Lately, the news has been nothing but doom and gloom.
Doom and Gloom.
Doom and Gloom.
DOOM AND GLOOM.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting a little tired of unrelenting, unremitting tons of metaphorical dirt being shoveled on top of my metaphorical head.
Hey, Guys! I’m not dead! I think I’ll go for a walk! I feel happy! I feel happy!
Clonk
The prompt for this talks about posting an embarrassing picture of yourself online. Like the one I just put up. Look at that hair. The baldness. The unsightly… is that a chin? Are you sure? It just sort of… gently wanders town into the neck, doesn’t it? Egads.
I’m not going to compare myself to Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, or (heaven help us) Jesus. There’s really only one person I can compare myself to… and that’s my own vision of who I SHOULD be.
And you thought your potential audience was bad…
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. If we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The question for today had something about being alive. When was the last time you felt alive, what did you feel, what did you smell, etc… Again, it’s maybe an interesting question, being able to go back and search and feel those and call upon that experience when you’re writing or working. I don’t really see what that has to do with the Emerson quote. I feel alive as I’m writing these posts. But enough about that. Let’s talk a little about the integrity of your own mind. You need to watch your inputs.
I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady. I wish it to be sound and sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Think about the type of person you’d NEVER want to be 5 years from now. Write out your own personal recipe to prevent this from happening and commit to following it. “Thought is the seed of action.”
(Author: Harley Schreiber)
I never planned on being the kind of person who worries. I used to look forward to each day with a kind of happy enthusiasm that lately seems to escape me. I had a conversation last night when I asked my wife if I was trying to take on too much, and she responded “You’ve already taken on too much.” And then “I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help you not to worry and stress out so much.” It’s not a very healthy way to live, and the weight I’ve put on over the last year is probably due, at least in part, to worry.
A year ago, I was working in a job where I was desperately unhappy. We had anticipated some growth that didn’t come, and I had been looking forward to a promotion that seemed ever further and further from my grasp. And in the course of that, it occurred to me that I wasn’t all that crazy about the job in the first place, and that a promotion was not necessarily going to solve any of my problems.
And then I was invited to resign.
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” is a great line from Emerson. If there’s no enthusiasm in what you do, it won’t be remarkable and certainly won’t connect with people on an emotional basis. But, if you put that magic energy into all of your work, you can create something that touches people on a deeper level. How can you bring MORE enthusiasm into your work? What do you have to think or believe about your work to be totally excited about it? Answer it now.
(Author: Mars Dorian)
Passion. Passion waxes and wanes. Enthusiasm waxes and wanes. How do we protect, nurture and develop our enthusiasm, our focus, and our passion for the work? How do we develop hope? Some might say “By doing the work,” but I don’t think that’s enough. It’s necessary, but it’s not enough to sustain under the corrosive influence of Resistance. I don’t know. I’m definitely not an expert on this, it’s something I struggle with all the time. But since I discover what I think by writing, here’s a chance for us all to find out what I think might be a good idea on this front. Especially since I had an idea that literally stopped me in my tracks yesterday. I’ve been working on figuring out the logistics of how to pull it off ever since, and am hitting the first waves of Resistance.
I don’t want this to die. I want this to kick ungodly amounts of butt. How do I do that?
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yes, it’s always easy to discount your own inspiration. But (and I know I’m venturing again into crazy crypto-religion talk here), sometimes that thought isn’t your own, and dismissing it runs the risk of offending the source.