just as carefully untied the leather straps that held the cover in place, and lifted it aside. Perhaps because he had been looking for an answer to his own quest, the boy was not at all surprised at what he found inside. The basket that had weighted the old man down for so many years ...... was empty.


What are you carrying in your basket?




by Dr. Arlene Taylor

6:37 PM - 5 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Useful Truths

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol


Reality is irrelevant.


These are some things I believe, even though they probably aren't true...but because they are useful.


I mention these not as some diary entry (I usually to find the self-focused tendency of blogs uncomfortable) but as an invitation for you to consider consciously choosing to believe some things that are useful if not entirely true.



I believe I'm the luckiest guy around.
This is one of my most recent adopted beliefs...because I read this article the other day about how people who consider themselves lucky usually end up with better results in life because they are more open to noticing opportunities and then taking those opportunities...of course I'll have to stay away from too many casinos and falling for scams n' schemes...but I'm trying this one on for size to see how it fits.


I believe I'm destined to do something (or some things) huge that will help lots of people.
This is not an excuse to get an ego...or to believe that I can simply coast and things will happen automatically.  I don't even really believe in some forces of fate and destiny...but this belief is useful because it keeps me on track "Am I living up to my potential?" "Should I be doing more?"  If I fail or get only mediocrity this could lead to disappointment in a few decades...but I'll burn that bridge if I cross it


I believe I'll live the last 15 or so years of my life in a nursing home.
There's not a certain truth to that...I could die in a car wreck tomorrow. or a disease in 20 years...or live 100 years independent and full of health...the usefulness in this belief is I have a picture in my mind of sitting in a place like
that..that prison of sorts...with several years left to sit and think about things I did and didn't do in my life...regrets....dreams unpursued...actions untaken...and that motivates my day to day decisions to make things happen.  Some people might find that to be a depressing belief to adopt...but it inspires me...there's even such a home I drive by on the way home and it always makes me think "the clock is ticking" "you get one time around in life...are you living it?"

I believe how you treat people comes back to you...not just directly from them but from others, from the universe, from life etc.
Not that I believe in some mystical karma...but it helps keep me trying to be a good person and doing good when I can even when "no one's looking".   Maybe it's cliché to say...but I think looking around the world it's obviously not practiced enough.

I also find it useful to walk around with the beliefs like "Something amazing is about to happen" and "This could be the best day of my life".  I think it comes from being dropped off at school everyday and my mom or dad saying always "have a good day...it'll be a good day if you make it that way".  That got annoying as hell day after day  but it's a pretty useful thought to drill into a kid...that good things happen if we make them happen.  It's just a belief about possibility and responsibility...and ties in with the quote I want to end this one with....

The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours.  No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen.  And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot.  The possibility is always there.  ~Monica Baldwin

8:56 PM - 4 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment

Lucid DayDreaming

The hallmark of creative people is their mental flexibility... Sometimes they are open and probing, at others they're playful and off-the-wall. At still other times, they're critical and faultfinding. And finally they're doggedly persistent in striving to reach their goals.
-Roger von Oech

My thoughts have been  so clear…sharp…so unusually lucid the past couple of weeks.  It’s like I see the connections between concepts…one idea triggers another…or stays in focus until refined.  

Instead of thoughts bouncing in and out of consciousness like random racquetballs in play…its more like a solar system inside lately…where ideas rotate around…reappearing until the needed insight is understood.  Often the “a-ha!” is in the interconnection…the relation to another thought like planets with their gravitational pulls on each other…or their similar shapes.

This is a good way to be….this blog however, seems a bit self-centered… Soooooooo….how you doin?

He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn’t play for the money he wins
He doesn’t play for the respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance.
-sting “shape of my heart”

10:02 PM - 3 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Small Talk ver. 2.0

Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Why is the weather such a source of conversation?  I often get annoyed when I hear small talk about the weather from the mailman or a casual friend or some salesperson calling.  I guess I’m as hypocritically guilty as others as I play the small talk game with that topic…but there’s so many more interesting things to find out about a person than that.

It would be so much more interesting to hear what their dream is…what their fears are…what their perspective is on life or this or that….what’s a good memory of theirs…or a bad one even…you can learn a lot about a person from their lowest points.

These things are even more important than a person’s name…but I suppose they couldn’t fit on a nametag.

Maybe I can create some conversational structures that can get people to reveal such things as small talk…and spread it through society like the latest soon-to-be overused catch phrase.   Something along the lines of “what’s your sign?” a few decades ago.  (Which lets many people then assume they know much about your personality..and assume how compatible they are with you from a calendar page - craziness)

What an interesting world it would be if we told such things to strangers on the street…cashiers checking out…and learned such things back from them as well.

I think this is what she is saying…..

The Invitation
By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

© Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from the book The Invitation

Currently listening : Everybody By Sander Kleinenberg Release date: 21 October, 2003

6:20 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

The Let's See What Happens Club

"Hello, Rabbit," Pooh said, "is that you?" 
"Let's pretend it isn't," said Rabbit, "and see what happens" 

Several years ago I was invited to join the Let’s-See-What-Happens Club.

There are no membership dues or meetings or secret handshakes.

The only rule is that as a member in good standing, you must try to do something, daily if possible, that you wouldn’t usually do just to “see what happens”.  Stepping outside of habit, of how you think you are.  It is inside inertia of the way you have done things…inside the set shell of Self that is safety…but also stuckness.   Take a different path when driving….choose to react a different way to some stimulus….try something you haven’t done…or do something you don’t even like…just to shock your set-ways..and shuffle your situations and self-concept.

Often life tosses you change…but in this club you create it…just testing it..tasting it…tipping your toes into the water to see what it’s like.   It’s like an inner game “let’s see what happens”

You are cordially invited into this club.

Currently reading : The Breakout Principle: How to Activate the Natural Trigger That Maximizes Creativity, Athletic Performance, Productivity and Personal Well-Being By Herbert Benson Release date: 07 April, 2003

5:35 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment