Singular Thinking

Perhaps a major problem is we see the world as a single point of reference. We have the illusion that we’re constantly one perspective and all the information we take in throughout our lives either continues to confirm our beliefs of the world or alters them. The point being we’re stuck inside of this singular ego and measuring many things as a single point, especially people. Before I lose you, consider the continued praise of someone like Steve Jobs, there is no Steve Jobs, Apple without Steve Wozniak but he’s not the only one. There were teams of people, communities of folks, families, teachers, peers, foods, and culture that shaped such an icon but we don’t want to praise those things we want to look at this one architect of success. We want to imagine one visionary creating a distortion reality field that was completely their own. This very short example is just one point and narrative that I think defines our cultural viewpoint of reality which is horribly misrepresentative of true facts. Imagine a culture that held the collective to the standard that we hold icons, leaders, and even technological breakthroughs. It is never a single that makes anything great but the grouping of parts that creates something beautiful. Life is only grand as a collection. Our bodies are only marvelous when all our pieces come together and function to create a sense of ourselves. Can we start honoring multiples and not singulars? If so, I think more people would be proud of their place in the world and we would care to reach out to others and lend our natural talents.

Modern-day Comparisons

It is almost impossible to not look at people’s lives and not see the narrative behind them and even harder to predict where they’ll be heading. We think of ourselves as more flexible than the others around us, we don’t have the mental energy to give accurate predictions of people, our mind likes to take shortcuts. You never know where people will go. Those that are failing now could become a great ally, lover, a friend in the future. Projections of being caught in a lifelong cycle of pain or brilliance are often wrong, there will be a few folks that get those dice rolls given the 7.6 billion people the odds are there but very very few will have a life of such consistency. Don’t strive to be the .001% on the “brilliance” side, that’s just a hard measure to put on yourself. Aim for small progress every day and compound that against lengthy timeframes and you’ll be in that present moment in a blink. After all, life is short but moments are forever.

Game of Life

Life is a quest of infinite games with an unknown end time. Anything we start, we begin with 0 points of experience but it’s the time we put in that changes the levels and opens the layers. Play the games you want to play, don’t waste time elsewhere and try not to take it too serious, all the prizes disappear eventually.

Time & Place

While a building is being constructed and you visually see it every day, it can seem like there is little progress. Then one day it may strike you that sooner than later that building will stand. Finally as if by magic you can’t remember the city without that building there, while those who never witnessed the construction assume it had been there for years. This is the same for your story, you see the foundation placed, you see the daily bricklaying, you see the holes in the wall and different colors of paint, even the colors you hate. A few people in your life will be close enough to see most of the progress but not all of it, so they won’t truly understand and then there are the people that show up once you’re finished with your current aspiration and think, you’ve always been that way. They didn’t see the ugly plot of land you once were, the rubble from the last building you had to knock down to build back up. Not everyone’s perception of you is the same, some of the struggles you know might hold you back, while others who see the completed work give you the extra confidence to push through because all they see is you can complete something. Life is a balance of managing your internal knowledge and the knowledge of those around you but realizing where their perception and your perception is coming from is a major key.

Fall In and Go

Far too often the human conditions have us trained to delay going after what we really want because you really want it, there is a fear factor there. Scared of being denied, ridiculed, tossed aside, loss of respect, amongst other things. Well, you don’t want to live a life of regret, but that doesn’t mean everything is smooth and sweet once you choose that path. You’d be wrong to think the ambition to change direction will open a stream of ease, but when you gain those moments you win, the times you look back and realize your best moments are forever etched in time and that can’t be taken away. So, I say attempt those things that scare you, because they excite you. Talk to the people you’re afraid will turn you down because the one that doesn’t, they will bring you so much life. Start that project that has been collecting dust and watch it form. You should do it for the love of yourself and the love of your life. Fallinandgo

More Than One

We’re not one being, we have 37 trillion cells living, working, creating and regenerating to make our human-machine run. The complexity of our lives is beyond extreme but then at times, it seems so simple. We look at each other and believe we understand, we know what will happen, how we’ll act, who we can trust and who we should stay away from. The longer we go on our perspective shifts, our opinions change our assumptions become pressed to shift. It’s all so subtle and all so instant. How do we keep things simple in such a complex world?

Loss of Community

Modern life is destroying our sense of community and tribes. Self-reliance is a pinnacle point for us in the States but this is causing more depression than any previous time. Where is our purpose? Where are our meanings? Social beings, so connected on the surface but deeply we’re starving for a true purpose. Sadly, we await a tragic event to bond us by force. Communities thrive together in disaster but should we be awaiting these moments? Will we ever stop this slide away from our biological need? Will we be free to be human beings and not cogs in an economic machine?

Reflections on Time

I’m only here for a blink, yet at times, it seems as if I’m never moving. There is no growth, there is no nutrition for the soul and then as if by chance, I can look back and see how far I’ve come. How far away I am from those moments that seemed eternal. Yet, here I am, stuck in this moment. A moment with an ever-changing past and an unknown future but certainly a future that will end. Where do I place my values in a life like this? What is it that I really should hold onto or should I be holding on at all? If I do not hold on, does that make me indifferent to the wonders of this life? What a mystery, we’re in. It breaks my heart that we have such a need for an answer. Or perhaps my heart is broken because I don’t believe we have an answer. We only hold cards that lead us to believe we do. Life is a game of Clue.

Love & Hate

1+1 = You / Us – We hate ourselves while the same day, we love ourselves. Disappointed and encouraged. Own yourself and who you really are. Whether it’s the way you wear your socks, laugh during awkward moments or put an outfit together. You’re a unique creative and no one does it like you.

Not What it Seems

All one has to do is look slightly past the curtain of humanity, to see how strange everything truly is.

Internal, External Lives

Perhaps we lose ourselves the moment we realize we keep secrets from the world. We begin to operate as two, our external and our internal being. Starting the journey of life trying to make sense of the two. Heartbroken because we can’t fully express who we are inside. Fires that burn inside that are put out by the cold hard factual world. Is this what we call the spirit?

On Procrastination

Don’t go insane about procrastination. Martin Luther King was up until 3 am writing his I have a dream speech. 11 minutes before he spoke he was still making edits and when he gave the speech he spoke four words that would change the world – I Have A Dream. Those words were never written into the speech, but being open to change until the last minute changed history. Leonardo da Vinci took 16 years to paint the Mona Lisa. He thought he was a failure, written in his journal. But the delays allowed him to develop new lighting techniques that shaped the masterpiece. So remember don’t drive yourself insane from your procrastination habits.

Long-term Relationships

If you get into a long-term relationship with someone you have to consider the long-term ventures you both sign up for – a Top 5 list is 1. The Domestic issue, how will you get along over the long-term 2. The Business issue, how will you integrate your economic and productive life 3. The Romantic issue 4. The Adventure issue 5. The Spiritual issue – all of these things need to be thought out and in a sense for yourself before you introduce another person into that equation. Partnerships are long term and it’s best to at least have a bad plan rather than not having a plan. And remember the longest relationship you have is with yourself.