“But everybody thinks
That everybody knows
About everybody else
Now now now nobody knows
Anything about themselves
Cause their all worried about everybody else yea”
~ Jack Johnson, Wasting Time
Okay, here’s a couple things to think about. What do you stand for? Who are you and how will you be remembered? It’s not mandatory to have a philosophy for life, but it definitely helps. I believe in a couple, in no particular order…save for number 1.
1) Think positively…all the time!!
2) Love entirely
3) Treat your mind & body correctly and it’ll do right by you in old age.
4) Learn something new everyday
5) You have two eyes, two ears and one mouth, therefore, listen and watch more than you speak
6) Life is to spent, not saved
7) Be absolutely comfortable in your own skin. Why try to fit in, when you’re a standout
8) Accept responsibility. Forget excuses.
This list isn’t everything, but it definitely is the building blocks. I wrote something last year, December 7th, about meeting a couple, not exchanging information and reconnecting a year later. The date came and went, unfortunately Frank couldn’t make it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t timid to see him again. Last year was a glorious time, full of excitement and boundless possibilities. While this year has been fun and I’ve gained a lot of life experience, I still feel like I’m not doing things correctly.
Life’s Philosophy
My venture isn’t to sit, but to move and be around new people. Always pushing the envelope and aspiring to new levels. Being thirty with no wife, girlfriend or kids is the optimal time to explore your inner beliefs. Some would call it a rut, but I don’t believe in that. I think I may have become complacent, so, in times like these, I retrace my steps. In an effort to propel myself forward, I read, write, reason and centre. If you’re doing your research in the wrong library, the only logical thing to do would be to search for the right place.
I watch the people I love around me questioning themselves and worrying tirelessly about their futures. It’s a bloody damper. I’m not exempt from these same musings, but I do it internally and tinker with the formula constantly to find the right balance. I quiver when I see them lamenting about things that went wrong. So, what’s the answer? Why aren’t people asking themselves this more often?
As a person with a healthy fear of success (something I’ve never admitted publicly), I still find the courage to delineate where my objectives meet my planning. I set goals and try my damnedest to secure them, if I fail, I think of some other way to clutch them. What this all boils down to is, what do you believe? What is the philosophy that governs your years, days and minutes? Most people don’t even know what they want for dinner, much less what they want for their life. While I have an overview, which changes constantly, the important thing is that I still have that blueprint. When things are detrimental to my success, I expunge them. I have no problem cutting my losses on negative aspects of my personality and you shouldn’t either. If you feel you’re gaining a spare tire around your stomach, do one of two things – exercise or live with it. If your relationship isn’t working – cut the cord or suffer, Al Bundy style. If you hate your job, don’t bitch, do something about it. There’s always choices, that’s why I’m vehemently against suicide. Stand for something or fall for anything.
I challenge you, find what your life philosophy is and abide by it. Don’t spend your time lollygagging because any moment could be your last. A girl I know said she liked the way I involved everyone, instead of intimating people. That is one of the highest compliments a person can bestow upon anyone. To be the person people want to be around is amazing. It doesn’t always work this way because I speak my mind frequently and it doesn’t always mesh with what others believe. That’s an occupational hazard though.
In conclusion, know this last tidbit of information. Being rich doesn’t equate to happiness. Working for the weekend may be your reality, but it makes you an automaton. If you resist trying new things, you’ll always be missing the opportunity to love something new.
This video is from one of my favourite bloggers who has a similar theory on life and actually sparked the inception for this blog. Look it up, ooamerica. Enjoy, peace and love.
Carpe Diem Que
Too Deep for an Intro
8 FebWell, yes, ma’am, I do… I mean, I got everything I need right here with me. I got air in my lungs, a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what’s gonna happen or, who I’m gonna meet, where I’m gonna wind up. Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. I figure life’s a gift and I don’t intend on wasting it. You don’t know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you… to make each day count.
~ Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCarpio), Titantic (1997)
We recognize the world, although now–not only because we have emerged from a dream–we look on it with new eyes. We are offered a new style that is thoroughly of this world, that celebrates the mundane. This new world of objects is still alien to the current idea of Realism. It employs various techniques that endow all things with a deeper meaning and reveal mysteries that always threaten the secure tranquility of simple and ingenuous things. This [art offers a] calm admiration of the magic of being, of the discovery that things already have their own faces, [this] means that the ground in which the most diverse ideas in the world can take root has been reconquered–albeit in new ways. For the new art it is a question of representing before our eyes, in an intuitive way, the fact, the interior figure, of the exterior world. (Franz Roh, Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism (1925).Magical Realism. Ed. L. P. Zamora and W. B. Faris. Durham: Duke UP, 1995. p. 15-32.)
I have a propensity to pull the trigger when something is presented. Decisive movements in the face of options is what luck is all about. Luck being defined as opportunity meeting preparedness. I believe a person makes their own luck. With this said, I decided to pull the trigger and move out on my own. The actions needed to execute the list was in the balance. This has been the reason for my sudden absence on the blogisphere. If last year was a year to strengthen my psyche and become more dominant within my skin. This year is the year for breaking down the walls. January, my journey went public. February, I’m out in the world (…once again!), for good this time.
I’ve been playing a tug-of-war battle in my mind with how I want to proceed with the blog. Sometimes I believe this is more preachy and relationship based than I intended. In the days since my last post, I’ve come to grips with the fact this is a lifestyle blog and more importantly than that, it’s about my lifestyle. After all, I can only speak for myself, right?
I don’t know if I wholly believe in the first quote. Waking up and planning your day by the seam of your pants is a great experience… for vacation. Planning for the future and preparing yourself thoroughly for whatever opportunity arrives must be viewed as the Right Bauer (yes, I’m an excellent euchre player). I have two friends whom I consult with on almost all my meteoric life events and the day-to-day mundane. These men are more like brothers than friends. I have been in concert with both frequently over the last two weeks. Our lives are chaotic and stapling time down for a life conference is difficult, but we do what we can. I can always count my adopted brothers to splash water on my ideas or at least temper them with a dose of the opposite side. I respect this because most people are either stewing in sour grapes or complete “yes men”. It takes a certain type of person to listen to criticize, let it marinate and devise a plan. I’ve often been credited with seeing the end, but the journey throughout is opaque with mist.
Two Roads diverged…
Between the both of them, stern lessons in the ’48 Laws of Power’ I’ve carefully mapped out how I want to attack this year. It’s a path, it may change, but the important thing is that it’s put down. If ever you question what your path for a given task will be, pen it on paper so it’s tangible and then plot accordingly.
Magical realism, I heard this term for the first time last week and it’s curious how I’ve watched many films under this subheading, but have never known the term. This term to me is the equivalent of a protagonist being yanked from the ordinary world and dropped into a new experience where they’re faced with choices. This is the exact mission I’m on. I’m dreamed about my first day in my apartment, just sitting there like “what now?”. I don’t dwell on it, but I understand one thing, things will change. In meshing with my beliefs, I believe it will change for the better. So, I attack it.
So. What now?
Well, I said I’ve made a concerted effort to not speak before something was accomplished and I’m going to continue along that path. I can say that when I move in, I will not be sitting around and basking in my independence. It’s an exciting time, yes, but not a time for lollygagging. I’m here to make waves and so should you. While most of the “resolution tourists” have long since given up on their statements (allowing me more freedom at the gym), you and I still continue to mush on. Find a path, if the end is what you envision, plot the way to make it there. Make it count, the hands of time don’t go in reverse.
Carpe Diem Que