Their Words for Our Lives...

Stress. It's everywhere. On a daily basis, we all run into something or other that raises our blood pressure, makes us have a mini panic attack, or just plain pisses us off.

Don't worry, though, you're not alone.

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness. --Richard Carlson

Because, honestly:

There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. --Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Our stress does not have to consume us, though.

There is more to life than increasing its speed. --Mohandas K. Gandhi

We lose ourselves in the river of life, and it sweeps us away before we have the chance to kick to the surface.

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down. --Lily Tomlin


The time to relax is when you don't have time for it. --Attributed to both Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris

After all...

Is everything as urgent as your stress would imply? --Carrie Latet

Remember folks...


The man who doesn't relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on. --Elbert Hubbard

Stress is going to happen. Don't let it rule and/or ruin your life.

Beauty is a hell of a thing. I can be our inspiration, but it can also be our undoing. Beauty spawns obsession, yet it also breeds hate. It is a dichotomous trait, and subject to a wide range of interpretations, and yet we are fascinated by it and discuss it, even if we find ourselves gaining nothing practical from it.

Let us see what some of the great minds and writers of history have to say about it.

Oscar Wilde seems a bit unsure what to think...

No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.

And yet...

It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly.

Beauty, now matter how great, is not in all cases immune to the power of ugliness. Interesting, Mr. Wilde. If we think about it in a more than superficial manner, we may gain some useful insight about what beauty truly is.

Some are more optimistic than others...

Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it. --Confucious

Does it take something special to bring out that beauty which is in all things?

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. --Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

And of course, their remains strong opposition to the correlation between beauty and virtue...

It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. --Leo Tolstoy

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful. --Ninon de L'Enclos


When was the last time your gaze caught sight of someone or something and you couldn't help but be struck speechless, either by their physical beauty or their pureness of heart?

Keep an eye out!

Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have. --Louis E. Boone

So, for a while now, I've wanted to do something like this. I've wanted to make videos and share my thoughts via that medium. It makes me nervous putting myself out there on the internet like this, but the worse thing we can do is never do anything because we are afraid it will end badly.

So here is my first official vlog attempt, which I share with you:





I've realized my blog is becoming more and more disorganized. I'm not sure what I'm trying to do with it, but I like writing, I like quotes, and I like videos, and we'll see where it goes. For those of you that followed me because of the style of posts I've been making from the start, I'm sorry if this new things is not your cup of tea. Thank you for all the support, though.

See you guys soon!

Academic writing is usually quite boring. It really doesn't have to be a drag, though. It certainly isn't going to be fun, but it's important to find a way to negate the dull monotony of typing factual information, connecting ideas together, and including quotes that are meant to substantiate your statements.

I'm working on an 8-10 page French paper about religion and communism in this book, Masters of the Dew. Excellent book, loaded with religious and communist symbolism, and not all together unpleasant to write about.

But so often, I hear people tell me how much they hate writing essays and papers for school. And while I certainly don't love it, I've never found it difficult.


And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. --Sylvia Plath

Many times, I hear people say that they're no good at writing, and they always get bad grades and they can't stand to do it. Well, the first and most serious problem that these people face is that fact that they think they aren't good at writing.

There is no formula for good writing. A+B does not always equal novel. Sometimes it does, but sometimes A+B = nothing. The important thing is to find a style of writing that fits you.

With academic writing, there is less room to maneuver, of course, because it requires a person to be formal. But let's look at this for a moment. There are different ways of arranging thoughts, different vocabulary you can use, and if you've got the imagination for it, you could connect two ideas together in an entirely new way that might make the person grading it sit back in surprise and decide that you've just struck upon something great.

The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. --Mark Twain

One thing I would suggest doing, whether it's academic or recreational writing, is to just pour it all out. Get it down on paper, or on your computer, and don't worry about it being coherent or grammatically correct. Just see where your thoughts take you. Follow the flow of the information that spews from your brain. Make a note of where you think this is going, and then, just take a break from it for a bit. Give your brain time to rest, do something relaxing, and when you come back to it, you'll have a fresh perspective.

This approach is not a universal one, and as a matter of fact, I don't even do this. Once I start thinking about things, I don't like to stop because I'll lose where I was going. However, at the same time, I don't get overwhelmed by the idea of writing a large paper.

The thing to do is not to think of a writing project as some great wall that stands in the way of your success. Rather, think of it as a ladder. The first few steps are easy, right? And it gets a bit more precarious the higher you have to go, but once you've made it to the top, you're there! You've reached your destination, and unlike ladders in real life, you don't actually have to climb back down.

Just remember, there is no one right way to write a paper or story or play or whatever it is. There may be a preferred final form, but there are many many ways to get there. Do whatever it makes you comfortable. Write incoherent thoughts, use post-it notes, dictate ideas into a recorder, but don't ever tell yourself that you can't do it because you're not a good writer.

Belief in yourself is the key that opens all doors.

Okay, so literally, as I was writing this, I got my 100th follower!

HELL YEAH! Thanks so much, G! I appreciate it.

I wanna say a major thanks to all the people who follow me, especially those who take the time out of their day to read and comment on my stuff. It means a lot that someone actually takes what I'm saying seriously.

So, as I explained yesterday in my lengthy rant, school is getting a bit hectic, and my teacher sent another email today switching things around. Add on top of that that I need to find time to write my 8-10 page paper in French, I'm a little crunched for time.

Also, I was looking over my scheduling for fall classes to make sure I figured everything out and didn't screw myself over, and I realized I almost did. So, after going through everything, and talking to the people I needed to, I realized that I'm gonna have to zone in and focus on French. December of 2009, I started teaching myself French, and in 9 months I was at a French 3 proficiency. In 5 months, I need to be able read advanced texts comfortably in French, and have conversations and discussions in French. So, suffice it to say, I need to kick my brain back into high gear. I guess this is French v. Chris, round two! Ding Ding, mofo!


I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him. -- Mark Twain

I'm going to try to write on here as often as possible, because I really enjoy this. Quotes is the focus, but as I said yesterday, I think I'm gonna diversify it a bit. Maybe some small stories, some positive thoughts, some discussions about my day. But always quotes. And always from the heart.

So, thanks again so much to everyone who has stuck with me, helped me, and done their part to keep me going. You all mean so much to me.

I'll see you soo

This is just going to be a bit of a rant post.

One of my teachers is a out of her mind. It's the only way to describe it. She must be on something, because she goes at a hundred miles an hour at all times. Which is fine. What's not fine is the fact that she uses her ability to juggle 10,000 tasks at once to dump as much work on us as possible. It's insane.

Two weeks ago, she told us about a 200 point project that was due this Friday. Okay. She then commenced giving us an assignment to research for that Friday. Some sort of phony baloney debate about who is better, Dior or Chanel?

Um, neither. They're both expensive as hell, and are completely uninteresting to me. The debate, and the research, which was to find 10 good things and 10 bad things about each, served no purpose whatsoever!

Then, that Friday, she gives us the standard 70+ word vocab list that she gives every week to do for Monday. Plus sentences for each. Which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't just busy work. There is no goddamn way we can possibly memorize any of those words when we have so many of them. Not the mention the fact that most of them are combinations of words that we already know. She gives us these random phrases that are supposed to be useful. I've started doubting that, because she's always telling us how 'chic' the phrases are. Hey, lady. I don't give a fuck about being chic in Paris. I want to be understood in France.

After doing the vocab, we have a test coming up before Spring Break. Studying for that takes up a lot of my time, because I now have to go through 8 or 9 weeks of vocabulary word by word to find the ones I don't remember and review the ones I do. Notice that working on this project is not anywhere in there. It would be, if I had the magical ability to pull extra time from the depths of my ass.

Take the test on Friday, which I don't do well on, because she decides to grade for things she doesn't fucking teach us.

That's another thing, that I'll interject here. She doesn't teach us anything. All the learning we do is outside of class via these ridiculous assignments she gives us. All these projects and whatnot are the only way we learn anything. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Well, you're learning something, right?"

WRONG! These projects are so random, narrowed and focused, and all done with very little direction, that it's hard to know what we SHOULD be learning from them. All class is spent listening to other people present their semester projects, which we also have, presenting some crap dialogue that she's made us write using cookie cutter phrases and not really learning how to actually converse, or going over the ungodly list of vocabulary that we had to do.

So, for Spring Break, what does she do? She gives us another 170 words. 1. That's a lot of words! 2. We're supposed to be working on the project. 3.

You can always find reasons to work. There will always be one more thing to do. But when people don't take time out, they stop being productive. They stop being happy, and that affects the morale of everyone around them. --Carisa Bianchi

It's called a "break" for a reason! 4. And this is the worst one. The second list is comprised largely of vocabulary that you learn in French 1 and 2, and this class is supposed to be on par with French 3. Words like "mère" and "père," which mean mother and father. THAT'S BASIC STUFF, WOMAN! Now I've gotta spend a chunk of my time copying this crap into a 'decorated notebook' that she made us do (What is this, fifth grade!?) and then writing sentences for all of them.

And of course, of course, instead of giving us time to work on our project this week, she gives us yet another stupid dialogue to write and memorize for Wednesday.

I'm hovering just above a B right now, and I'll be happy with either an A or a B. At this point, I'm gonna do my best, but I refuse to kill myself over this crap. She is not the only teacher in existence, and her class is not the only one we are taking. To cope with this ridiculousness, I think of this:

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. --William Ellery Channing

The soul is like a sword. Forged it heat, and handled properly, it strengthens when it is bent and beaten, and it time, it can shine brilliantly and pierce anything that stands against it.

Better bend than break. --Carl W. Buechner

But to reach that optimal state, we must always keep in mind that survival and coping is the key. A sword cannot be forged if it is brittle, and shatters before completion. In many situations, adaptation the best path, the necessary option, to avoid failure and complete breakdown.

It's true, you can only bend so much before you're simply flattened. That's why it's key to shed some of your problems, handled your business, and tell the world to back the hell up on a regular basis. Remember, it was not the millions of straws the camel was already carrying that broke his back. It was the last one. Don't wait to see just how many straws you can carry.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance. --unknown

TL;DR: Teacher gives insane amounts of work, much of it stupid busy work, expects it all done perfectly, and disregards all other classes and responsibilities. Just because her life is a hectic mess.

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I know this is way different than what you're used to, but I've still got the quotes in there, and I think they work. I think I'm going to try to diversify this blog a bit. The quotes are the main thing that I'm interested it. I'm going to try to keep it as positive and inspirational as possible, except for this, but I wanna try some different stuff. Maybe write some really short stories, known as flash fiction, to fit some of the quotes.

We'll see. I'll put up a poll or something.

Thanks for reading and being patient with that long post. See you soon!

From time to time, I like to give myself scenarios. Little tests that make me seriously consider certain issues and force me to think about how I would react in various situations. My favorite, and the one that tells me the most about how I feel about the people around me, is to assume that I've just the lottery, and decide how I would distribute the money. I generally tend to allot myself a lot of money, making it easier to succeed in what I want to do. This, before even undertaking the activity, can tell you something about yourself. So, here is what I'd like you to do. Ask and answer these four questions.

1. How much would you have to win in the lottery to be comfortable that you could do all that you would want to do?

2. How would you allot/what would you do with $200 million?

3. What would you do with $50 million?

4. What would you do with $2 million? (Finish reading before thinking about these questions)

I chose $2 million as the final option rather than $1 million for a couple of reasons. The first is that I'd like you to assume that this is what you'd have left after taxes, and large lotteries are generally not much smaller than that. The second is that these days, $1 million, depending on your social class, may go much more quickly than you expect.

Questions 2-4 will help you figure out question 1. And don't worry if it seems like a lot to think about. If you'd like, work your way backwards. Start with 4, and go upwards if that amount is not enough.

For example, I can automatically think of ways to spend/give away most of my 2 million dollars, and because I'd like to have enough to be comfortable for a while, I'd move up to $50 million.

There is no fixed way to approach this matter. If you wish to approach it from a different direction, by all means do so. The questions are simply guides to help direct you.

You can tell me what you decided, if you like, or, if not, I'd love to hear what you think of the exercise. Do you do similar exercises or ask yourself similar kinds of questions?

Putting yourself in these kinds of situations is a great way to help realize what you really want, who really means the most to you, and how you'd handle such a situation.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you, but because in that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for. --Anonymous

Have fun, and don't give yourself a headache!

The events in the Middle East leave us much to ponder about our place in society, about the meaning of power, and the precarious position in which our leaders may find themselves should they ever overstep their bounds.

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” -- Mao Tse-Tung

An unfortunate, and ugly truth, but one we must face. The fact is that those with influence maintain that influence, generally through their ability to dominate opposition through force. In the world, we see countries like the United States dominate the global discussion because of it's vast military presence in the world.

In the revolting Middle Eastern countries, it is the minority, the political elite, which holds power over its citizens via violent force. Rockets, bullets, aircraft, all turned against citizens who are simply calling for a new chance, a new system, and a new life.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.”-- John F. Kennedy

Allow us a space to protest, to vent our frustrations, and we shall do so. Provide us with the means to call for reform, and we will call for it. Give us the freedom to speak as we wish about whoever and whatever, with no fear of repercussion, and we the words will flow freely from our lips.

Deny us our rights, and we will do all that and more.



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This post is not as long as usual, because I really don't have much time on the weekends with work and homework, but I wanted to share this, and it seemed appropriate. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.
--Anne Bronte

It's spring. Or it soon will be. But here in Florida, it feels as though the earth is waking from a deep slumber. Persephone has returned to Demeter, and the sun is smiling down on us. All the while, a soft breeze weaves it's way across the land, dipping in between houses, exploring the tucked away and hidden places of our civilization, gracing everything it touches with a soft caress.

If you remember from one of my earlier posts, I'm a big fan of wind. It clears my mind and frees me from my burdens, even just for a moment. It has a sort of renewing quality to it that so often we fail to get from the things in our lives.

A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.
--e. e. cummings

Rejuvenation. Exhilaration. What does it for you? What can you do for an extended period of time that doesn't start to bother you, and helps you relax completely? To survive and be happy in this life, it's essential to find your zen.

I know there are people out there who don't like wind, but for me, it's beautiful. It's a natural manifestation of mother nature, and it's an example of the fact that there is always a dual nature to all things.

We are like the wind, in a way. We can be soft, gentle, exploratory. We can wrap ourselves around someone and caress them. We can be a whisper in the ear of a lover, or a relaxing presence during a time of distress.

We can also be powerful. We can overtake that which stands in our way. We can come out of nowhere, and take people by surprise. We can become a whirlwind of destruction, leaving a path of debris and chaos behind us.

The substance of the winds is too thin for human eyes, their written language is too difficult for human minds, and their spoken language mostly too faint for the ears. --John Muir

It is difficult to truly understand the world around us, sometimes. The most self-analytical person may never know why a song, or an activity, or even the wind, makes them feel as though they've just been born, and the entire world has unfolded in front of them.

Does it matter, though? Must we understand every cog in the machine? Must we break down the beauty of the world, the love in our lives, to the smallest minutia, until it can no longer be broken? I wouldn't. It is often true that the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Search out what soothes you, what makes you feel whole, and love it. By all means, try to understand it, to know it more intimately so that you may rejoice more completely in it, but be careful not to ruin it with microscopic analysis.

Here's to hoping you find your soft breeze, your zen moment, and embracing it fully.


I know this post was a little scattered. But hey, the wind does that.

It's St. Paddy's day!





And though it's late in the day, and some of you have already celebrated by pounding back a few beers, don't worry. This post is about something that applies to every day. Holiday or not, special occasion or no occasion, there is one thing that is touted as essential to enjoying yourself and your life.

All good things, as they say, in moderation.

So often we get frustrated with the monotony of life. The days drag on and on, always the same thing day in and day out. Wake up, clean up, dress up, work, come home, eat dinner, take care of business, maaayyyybe do something with friends once in a while if time permits, sleep. Exciting isn't it?

Where is the time for us? When do we get to have some real fun? That's what we ask ourselves in a vain attempt to find a comforting answer. Our solution is simple, and not so surprising. On those nights we have with our friends, or those holidays we get the chance to relax, we go a bit wild. We 'let our hair down,' so to speak.

Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains. --Democritus

How many times have you heard a woman say that after a night of 'letting her hair down' she had to hold her hair back as she hugged the toilet bowl? How many times have you heard about the man who goes a bit wild right off the side of the road, or out the window of a hotel?

Sure, falling out of a hotel window is not exactly what we might call an epidemic, but drunk driving and puking/hangovers are far from uncommon. The question I've always had is 'How do you enjoy yourself if you can barely remember what's happening?'

It's true, this is a speech, or rant or whatever you may wish to call it, that you've probably heard before. I only single out partying and alcohol because it's Saint Patrick's Day. Like Oktoberfest, it's a beer holiday. But make no mistake, lack of moderation can ruin a million other things in your life.

Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it charm. -- Jean Paul Richter

The major weakness I have when it comes to moderation is music. The moment I hear a song I love, I find it on youtube, or I download it on iTunes, and the next thing you know, I'm playing it on repeat a billion times, and I'm listening to it every day, and loving every minute of.

That lasts a week. By that point, everything about that week has become so intimately intertwined with that song that the next time I hear it, something feels out of place. The song just doesn't belong to the here and now.

And you don't have to agree with me. But I'd offer you this challenge. Eat your favorite ice cream for every meal for a week, and see how quickly that ice cream starts to bother you.

Because it will.

I can not stress enough the importance of self-analysis and self-awareness. Knowing who you are, how you behave, and most importantly, what your strengths and weaknesses are, allows you to be in control and react more quickly when things go wrong.

With all of that said, I give you one final quote, just to prove that I'm not a complete party pooper.

Be moderate in everything, including moderation. --Horace Porter

And it's true. It would be foolish of me to say that there are not times in our lives where it's okay to go a bit overboard. But you and I both know, there are times when it should be avoided at all costs.

Sure, you may not crash and die when you get drunk. But you don't want to be the one who misjudged the distance to the guy crossing the street and couldn't stop in time. And you may not have been the person to walk out of a hotel window. But you don't want to be the one who told him where the "door" was.

It's simply a matter of judgement, my friends. You know what will impair said judgement, so take the necessary precautions, and have fun tonight. Just be smart about it. If you're already buzzed, don't let your 'friends' convince you that you haven't had enough. Those who care will be content with whatever amount of alcohol you choose to consume, even if it's nothing.

If you take the time out of your day to read what I'm writing, you matter to me, and I will do my best to make sure you stay safe, even if it means posting like a concerned parent.

With that said, have a wonderful St. Paddy's Day, enjoy your time with friends and family, and don't do anything stupid.

Later!

I'm sure many of you have seen the video or heard the story about the overweight kid who was getting bullied and finally had enough. He took his defense into his own hands, and when a younger kid was punching him in the hallway, he picked up the younger kid and slammed him to the ground. Suffice it to say, it is unlikely that the younger kid, or anyone else for that matter, will be doing much bullying from now on. For that, I applaud the poor kid who was getting bullied. He finally said 'No.' He finally refused to be the victim. But one thing struck me about this story.

There was no one to support him. He had no friends to help him deal with the bullying.

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. --Walter Winchell

For this kid, and a million other kids who are bullied for no other reason than a cruel person's desire to get off on the power trip, the rest of the world had walked away. It was only a stranger, a girl who was not actually his friend, who stepped in to prevent it from escalating even further.

You see, friendship is a powerful thing. It's true, there are lone wolves out there. There are people who prefer the company of themselves to the company of others. And who are we to begrudge them that satisfaction?

But if we are honest with ourselves, were are social creatures. We tend to group together in most situations. We cling to each other like bits of space dust, drawn together by some mysterious force that tells us that being together is the right thing to do.

Friendship is an amazing facet of life that does so many things for us. How fragile is our existence with no base of support? How easily do we crumble when the world presses down on us? The presence of but one friend immediately eases the weight of our burdens. When we talk to our friends, tell them our fears, explain our difficulties, share our secrets, laugh with them, cry with them, dance with them, do something silly or stupid together that becomes the focal point of a long running in-joke, we enrich our souls. We build our lives on a foundation of love and truth that stands strong in the face of adversity.

So often, the phrase used to describe the important people in our lives is 'friends and family,' but for many of us, those two are one in the same. I've heard the story a number of times, of people who grew up feeling like they had two sets of parents because they spent so much time with their best friend. And while it's hard to know just how prevalent this is, I do know one thing.

It's REALLY hard to think of a downside to this scenario, and I have yet to do it. It is a path rife with enrichment, love, and fun for all involved.

While friendships can be supremely powerful bonds, we must remember one thing. As I said before, strong relationships are based on love and truth. Friendships that are full of lies and deceit will be razed to the ground by the slightest pressure.

Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.-- Unknown

How do you build and display a beautiful castle to the world? Do you build a wall around a piece of land and then expect someone to come and do all the work for you? To come and admire your really pretty yard? You need raw materials. You need someone to help you build. To give you advice on when you're doing something wrong. How far should I take this staircase? Where should I put this room in relation to that one? Does this spire make my butt look big?

To create something beautiful, you must first invite beauty in. You must first expose your heart to the world and say, "This is me. Tell me about you. I care."

It's a scary prospect, I know. There is an inherent vulnerability that so many of us are not comfortable with in that scenario. And so we put up those walls. We build those fences and then we expect people to come to us.

This, my friends, is the path to loneliness.

So often I hear the phrase:

To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.-- Brandi Snyder

It's probably the most popular quote I've heard that deals with friendship. But I have a problem with it. Even if it's true, sometimes it doesn't seem that way. For those kids out there who are bullied and driven to the edge, the world is an abyss. It doesn't have to be though. All it takes is a smile. I don't know how many times I've heard the story of someone on the edge of suicide who didn't do it because of a random act of kindness.

Be that person. Be the unselfish person who shares their heart and their kindness with those around you. Not only will you attract people to you who will want to be a part of the good things, but you may also unwittingly alter somebody's future in a way you never expected.

Good night, stay strong, love, and be loved. I'll see you soon.

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One more new blog to share with you, if you're interested. It's a music blog that shares music from around the world. It's inspired by the now defunct music channel IMF: International Music Feed. I wanna explore the different genres, songs, and artists of the world's music scene and share them with you. It can be found at World Music Mix: globalsmash.blogspot.com

I promise.

These two words are tossed around so loosely and quickly that they've begun to lose their gravity. The question we have to ask ourselves is, what is a promise, anymore? All that is left in a promise is the surety of quick acquiescence. That we can get someone to say yes to our request sooner rather than later if we just say "I promise."

I promise to pay you back.

I promise I won't tell anyone.

I promise I'll [insert political policy here] when I am elected.

Eggs and oaths are easily broken. --Danish Proverb

How many excuses do we come up with, to avoid the responsibility we have burdened ourselves with? How many different ways can we find to say "Sorry, I lied"? We find every other way but that. We make excuses. We swear up and down that there is a good reason that our promise was broken. Or worse, maybe we promise that it won't happen again.

Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once. --Norman Vincent Peale

There are few ways to more quickly ruin a relationship than a broken promise. If you ever watch those court shows on television, you'll see one major theme that spans across all the shows. Somebody either promised something to another person, or is accused of promising something to another person.

The problem is that broken promises, and lies more broadly, not only build upon themselves, making it much more difficult to handle when things become complicated, but they also sow discontent. They create mistrust between peers, acquaintances, friends, family members, and even lovers.

There is a quote that I read once, and while I don't know the origin, and the situation did not deal with promises, I think it fits.

One time is chance, two times is coincidence, three times is enemy action. --Unknown

It is fairly easy to accept excuses for a person's failed attempt to keep a promise. Hell, sometimes we even make the excuses ourselves, hoping not to see the sad truth of the situation. In time, though, the niggling doubt grows. It presents itself more clearly every time we hear the words "I promise," until one day you just don't believe it anymore. And then it's over.

Without trust, there can be no foundation for a lasting relationship, romantic, friendly, or otherwise.

Promises are not obsolete. They are not pointless. But it's time to be more careful with how we use them. Save a promise for a day when you really mean it. For a situation where you fully intend, with 100% of your being, to fulfill said oath. It's not impossible, or even difficult, to express the same amount of sincerity without putting yourself in a tough situation.

The words, "I'll do the best I can," or "I'll see what I can do," or even, "I can't make any promises, but..."

A promise is a bond that is powerful. It connects people on a deeper level, and can lift them up to greater heights of friendship.

But it is also a chain that can be painfully dangerous. It binds two people together, and can drag them both down to despair.

Go easy on the promises. Be completely sincere when you mean them. Trust is essential to survival in such a social civilization as the one we live. Let us not destroy it for the momentary satisfaction of getting what we want.

Thanks for reading, I'll see you soon. :)

---

Thanks again to everyone who commented on the last post. As always, please leave comments letting me know what you think, good or bad. I value your thoughts and view points.

Here is a quote that applies to my life at the moment, and I'm sure many of you are in similar situations in these economic doldrums.

He who will not economize will have to agonize.--Confucius

It's hard sometimes, to manage things. Life is constantly bombarding us with situations that we don't want to deal with, problems that need solving, and just general crap that needs to be handled. But we can't put these things off.

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. --Don Marquis

Prioritizing is key. The big problems are not going to go away while we deal with the little things in life. They're going to get bigger.


A professor of philosophy stood before his class with some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks about two inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was full.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and watched as the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The professor then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They chuckled and agreed that it was indeed full this time.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filled the remaining open areas of the jar. “Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar signifies your life. The rocks are the truly important things, such as family, health and relationships. If all else was lost and only the rocks remained, your life would still be meaningful. The pebbles are the other things that matter in your life, such as work or school. The sand signifies the remaining “small stuff” and material possessions.

If you put sand into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks or the pebbles. The same can be applied to your lives. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are truly important. -- Julie Isphording

If there are issues in your life that you know need to be handled, but have been sitting there because they're difficult and bothersome to tackle, make the decision to change that. Take some time, re-evalute the situation, and see if there isn't a way to reorganize and prioritize your life so that you don't wake up one day to find that all the garbage of your life has been left at the foot of your bed.

---

I know this isn't the usual length of my posts, but I've noticed that after I do a big post where I really focus on it, I get kind of lax with this blog. So what I'm going to do is post more quotes and make the posts a bit shorter. This way, I can supply you with more quotes and you'll have more room to interpret things as you wish. I'll still make the longer posts when inspiration strikes, which will hopefully be often. Thanks for sticking with me, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your kind words. They mean so much to me.

I'd say good night, but it's 1:28 AM, so good morning. :)

Judge not, that ye be not judged. --Matthew 7:1

Often misquoted as "Judge not, lest ye be judged," this is a phrase that people use quite often, generally as a defense to deter others from criticizing us or someone/something we like.

It's tough. SO tough.

A basic part of human instinct seems to be to judge, and it makes sense. From an evolutionary stand point, the ability to determine the weaknesses of others gives us an advantage in the battle for resources, food, mates, etc. The moment we meet someone new, most of us manage to find both good and bad things about this person, and we all know that a bad first impression can ruin what could have been a fantastic friendship or relationship.

So, whenever I hear someone say, "Judge not, lest ye be judged," my first reaction is 'Hypocrite!' My second reaction is to think, in a very mature and composed manner, of course, what basically boils down to 'No, you!'

I shouldn't, though. Neither should you. You see, here's an easy way to avoid this problem. And you're gonna make a face at me when I tell you, but that's okay.

Block out the crap. Don't judge.

Look, the fact of the matter is that not only is it usually rude and utterly pointless, but most of the time (notice I didn't say all the time), we judge people negatively for minor things, or things that annoy us, rather than for any sort of substantial reason.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't actually expect anyone to stop judging. As I said before, I think it's part of human nature. But let's look at the situation from a pragmatic stand point. We're going to judge people eventually. The problem is that we don't know everyone's entire story. If we know someone's history, we're likely close friends with them, and even less likely to be a harsh critic.

If you have an acquaintance at work who says things that you can't possibly understand the origin of, stop and think for a second. You probably don't know what this person's life is like. What is his/her past like? Why don't they know that France is not even close to being on the same continent as the US? It would be so easy to let these things get to you. It would be so easy to get upset, to argue with this person, to nitpick their ability to do their job, to go home and complain about their incompetence, to get mad when the person you're venting to gets tired of listening, to tell your friend, parent, lover, sibling, etc. that they just don't understand!

Divorced parents, it might have been. A broken home often distracts a person from what would normally take precedence. Maybe the family didn't have much money, or maybe it was a single parent home, and that person spent their school years trying to help keep the family afloat? I don't know. You don't know.

We. Don't. Know.

And if it was you? If you worked with someone, and it just so happened that you had a hard life, or if you struggled to make ends meet, and you couldn't bring yourself to smile and laugh at the jokes, how would you want people to judge you? Should they simply assume that your surface is your soul? That there is nothing underneath to be explored? That you're such a simpleton that all you have is one dimension?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. --The Ancient World (multiple civilizations)

You see, here's the thing. Casting judgement on others, letting their actions bother you and anger you, they have a powerful effect. The effect, however, is not directed upon the person being judged, but rather he/she who judges. I know from first hand experience that it festers. It sits inside of you, bubbling, the pressure building with every shake like a super-carbonated bottle of soda.

And as you know, the moment the cap is removed, or jostled loose, that anger overflows, bursting forth like a torrent. It makes a mess, leaves those around you covered in the unpleasantness of it all, and could potentially ruin a perfectly good couch! Or worse, a relationship.

We are all bottles of soda. We all bubble and fizz on the inside. That's life. What you don't want to do, however, is get shaken up over and over again. Don't allow yourself to be disturbed by the minor and insignificant actions of others.

Block it out. Shut it down. Put it out of your mind. Take a deep breath. Do what ever it takes to prevent those little niggling nuisances from festering inside you and turning into raging balls of discontent.

When someone else's behavior determines your next move, it's time to reevaluate.


Here's to hoping you had a fun and stress-free weekend. See you soon.

----

While this is a broad topic, I was inspired by personal experiences, and so it may seem more personal or direct than usual. Thanks to all of you who have continued reading, I really appreciate it. I'd love to hear how you handle these sorts of things, if you wouldn't mind sharing. What keeps you focused on yourself, and not on what you perceive as the problems of others?

I wanted to let you all know I've created a new blog. It's going to be an educational blog, of sorts. Various subjects, and my best attempt to make them interesting. There is also going to be vocabulary words with every post. Words, maybe their history and any other interesting info I can find about them. I LOVE LOVE LOVE talking, and I find that understanding, if not always using, a large vocabulary can open many doors to great and fascinating conversations. There is nothing that can kill a conversation faster than having a grown man ask you what the word 'migrant' or 'ailment' means.

I realize this may sound very judgmental, and I hope no one is offended. This is the only time I'll say anything about that, and everything on my blog will stay focused on a positive atmosphere.

If you're interested, please follow and let me know what you think. If you like it, please share it with your friends. I deeply appreciate everything that my readers have done for me and have given me in the way of positive feedback and thoughts about what I write. I'll continue with this blog as well, but I want to diversify things a bit. The new blog is:

Enhance Your Brain aka Unleash the Beast!!

http://eruditionforthewin.blogspot.com

Despite the flashy name, don't expect anything groundbreaking at first. Tonight's gonna be some vocab and a start, so do me a favor and give it a chance. The more time that passes, the more I think that teaching is perfect for me, and this is my chance to really share knowledge with people. I'm a strong believer that knowledge should not be concentrated among a small group, but rather shared with as many people as possible.

Thanks again, and I sincerely hope to see you over there!

We often find ourselves preoccupied.

We often here the phrase, "There are two sure things in life. Death and taxes."

By a wide margin, though, Death often holds our attention more vigorously than taxes. Taxes come once a year, and after it's over, for most people, life goes on in the same manner as before.

Death, however, can come any time. There are no rules. There is no system that Death relies upon to determine its victims, or the level to which it will affect the rest of us. It is ruthless, it is cold, it is unyielding.

Jacques Roumain, author of Masters of the Dew, once wrote of misfortune:

It comes in anyhow, and sits at your table without permission. It eats and leaves nothing but bones.

These are the facts. We are powerless. There is nothing we can do. Sure, we can take precautions. We can be careful and not do foolish things that make injury or death more likely. Most people do that. I know I do.But it's impossible to know what's going to happen tomorrow, or in an hour, or even in ten minutes.

Life, like Death, is unpredictable.

Today, in Japan, hundreds of people are dead after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the resulting tsunami. This tragic loss of life is, unfortunately, just something that happens. The world will mourn for them, and the world will aid the Japanese in their time of need. We can keep them in our hearts and minds, even say a prayer if that's your preference. What we should not do, however, is let this scare us.

As time passes and we see these terrible events occurring, coupled with the dramatic and serious financial meltdown of the past couple of years, there is, at times, a growing sense of panic. People are seeing a horizon that doesn't exist, a horizon at the end of the world which we will all plunge from.

You know what, though? Maybe that horizon does exist. Maybe, just maybe, something really bad is coming. In that case, we need to ask ourselves some things.

Does Death become our life?

Does the future become our present?

Do we allow our extended gaze to blind us to the things that are right in front of our faces?

Death Barged In

In his Russian greatcoat
slamming open the door
with an unpardonable bang,
and he has been here ever since.

He changes everything,
rearranges the furniture,
his hand hovers
by the phone;
he will answer now, he says;
he will be the answer.

Tonight he sits down to dinner
at the head of the table
as we eat, mute;
later, he climbs into bed
between us.

Even as I sit here,
he stands behind me
clamping two
colossal hands on my shoulders
and bends down
and whispers to my neck,
From now on,
you write about me.

--Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno

I won't lie. I don't want to live forever, but I'd sure as hell like to live for a long time. A good, full, exciting life is something that appeals to most human beings. And the fact is, not everyone can have that. But how we handle that truth is what defines us as a person.

Do we wrap ourselves up in what might be? Do we set our sights on the intangible, and forget to live for all that's real?

When the time comes to go, as it inevitably will, what will you do? Will you look back on your life and see that you made the best with what you were given, that you enjoyed the time you had the best you could? Or, will you look back and realize that by worrying about dying, you never really got around to living?




Do me a favor. Take a deep breath. Now let it out slowly and realize something. Life is a miracle.

Appreciate it.

Make it worthwhile.

It only happens once.

----

This was a more melancholy post, but I tried to make it positive as well. I hope you all take something from this, and I know that due to cultural and religious beliefs, Life and Death mean different things to different people. My only goal is to help you, and myself, live for what's here and not for what isn't.

Later.

Tonight, on campus, there will be a Mardi Gras masquerade ball thingy mabob! It's a day late, of course, but who the hell cares? I've never really participated in any sort of Mardi Gras festivity before, so this should be awesome. And as we all know, part of Mardi Gras is masks.

Masks are an interesting phenomenon. Depending on the holiday or the occasion, masks can be simple tools to enhance or alter one's appearance for purely aesthetic entertainment reasons. Is your face not ghoulish enough to pass as a ghoul? Buy a mask! Is your skin not rotten enough to pass as a zombie? Buy a mask!

But there are times in our lives that we wear other masks. Emotional masks and mental masks that hide our inner being and protect it from exposure to the cruel world.

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin. --André Berthiaume

We fear, as humans, being so utterly exposed to others that we rarely allow people close enough to know all of our secrets. We all have opinions or feelings that aren't popular and that are not in agreement with the broader societal thought on the matter. And we all, at some point or another, have acted in a way that is completely anathema to what we truly are, but did it because we thought someone would like us better for it.

It happens. But we must be careful that the mask that hides our true self does not become so much a part of us that we forget who we are.

Masks provide a safe haven. They provide a barrier between the truth of yourself and the wild, untamed beast of the world and its expectations. Take care, my friends, to find as many opportunities as possible to remove your mask and keep it off. Surround yourself with those that comfort you, make you feel as though there is nothing to be ashamed of.

People who cause you to wear masks are not your friends. People who force you to be anything other than who you are, they are not your friends. And if someday, you find yourself incapable of removing your mask without tearing away a part of your own being, that person has directly contributed to your destruction of self.

Be yourself. Let no one tell you you must be anything other than what you are.

Wear a mask only when absolutely necessary. Or when you want to look like Predator.

Here's to hoping you had a fantastic Mardi Gras!

Au revoir.

Just wanted to share an article I read. I'm sure some of you have read or heard the story about the kid who made a winning lay up in a highschool basketball game, and then collapsed and died almost immediately after.

This article is about how the people in the town and surrounding areas, in a show of strong community support, respect, and love, came together to honor a child who died after a moment of glory.



A night of compassion, community, in honor of Wes Leonard

Written by Greg Couch

HOLLAND, Mich. – We’re still waiting for Wes Leonard’s death to make sense, but it never will. Still waiting for answers, but they won’t come.

Still looking for the moral of the story, but it doesn’t exist.

Wes Leonard, the All-American high school kid, died after hitting the winning layup in a basketball game Thursday to save a perfect season.

His team celebrated with him, hoisted him. And next thing you knew he was on the court, dying or dead.

On Monday, his team, Fennville High, played in the first round of the Michigan Class C state championship tournament, with the Leonard family’s blessing. Players were crying before the game and they were crying after.

In between, they showed uncommon courage in mourning. They beat Lawrence 65-54, and the inexplicable ride doesn’t end. School is canceled Tuesday for Leonard’s funeral.

On Wednesday, the team plays in the second round.

"I’m trying ... to ... think of something ... to say," Fennville coach Ryan Klingler said afterward. "This is a ... No, I’m just ..."

He is "just" part coach, part mourner, part psychologist.

"No, I’m just here as a ..." he said. "They showed me you can rise up."

The game was about courage, yes. But even moreso it was about the best that sports and community can offer. It was all the good things and values we forget about sometimes.

The basketball world is hung up on whether LeBron James can make a clutch shot, and whether super-rich superstars should be able to form their own teams and snub their original fans. Well, on Monday, Lawrence and Fennville players, all from small towns, sat together before the game for dinner.

Lawrence’s players came out for pregame warmups in T-shirts that said "NEVER FORGOTTEN" on the front, and on the back: "LEONARD 35."

Fennville then walked out in rows of three, arm-in-arm, with Leonard’s brother, Mitchell, who isn’t on the team, front row, center.

Fennville’s fans chanted: "Thank you, Lawrence," between rhythmic claps.

You know the pregame handshakes? Forget it. They were full hugs. Each player hugged each player.

Fennville’s Shane Bale was crying. Adam Siegel, too. And he went on to lead the team with 22 points.

How on earth did they do this? They were falling apart just minutes before the game.

"Wes would have wanted to win," Siegel said. "I wanted to win. He’s a big, strong guy so I tried to be a big, strong guy for him."

Yes, but you took over the game while playing with four fouls.

"Wes always had fouls, too."

He smiled slightly.

They were supposed to play this game at Lawrence High, but its gym holds only about 800 people, and that wasn’t going to be enough to say goodbye. So Lawrence agreed to give up a home game in the state tourney, and allowed this one to be at Hope College, a religious school about 50 miles away. It easily sold out its 3,500-seat arena, and even had to turn people away. The town of Fennville has 1,400 people.

Hope is an unsung hero, allowing for free use of its arena. Its staff donated time to run the game. The school even provided buses for both teams and some fans.

See? The whole night was about compassion, competition, community. It was sports and sportsmanship.

You don’t put those things all together in sports anymore, do you?

Sometimes, it takes the worst to bring out the best.

Leonard was a 16-year old kid, the star on the basketball team, the star quarterback on the football team. Blond hair, good-looking, healthy and strong.

How could he have just dropped dead? Well, we do hear stories like this.

Leonard had an enlarged heart, and he died just one day before the 21st anniversary of the death of Hank Gathers, the former Loyola Marymount player who dropped on the court.

Bo Kimble, the other star on that Loyola team, has founded the 44 For Life Foundation, which raises awareness of heart disease in Gathers' memory. Kimble pushes for athletes to have checkups, and for sporting venues to have defibrillators.

He drove overnight from Philadelphia to Holland, so he could spread his message and talk to the boys at Fennville.

"Made it with 45 minutes to spare," he said. "It’s supposed to be a 13-hour drive, but that’s without two snowstorms and a rainstorm."

Kimble told the players that they won’t forget Leonard and shouldn’t want to. He said he got through the grief of Gathers by thinking of several positive things about him every time dark thoughts came up.

Shortly before the game, Leonard’s parents, Gary and Jocelyn, arrived, and received a standing ovation. Leonard’s uncle, Jim, crying off and on after the game, said they had been sheltered and didn’t know Wes’ story had captured the nation’s psyche.

"Until today," he said, "they had no idea."

They not only saw mobs of reporters and TV cameras crowding the team, but also they couldn’t have missed the large sign that read: "In memory of Wes Leonard and in support of the Fennville Community. From the Lawrence Tigers Family." Signatures covered it.

Hundreds of fans wore shirts with pictures of Leonard, or words about him. One woman held a sign with a picture of a basketball with wings.

Only four players took the court to start the game. And then, immediately, one player was subbed in.

So why did this high school kid connect with us? It’s because of the sudden highs and lows all mixed into one. Last-second victory and perfect season mixed with sudden death.

We identify with Leonard. He could be the kid you pay to shovel your driveway.

We all know him. We see him every day, and wave hello.

We lost a piece of ourselves when he died. And there are no drugs to blame, or bad behavior. It goes against what we stand for and believe in.

It’s one of the hardest possible lessons for Fennville. Yet, really, there is no lesson.


Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/sport/story/2011-03-08/a-night-of-compassion-community-in-honor-of-wes-leonard?ncid=webmail#ixzz1G2J0N0nX


Very moving.

Beethoven was extremely important the evolution of music over the past few hundred years. He composed pieces that not only completely altered the future of music as we know it, but that also inspired generation after generation to love, cherish, and partake in that age old past time and continue the legacy. And many of his works were composed after he had gone deaf! But it's not Beethoven that is so important, but rather what he worked with.

His craft, his life, was devoted to the creation of music.

Music is something so beautiful, so genuine, so charismatic and primal that words are often not enough to fully express the scope and breadth of emotions that are encompassed in a piece.

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent. --Victor Hugo

Rarely can you find a person that doesn't listen to some song or another and find themselves reliving a moment in the past. Music not only grants you that momentary satisfaction that it evokes upon listening, but it also intertwines itself into your very psyche, grabbing on to every memory it can possibly find a way to touch.

When was the last time you watched a movie, and said to yourself, "That movie was good, but the music! Oh, the music was just so great!" I'd be willing to bet it's more often than you realize.

And when was the las time you saw a movie and said, "That was a great movie, but you know what would have made it even better? No music." Hmmmm?

Take a moment and think about something. For many years now, I couldn't possibly tell you how many, but I'm sure someone could calculate or estimate, there has not been a single moment in the entire continuum of existence in which music in some form has not been playing somewhere in the world.

Seriously.

To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable. --Aaron Copland

That may not seem like anything to you, but to me, it is a symbol of the pure connective nature of music. There is something in this world that humanity shares almost completely. There are some very random things that remind me of the fact that I'm a human being, sometimes. Going to the dentist for a teeth cleaning is, to me, an activity that is so human that it makes me stop and think about my existence. Music does that, too.

It moves us, it stirs our imagination, motivates us, heightens our senses, depresses us, evokes love from our hearts, and prompts memories that we had tucked away in the recesses of our minds. I love music, and I were I to ever lose it, my world would become a drab, dull, and hideously uninteresting place.


So tell me, are you a music lover?

Are you the take it or leave it type?

Prefer silence? I've known a few people like this, and if you're one of them, I'd love to know why. Share your thoughts. If you enjoy music, what do you listen to? What excites you? What do you turn off the moment you hear it? If you're in between, tell me when the right time for you to listen is. And of course, thank you for sharing.

Do yourself a favor and listen to a really great song before bed tonight. Set aside a few minutes to just immerse yourself in the grandeur of it.

Good night, sweet dreams, and happy listening.

---

This post was inspired by Lost.in.Idaho, http://wtfamidoinginidaho.blogspot.com/ , whose post about the difficulty in finding a legit radio station to listen to struck a sympathetic chord in me.

It may not be obvious based on my writing, but I'm a bit nuts. It's the truth. When I'm at home around my parents, I'm a sane individual with complete control over my actions.

But when I'm out of the house and having a good time, or even at work (shh! don't tell anyone) where there are people I can talk to:

I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying. -- Oscar Wilde

My brain is really close to my mouth. I mean, it's in the same bone structure. That's not my fault. Blame evolution, or god, or whoever the hell decided to put them so close to each other. What's worse is that my ears are connected to all this, too. You can't honestly expect me not to say completely wonky or outrageous things when my brain hears, processes, formulates a response, and delivers said response to my mouth all in a matter of a few seconds.

People talk about having a filter. That one needs to think before they speak. I do! That's how I make my words, generally. I hope you all do, too, otherwise you're facing a serious anatomy fail. But let's be serious, if I thought about everything I wanted to say before I said it, I'd miss some prime opportunities for hilarity. Amusement and humor is about the sacred moments after a statement is laid out for everyone to hear. It's like a train that comes flying through the station, and if you don't find a way to get on said train...well, there's no telling when the next one's coming through.

It's like walking a really humongous dog, sometimes. It pulls and pulls and pulls at you, until you don't even know where you're at anymore. You started out on pastry street (I work in a bakery), and you end up at the Eiffel Tower surrounded by five miming elephants who are begging for a crepe and doing handstands.

What?

It's fun, though. Let your hair down. Dance. Be silly. Shake your ass!

Pardon my foul language.

Oscillate your hind end, on occasion!

Let it all hang out. Well, not all of it. That's gross. Especially in public. You'll go to jail.

But seriously, have fun with it. I've done the calculations, and in a completely unofficial, non-scientific, but totally true and surprising find, most people can afford to have seven screws come completely loose, with one hanging half out jiggling dangerously. Mind you, this is all temporary. If you suffer from the condition of permanent screw-loosedness, proceed with caution.

---

Something a little different than normal, but it's hard to be serious all the time. It's not in my nature. I'm gonna try to go for smaller posts more frequently, but I'll still do a big one if the feeling strikes me. Thanks for being patient with me as I try to figure out just what I'm doing on here.

If you enjoyed this, please let me know. If you didn't, step away from the computer!

Kidding of course. Later, all.

These walls which contain me are nothing against the force of my mind. The supremacy of my will. The vast expressive powerhouse that is my imagination.

Within us all is a fountain of creation, a source for some of the greatest expression conceivable. Einstein, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was a genius. But more than that, he was a visionary. The man who brought us the theory of relativity, who gave us the means to harness nuclear power, and who revolutionized physics and science, also had a unique way of looking at the world. Though it may seem ironic, he believed and stated a simple but compelling truth:

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

That's right. The man who is one of the most intelligent people to grace the face of this earth says that imagination trumps knowledge. Considering he did things that no one had ever dreamed of doing, like formulating a way to harness the energy of the bonds between particles, I would say he knows a little something about creative thinking.

A phrase you often hear with regards to imagination and creativity is, "Think outside the box." Thinking outside the box is so common for us nowadays that outside the box is hardly any different than the box itself. If the box is your mind's home, how far do any of us truly travel from it? Did the great thinkers, inventors, and revolutionaries settle for stepping outside of the box, taking a look around, picking a few flowers, and heading back inside?

No. They stepped outside, saw the fields and the forests and the mountains and said, "Somewhere out their is an adventure. Somewhere out there is an idea waiting to be discovered, an obstacle to be overcome."

And they walked. They marched through the fields, they navigated the forests, they climbed the mountains, and they swam the rivers and lakes of their minds. They conquered the wilderness of their thoughts, the far reaches of their potential, and came away with something great.

When the Wright Brothers made the first manned flight in 1903, do you think they got to that point by envisioning a future where humanity was limited to ground transport? Or did they expand their intellect as far as they could towards the great cliffs in their mind, and then find a way to launch themselves safely from those cliffs?

Did the Ancient Greeks, Alessandro Volta, Benjamin Franklin, or Nikola Tesla look at lighting and say, "Let it stay there. It's too dangerous." Not a chance! The Greeks experimented and discovered the basics of static electricity. Alessandro Volta created the first electric battery for a source that didn't rely on static.

Ben Franklin looked up at those thunderbolts and probably said something along the lines of, "Shall we see if we can't discover just what exactly is going on up there?" His experiments led directly to the discovery that lightning is natural electricity. And last, but certainly not least, Tesla pushed the boundaries even farther, introducing alternating current and, of all things, wireless power.

These visionaries, all of them, achieved great things by having one common attribute. They didn't simply think outside the box. They opened their minds to as many possibilities as would present themselves, examined them all, and when the time was right, they went for it. They didn't just push the envelope, they tore a damn hole in it and said "Let me out!"

Every moment of every day, somewhere in the world, a person is inspired. An idea is presented to them in some way, shape, or form that will make them think about the possibilities of what can be achieved. Somewhere out there, a kid just got an original idea, one that could revolutionize and utterly alter the course of human history.

If you are ever seized by one of these moments or ideas, if the universe presents you with a golden egg of delicious possibilities, embrace it. Seize it. Run with it, and don't stop running until you've jumped off the cliff and flown away on a breeze, or grabbed a lightning bolt and powered the world with it.

Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible. -- Albert Einstein

But to fail to attempt anything at all, makes all endeavors impossible, and is absolutely absurd.

Good night, and dream with vigor, for those dreams may power the future.

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This was a post in response to the quote provided by R1E4H3. Thanks to everyone who read it, and thanks for all the comments on the last post. :)

I was planning to post last night, but I just couldn't get into the mindset, and I was finishing up work for school. I was gonna post tonight, but I feel like crap, and I can hardly think about anything right now.

I'll try tomorrow if I can, but if not, I should be okay by Monday, so I'll have something for you all then. It'll be about the imagination, and how important it is to success and achievement.

I wanna thank you all again for reading and commenting. I'm thinking of starting another blog that's a bit different and would be basically me writing a small story of some sort to go with a picture. Basically, find a picture and then write a story about it.

For now, though, look forward to a post by Monday at the latest. I'll be seeing you. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

I wanna share a picture with you that I came across one evening, and something about it really stuck with me. I remember seeing it, and it's kind of a big picture, so I was scrolling down, and nothing about it moved me really. It was kind of sad, it's true, but all of the frames contained images of what you expect to happen. And then, there's the girl at the bottom:




Life is a big thing. It's this giant, unyielding mass of events and emotions and power that so often, as human beings, we feel like we have no control over. So many people believe in a higher power, or that things happen for a reason, or that Destiny will play out and where they end up is where they are meant to be. Some think that when Life throws what seems like a gigantic boulder in the middle of the stream that is your life, that's it. This is where you make your lake, where you build your life, where you let everything get back up on top of itself.

You see, when your life is a little stream, it's true that obstacles get in your way and your path changes direction. It's true that crap gets in the stream and mucks it up. What it doesn't do, though, is stop. It adapts. It moves. It finds a way around the obstacles.

The problem arises when that boulder drops, and your stream hits that boulder. Now is the time when you make the decision. Do you tell yourself that this is what was meant to be? That all of this happened for a reason and that your destiny is to become a giant lake of emotions, and problems, stagnant?

You might be thinking, "Hey, I grew up near a lake, and they're awesome. People can have a lot of fun in them."

You're right. People will come into your lake. They will splash, and have a good time. But guess what. You're still not going anywhere. You're still stuck behind that boulder. These people are jumping around in your lake, leaving trash behind from time to time, and over the years, you become just another body of water.

Do you know where else people go for a good time? Rivers. You know what rivers do? They wash away boulders. They erode the rocks and blast through the obstacles that stand in their way. It is only the truly large and unmovable things that cause them to change direction. And yes, people will come and splash around, and yes, sometimes they'll leave their trash, but that doesn't change one vital fact.

You're still moving forward.

Your life is not measured by the number or size of the problems you have, but how well you deal with them. It's easier to be the river, or the strong breeze that can push it's way through even the narrowest of spaces from the very start. Be we aren't all rivers. Some of us are streams.

The truth, though, is that every single one of us has the heart of a hurricane, and the soul of the Amazon. In that time of need, we can and do achieve amazing things, but the key to all that is knowing it's possible.

If Life gives you lemons, and you don't like lemonade, throw those bastards out! Don't settle for lemonade.

Don't just grab Life by the horns, wrestle it to the ground and show it who's boss!

And by god, when Life sends an asteroid, hit a home run. That little girl sure didn't hesitate.

I'm gonna wrap this up with a graphic I love, that I think sums up my thoughts on all this:



This is the mentality that I want you all to have when facing challenges. Even the most serious problems will bend and fold to a more powerful will.

Take heart, my friends, for that which stands in your way has only as much power as you allow it to.

Until next time.




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I want to thank everyone for their feedback on my last post about being memorable and being forgotten. The thing I love about this blog is that quotes are so open for interpretation, and sometimes people agree with how I see things, and other times they don't. Some of you commented and expressed your differing views on the issue, it showed me a new way of looking at the situation.

One commenter, DocStout, said that my post kind of failed to disprove the quote. He has an excellent point, and when I was writing it, that's probably what I was trying to do. I'm a person who fears being forgotten, so my point of view on that quote was largely driven by that stance on the issue. Whether or not my purpose should have been to disprove the quote or not is up for debate, but I hope no one was offended by it.

My intention is never to alienate anyone, but only to share with you my views, and hope that you'll share yours with me, which you have. And for that, I'm supremely grateful.

Thank you.

So recently I posted and asked you all for some quotes that you enjoy. I'll be working my way through them all at some point or another, but I decided to start with this one, because I actually disagree with it. I could not find the origin, so I don't know who originally said it, but it doesn't really matter all that much. A user by the name of Dr. Goodsex provided me with it, and I thank him for sharing his thoughts. He wrote:

You can never truly lose something. It only returns from where it came.

I guess I shouldn't say I disagree with this. It can happen. It often does happen. I guess the more appropriate response to this would be, "I sure hope not!"

If this quote applies to situations in your life, it means one of two things. First, your experience with that person was so short or limited that you didn't have the time to make an impact on their life in any substantial way. A lot of times, this isn't our fault, because circumstances simply dictate that we have random strangers that we meet, or acquaintances that we speak to throughout the day, and so in order for us to have changed their life in any serious way, we would have to do something drastic. This isn't that bad, since most of the time, we wouldn't consider their exit a loss of any sort.

That said, we all have the ability to change the life of a random stranger by the simple act of smiling, or saying a kind word. For all we know, that may be the man or woman who is contemplating something horrible, and a kind face is the only light in the darkness of their life.

The other possibility is that you're a part of someone's life for an extended period of time, but somehow, you evade by their notice. You fail to catch their attention in any sort of meaningful way, and as such, you only stay in their mind or heart long enough to be useful. In fact, one could argue you're never in their heart at all. A painful thought, but a truth that happens far too often in this life.

If you are going to invest any sort of emotion and time into another person, you should be absolutely sure that they remember you. Find a way to imprint your being in the minds of those you want to remember you.

Be the problem solver.

Be the wicked smart one.

Be the go-getter.

Be the jokester.

Be the one that's a bit out there and draws funny looks.

If you want, be all of them at once. But most important of all, be the one they think about.

I often find myself wondering if all the people that I've known in my life still know my name or remember my face. We can never know for sure just how greatly we've changed a life in our encounters with people, but let's make it easier to estimate. Don't let the people that you care about forget you easily by living on the edge of their life. Engage them. Help them. Love them.

Here's to hoping we can all be as remembered as we wish to be, even if we only wish to be remembered by three people in the whole world.

Good night, and sweet dreams.

Is there someone in your life who trusts you? Someone that comes to you, talks to you about their problems, about their successes, and looks to you for encouragement and comfort?

If you'd like to change that, the process is simple. Make them think you're interested, and then prove to them that you could hardly give a crap. If they tell you that they're one step closer to achieving their goals and dreams, think up as many ways as you can to tell them why it's not a good idea. Tell them they should do something else. Something more practical. Something that isn't so unlikely.

How many dreams have been crushed this way? More than I dare to count. So often, I hear friends or coworkers tell me that they'd love to do such-and-such a thing, whether it's sing, or be a zoologist, or dance, or any other array of potential careers, but their parents want them to do something else. Their friends are telling them that it's not going to work.

I have some information for all of you reading out there.

If a parent is telling you that you can't achieve your dreams, or that you should give up on your goals, they've got this parenting thing wrong. And if a friend is telling you that it's not going to work, someone needs new friends. Drop that jealous Debbie-downer, and find someone who will support your dreams and aspirations, through thick and thin.

Are we going to raise the next generation to be satisfied with what is practical? To settle for what they consider to be second or third best? To spend the rest of their lives do a job they may hate for the sake of a big house and a nice car?

How about we show some pride in our children. The words "I'm proud of you" mean nothing, nothing, if you don't demonstrate it some more substantial way. Trust me when I say, kids know when you're saying things just to say them.

He didn't come out of my belly, but my God, I've made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and how he sleeps, and the fact that he swims like a fish because I took him to the ocean. I'm so proud of all those things. But he is my biggest pride.
-- John Lennon

We've got to be genuinely interested in the successes of others, if we think to call ourselves their friends or family.

Take some time to get to know people and what their dreams are. Ask people what's troubling them, and how you can help. Maybe what they're aiming for isn't something so ambitious as President, or CEO of a major company, or galactic overlord, but here's the truth of it:

Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. --Voltaire

If you can inspire in someone the spark they need to accomplish what they long for, to be as great as they dream of being, not only will you feel a grand sense of accomplishment on their behalf when that challenge is conquered, but you will likely also have made a lifelong friend.

Lend someone your heart to help them fill the hole in theirs, and you'll find yourself with twice the heart you began with.




This post is related to my Twenty Years From Now post...

http://nourishingbrainfood.blogspot.com/2011/02/twenty-years-from-now.html

... but it comes from a bit of an angry place, and it looks at the situation from a different point of view. I'll be back later with another post on something new. Thanks again for reading!

Ask yourself a question. And be honest with yourself. When was the last time you did something that was purely relaxing, or fun, or exciting, and you did it without thinking about the past or the future? Did you experience the moment without being plagued by various other concerns or thoughts?

So often, we live in this never-ending loop of preoccupation with our responsibilities that we forget one simple truth:

Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.-- Montaigne

Read that last part again. All else is beyond thee.

You can plan for, and worry on, and think about the future all you want. It's your life, and if you'd like to spend it stressing, then by all means do so. But here's the truth. You don't know what's coming, and you can't do a thing about it.

How often do we get lost in the moments of the past that have embarrassed us, angered us, saddened us, and we spend hours or days thinking about what could have been? What should have been. How we could have done things differently. But here's the truth. What's done is done, and you can't do a thing about it.

Today was an interesting day, for me. It began with me rear-ending someone on the way to school. No damage, no problems, we both went on our own way. Still shook me up a bit. Then, at school, my teacher told our class that we'd have to do an assignment that was essentially pointless, except to take up valuable time that I need to be contributing elsewhere. I was in a funk most of the day.

And then I found it.

I found my moment of Zen. I was walking around campus on this very breezy day, and I was buying a soda from the machine by the business building when I noticed that the breeze was strong and steady there. Being a fan of wind because of its relaxing effects on me, I sat. I ended up sitting there for a half-hour, listening to music and zoning out, without a care in the world.

You see, people always tell you to live in the moment. Embrace and enjoy what you're doing so that you'll never be grouchy or upset, and you can be happy all the time. You know what that is?

That's crap.

The human experience, life, the universe, does not work like that. If everyone was able to trick their own mind into being happy with what they were doing right then and there, nobody would be worried about anything, the word regret would not exist, and wars would never occur.

After that half-hour of, to be cliché, "living in the moment," I felt better than I had all day, rejuvenated, and ready to face the rest of my day.

You see, it's not about enjoying every moment of every day. You can't. You won't. It's impossible. But what's not impossible is taking every opportunity you can find to do something you enjoy and taking pure pleasure from that moment. Don't think about how long you get to do it for. Don't think about what's coming up later in the day, or tomorrow, or how you're going to pay your bills. You spend enough time doing that anyways.

It even leads to eye problems:

If you have one eye on yesterday, and one eye on tomorrow, you're going to be cockeyed today.--Anonymous


Focus solely on your little activity of fun, and embrace it. Hold it dear, and let it fill you with warmth. I promise you, that warmth permeates your being to a far greater extent than you'd expect, and it sustains for quite some time.

Here's to hoping we all find our afternoon breeze.

Good night, and sweet dreams.

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Thank you for all the quotes I got. I've kept track of them all, and I'll write them at some point. I'm going to do the ones that aren't related to any of my posts first, to keep some variety, but I promise to get to all of them.

I love and appreciate every single one of my 56 followers. Onwards and upwards!

Hey everyone!

I have no problem finding quotes, and I've got more ideas of what I'd like to write about, but I thought I'd ask for your quotes. Do you have quotes that have moved you, or you'd like to see my thoughts on?

Feel free to keep the quote to yourself if it has a deeply personal meaning for you, and you'd rather not know what I think about it. I understand completely. If you think I should just keep going as I have been, choosing quotes that strike me or fit the situation, I'm planning to do that anyways, so don't worry.

I'd like to thank you all so much for your support and kind words. It means more than I can explain, and it motivates me to continue to share this with you all.

See ya soon!