Musings Of A Wordsmith

Well I commonly tell one of my friends, “I want you to keep the promises you make to yourself.” Apt, I think with many of us having made New Years resolutions and promised to ourselves we would, loose weight, or call our family more, or whatever we felt strongly about when we decided to make a pact with ourselves.

No one knows how incredible you can be if you let go of the things holding you back. You don’t know what you can achieve if you leave just one thing behind you that you no longer need. I don’t know. But I’m willing to wager that you will become magnificent.

However that need not be a thing we reserve for the year’s end. We always work hard for the future, we always suffer through dark times and we always pray that the future will be bountiful. So we can always celebrate the good times of the past, our hopes for the future and the wonder brought by loving family and friends.

However I know that were I to confide in my loved ones they would tell me to let go of these malicious feelings. I know this because I tell them the same thing when they confide such pain in me.

The conversations we had were a long time coming and mostly consisted of my friend pushing me to do more and expand my horizons, as all good friends do. She wants the best of me and it is helpful to have people in your life that will edge you toward greatness. Or at least edge you toward better.

And remember you have an amazing amount of control over your experiences. Look ahead to the future not just to consequence and malady but to joy and prosperity. What can I do now that will empower me here and fulfill me there?

Go Vote!

What is “the pain we choose”. A great deal of our own well being is in the decisions we make. It is easy to recognize this when we talk about the drugs we take, the food we consume, or the exercises we perform. Less obvious when we think about the positions we take, information we consume, or the control we fail to exercise.

We like to say those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, which may be so, but I think forgetting is worse. You forget the struggles, the sacrifice, the achievement and the wisdom won by our forbearers to create the civilization we posses now.

There is a lesson in that, both for a people and a person

This isn’t about that. I’m not saying “do not comfort your depressed friends”. This is a more tangible concern.

The other day I found myself stumped. I kept running into the same scene and hitting dead ends. Nothing I started writing, no path I created was working. Some things worked in the moment but they wouldn’t work for the project over all. It got so bad I considered simply scrapping the whole 10K word project and starting over from scratch.

Now that is a bit if a mouthful but the crux of the idea is the truth that many people fight harder for others than they do themselves. An affront they would accept if suffered personally they would not allow for others. Insert the “He asked for no pickles” meme here.

Well, what exactly do we celebrate? Ask seven Americans and you might get 4 answers. Now I am not here to tell you the right answer, I’m here to talk about my answer. And my answer is you.

But “not yet” swiftly becomes “not ever”.

So I’m not saying to throw caution to the wind and do dumb things. I’m saying to do “scary” things.

For me attempting to publish a book was scary. Maintaining the blog is scary. Asking people on dates is scary. The list goes on.

However his brother and the rest of us would not let that stop us from showing him how much we loved him and celebrating the great event.

The fact is half the time we purchase creative things based on its quality, ad half the time based on who is producing it. We create that connection with creatives, and creatives intentionally build that relationship because you are more likely to buy from someone you have a positive affiliation with. I mean — gestures vaguely at the blog.

Memories are supposed to teach us, guide us and warn us, not admonish us, belittle us, and restrain us. However if you’re anything like me, you sometimes find yourself debating, quite aggressively, with those memories. You may find yourself growing upset, angered, or sad at the recriminations levied on you by those voices.

“Six minutes!” shouted Anton, not that anyone in the lab needed him too. Everyone was compulsively checking the time as though a bomb were about to detonate. Anton had to force himself to stop pacing and clench his fists to stop trembling. Five minutes and twenty-four seconds.

“If what you’re doing isn’t working, do something else.”

As the saying goes.

On July 4th America celebrates the declaration of its independence from the British empire. The beginning of the Revolutionary War. Often, however, we forget this was not cause for celebration for the colonists. It was people come to their wits end and resigning themselves to malady and death because they saw it as the only way to gain the liberty they deserved.