Sunday, November 25, 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
everyone, everywhere
What if everything you said was heard by everyone, everywhere?
And it was heard not through a barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world but rather told to all like a barely audible secret.
Would that change the way we speak if we knew this happened?
What if this was the case: your words bounce off of audible mirrors reflecting off of other mirrors eventually and inevitably circling back to the ears of the person you are talking about. Or the words come to the ears of that person who you secretly love but you only have the courage to talk about her to everyone else but her.
Think about it: everything always comes around, full circle, in the end. I suppose, at the end of the day, I am proposing an adjustment in lifestyle because everything you do all the time and everything you say effects everyone, everywhere. I am always so self-conscious to be with a group of people and right when two people of the group leave, the remaining folks start talking shit about those two who just left--what happens when I leave the room?!? Jesus! Do they talk smack about me when I am not here? What a terrible feeling.
[Again: are these insecurities that we point out in others merely insecurities that we hold within our own selves?]
What would happen if we just talked to people about how we felt? There would be so much more truth & honesty. Why don't we do this? Because of fear? Fear of being rejected, fear of failure, fear of being the odd kid in the room who doesn't quietly glide by to societal norms?
I don't know about you but a big fear of mine quickly takes form of a regret and that is the fear of not having taken a risk and yet seeing the opportunity pass directly in front of my eyes. Ah! How terrible! A missed opportunity! I regret it instantly!
Hopefully this is food for further thought: What if everything you said was heard by everyone, everywhere?
And it was heard not through a barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world but rather told to all like a barely audible secret.
Would that change the way we speak if we knew this happened?
What if this was the case: your words bounce off of audible mirrors reflecting off of other mirrors eventually and inevitably circling back to the ears of the person you are talking about. Or the words come to the ears of that person who you secretly love but you only have the courage to talk about her to everyone else but her.
Think about it: everything always comes around, full circle, in the end. I suppose, at the end of the day, I am proposing an adjustment in lifestyle because everything you do all the time and everything you say effects everyone, everywhere. I am always so self-conscious to be with a group of people and right when two people of the group leave, the remaining folks start talking shit about those two who just left--what happens when I leave the room?!? Jesus! Do they talk smack about me when I am not here? What a terrible feeling.
[Again: are these insecurities that we point out in others merely insecurities that we hold within our own selves?]
What would happen if we just talked to people about how we felt? There would be so much more truth & honesty. Why don't we do this? Because of fear? Fear of being rejected, fear of failure, fear of being the odd kid in the room who doesn't quietly glide by to societal norms?
I don't know about you but a big fear of mine quickly takes form of a regret and that is the fear of not having taken a risk and yet seeing the opportunity pass directly in front of my eyes. Ah! How terrible! A missed opportunity! I regret it instantly!
Hopefully this is food for further thought: What if everything you said was heard by everyone, everywhere?
Follow your bliss.
Don't internalize the idea that you can't or shouldn't do something. Never limit yourself.
Teachers, bosses, and older folks typically project their unfortunate experiences of life onto us and we typically accept that experience for what life is and then we all wonder why change doesn't happen in our lives, in our country, and world (it is, of course, because we do end up listening to these sad people who tell us "no," we don't change the systems thus our worlds stay the same). These authority figure's experience is their experience and it does not have to be yours. Make your own damn experience and do whatever you want. Seriously. Be idyllic in your dreams for, as David Mamet tells us: "There is nothing more pragmatic than idealism" because ideal realities (or utopias) do not exist and are impossible therefore we will always be attaining our goals and our loves and our dreams and thusly- never giving up on them because their is always work to be done.
Listen to these authority figures and hear what they have to say but don't internalize their thoughts and methods unless those same methods help you make your own method because that's what its all about: forging your own path, as it were. Also- kindly don't assume my ideas here to be a childish hope that is disconnected from reality. This is real, people. So: you don't believe me because I am just a 20 year old college student who is too ambitious or impractical? If these are your thoughts I have two things to tell you: 1. Fuck you. 2. You don't believe me with these thoughts here? Fine. Listen to mythologist Joseph Campbell and then the awesome words of first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt:
"Follow your bliss."
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do and damned if you don't."
Teachers, bosses, and older folks typically project their unfortunate experiences of life onto us and we typically accept that experience for what life is and then we all wonder why change doesn't happen in our lives, in our country, and world (it is, of course, because we do end up listening to these sad people who tell us "no," we don't change the systems thus our worlds stay the same). These authority figure's experience is their experience and it does not have to be yours. Make your own damn experience and do whatever you want. Seriously. Be idyllic in your dreams for, as David Mamet tells us: "There is nothing more pragmatic than idealism" because ideal realities (or utopias) do not exist and are impossible therefore we will always be attaining our goals and our loves and our dreams and thusly- never giving up on them because their is always work to be done.
Listen to these authority figures and hear what they have to say but don't internalize their thoughts and methods unless those same methods help you make your own method because that's what its all about: forging your own path, as it were. Also- kindly don't assume my ideas here to be a childish hope that is disconnected from reality. This is real, people. So: you don't believe me because I am just a 20 year old college student who is too ambitious or impractical? If these are your thoughts I have two things to tell you: 1. Fuck you. 2. You don't believe me with these thoughts here? Fine. Listen to mythologist Joseph Campbell and then the awesome words of first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt:
"Follow your bliss."
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do and damned if you don't."
"You're crazy!"
Very well then. I would rather be "crazy & impractical" than "boring & normal." What about you?
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
The whole point
is that everybody has something to say. We all have a story to tell. And all too often, this idea is taken away by one's schooling. College does this particularly well. In school, both the concepts and you become generalized. This is false. The concepts are rich and you, even richer.
Yes, you have a shared experience with your classmates for 4 or 5 or 10 years and this culminates in a ceremony called Graduation. Your schooling is a shared experience with those classmates but in NO way is it the same at all. Whether you graduate from the University of Oregon, Stanford, Yale, MIT, or American River Community College-- you graduate from the college of you. Nobody sees what you see, nobody reads what you read, nobody experiences the same situations as you and nobody experiences how you experience everything. The name of a college is merely an umbrella term. The name of the school might as well change from person to person. I go to the college of Riley. Force your education to serve you and your NEEDS and NOT the other way around. Go to your college--whatever that means to you. Do that. Don't put blind trust in any system. You are not a system. You are a complex human being. A school for example, may get you a job (though they probably won't) but only you can keep that job.
Yes, you have a shared experience with your classmates for 4 or 5 or 10 years and this culminates in a ceremony called Graduation. Your schooling is a shared experience with those classmates but in NO way is it the same at all. Whether you graduate from the University of Oregon, Stanford, Yale, MIT, or American River Community College-- you graduate from the college of you. Nobody sees what you see, nobody reads what you read, nobody experiences the same situations as you and nobody experiences how you experience everything. The name of a college is merely an umbrella term. The name of the school might as well change from person to person. I go to the college of Riley. Force your education to serve you and your NEEDS and NOT the other way around. Go to your college--whatever that means to you. Do that. Don't put blind trust in any system. You are not a system. You are a complex human being. A school for example, may get you a job (though they probably won't) but only you can keep that job.
We don't grow up.
We just gain a larger vocabulary for things.
Example: saying "round" to describe something that you later come to understand as a "globe." We seriously don't grow up. Look around you. Think about it.
Age is relative.
Conventions are bullshit.
Example: saying "round" to describe something that you later come to understand as a "globe." We seriously don't grow up. Look around you. Think about it.
Age is relative.
Conventions are bullshit.
Seriously livin' the dream
There are
not enough dreamers in the world and there are too many so-called
"pragmatists." What are we but our dreams? The notion that "being a
dreamer" is ever considered a bad thing is absolute insanity to me. You are a living dream. We are our dreams. You are a dream. If you stifle dreamers' heads for being too much "in the clouds" then you need to immensely reconsider yourself, your life, and your path. Yes, you are always wrong to do this. Never stifle dreamers because, shit, you are one, you fool.
Whether you are aware of it or not, you are living a dream as we speak. Which dream is it?
You have a dream or an idea as inspiration for every miniscule thing that you do. Are you being as bold and brave and forthcoming and as helpful as you can be?
Who's dream are you living?
We are at our best when we are boldest. Go forth & conquer something today, damnit. It's time to dream. Go!
Whether you are aware of it or not, you are living a dream as we speak. Which dream is it?
You have a dream or an idea as inspiration for every miniscule thing that you do. Are you being as bold and brave and forthcoming and as helpful as you can be?
Who's dream are you living?
We are at our best when we are boldest. Go forth & conquer something today, damnit. It's time to dream. Go!
[compelling title here]
People who say they know everything about a person perpetuate boredom. You can never know everything about any one person just like you can't know everything there is to know about yourself. Knowing yourself is a never-ending process. Every single human person is unpredictable (+1,000 different and awesome adjectives).
People who say they know everything about any given person perpetuate boredom because, in the end of the day, you are not thinking of other people as so incapable of differentiation of character but you are rather thinking of yourself as boring and, damnit you just aren't. Give yourself more credit. As Whitman says, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes." You also contain multitudes. Own it. You are not just one thing. You contain at least 4 different versions of yourself but, more likely, you contain 4 billion. boom.
What I am writing here (and throughout the blog) isn't self-help bullshit. This is just true. Our actions and words all come back to what we think of ourselves.
What do you think of yourself & how do you project it on other people?
People who say they know everything about any given person perpetuate boredom because, in the end of the day, you are not thinking of other people as so incapable of differentiation of character but you are rather thinking of yourself as boring and, damnit you just aren't. Give yourself more credit. As Whitman says, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes." You also contain multitudes. Own it. You are not just one thing. You contain at least 4 different versions of yourself but, more likely, you contain 4 billion. boom.
What I am writing here (and throughout the blog) isn't self-help bullshit. This is just true. Our actions and words all come back to what we think of ourselves.
What do you think of yourself & how do you project it on other people?
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Take a minute and
constantly remind yourself of your extraordinary circumstances because, as far as I'm concerned, living is much better than the alternative. Enjoy the day.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Magic exists pt.2
This magic I am speaking of does not begin from a blinding to reality while telling yourself: "it's all right. everything is all right. Everything is happy." When, in reality, everything may not be so happy at that particular moment. I am not talking about this crazy type of person who blinds themselves against the world but rather I am talking about growth in your sense of observation. While looking at a hat, you observe the number of stitches and tiny nuances that went into it and you do not merely see the outline of a hat. You look at your thumb and you see the tiny nuances of your thumb print, the tiny things that make you you and not merely just an outline of a human being.
Ya dig?
Magic can be real if you let it. Let it.
Ya dig?
Magic can be real if you let it. Let it.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Magic can be real.
There are no simple things.
We, as individuals, make things what they are. We make them common or magical.
Take time to marvel at things. Don't be afraid to wonder at the magical tendencies of a hat.
How marvelous. Seriously.
In short, things are so much cooler than we say they are, damnit!
Give the inventions of shoes, shoe-laces, tables, chairs, books, electricity, and hand-soap more credit.
If you want your life to be [enter word here] then make the conscious choice to let it be that and accept nothing less from yourself and the people around you. You choose what you are, no matter the circumstances. There are always choices. You are never stuck. Go- and never say "never" unless you're telling someone "never complain again" because, as far as I am concerned, living is far better than the alternative so shut up about your damn iPod being broken and check your pulse for God's sake- you have a beating heart. Fuck. Go live already.
There is magic to be had.
We, as individuals, make things what they are. We make them common or magical.
Take time to marvel at things. Don't be afraid to wonder at the magical tendencies of a hat.
How marvelous. Seriously.
In short, things are so much cooler than we say they are, damnit!
Give the inventions of shoes, shoe-laces, tables, chairs, books, electricity, and hand-soap more credit.
If you want your life to be [enter word here] then make the conscious choice to let it be that and accept nothing less from yourself and the people around you. You choose what you are, no matter the circumstances. There are always choices. You are never stuck. Go- and never say "never" unless you're telling someone "never complain again" because, as far as I am concerned, living is far better than the alternative so shut up about your damn iPod being broken and check your pulse for God's sake- you have a beating heart. Fuck. Go live already.
There is magic to be had.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
The most disgusting
sentence I have ever heard was while I living in the dormitories at the University of Oregon's campus in Eugene during the winter of 2010. It was the weekend. I am outside of my dorm with a few friends throwing a football around and a very drunk man wearing fraternity letters comes up to our dorm's door and starts knocking on it with his fist and I ask him: "Can I help you?" It looked like he was trying to get into our dorm, being very loud. He responds:
"I'm trollin' for dorm puss."
Golly. The way we court one another sure has changed!
"I'm trollin' for dorm puss."
Golly. The way we court one another sure has changed!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Don't tell people to calm down.
In my experience, it only has the adverse effect and is therefore a waste of your time to call them that. And these so-called furious people are usually onto something grand: a big thought that will change the course of things. Let people be angry if they must.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The Eiffel Tower,
the Taj Majal, the Tower of London, and the Golden Gate Bridge were not created out of a stress-dream. They were created from a dream of inspiration, motivation, beauty, and an apparent need. And the work follows suit after the dream. But the work does not have to be stressful or full of pain. It can truly be a joyful process. Not joyful in the idea of rainbows and ponies, no. But an idea that you are a construction worker, for example, working on the Golden Gate Bridge and you know that you are part of something bigger than yourself. What an honor. There is joy and honor to be found in all work.
I hate the old adage "It's called work for a reason." Fuck that. I am in the business of theater and theater is so much WORK but the culmination of this work, we call a PLAY. There is wisdom in the vocabulary of the stage. We are most motivated by positive stimuli, not negative. So why do we constantly pull one another down?
Why do we make it so hard on ourselves to see the good in things? Why can't we say what we enjoyed about something before we say what we despised?
Why are we, apparently by nature, such negative creatures? How do we change this? Is it possible?
I hate the old adage "It's called work for a reason." Fuck that. I am in the business of theater and theater is so much WORK but the culmination of this work, we call a PLAY. There is wisdom in the vocabulary of the stage. We are most motivated by positive stimuli, not negative. So why do we constantly pull one another down?
Why do we make it so hard on ourselves to see the good in things? Why can't we say what we enjoyed about something before we say what we despised?
Why are we, apparently by nature, such negative creatures? How do we change this? Is it possible?
Saturday, November 3, 2012
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