being reproductive

So I'm reading some bulletin board on another site and some poster is going on and on about how you can't be a designer if you aren't able to put your ideas down on paper first. Well I, and a number of other people, know that isn't true and I could give lots of examples but I chose to give only one because that one was enough. My one example was Harry Miller who thought of building this car and many more.

"The simple truth is that designers are of two kinds, the creative and the reproductive." wrote L.J.K. Setright, one of my favorite authors. The reproductive among us simply apply ideas that have already been thought of, the creative are the ones who did the thinking.

We all benefit, as long as we are smart enough to take the knowledge that is at our disposal and use it. So if you are facing change or want to make a change don't bother trying to work everything out on your own. What you need is already available, spend a little time finding it, put it to use and make the changes that you want.

a sense of value

You should read my last post before you read this one because I am stuck on the same subject for the moment.

When I think of value I am thinking of what an object or a person can deliver. Just a moment ago I remembered that not everyone thinks like me and that someone, the buyer of the car perhaps, might measure value differently. In fact there might be even more ways to measure value so feel free to let me know of them, not that I would agree though.

Anyway it occurs to me that you could measure value not in what the object delivers but in what it says it will deliver. I suppose this is what advertising is all about!

The car in question seems to me to be neither particularly significant nor highly desirable, but it is (now) a 3.24 million dollar car and that is where its value now lies. This is somewhat like making a choice between your average but capable American boy and some young English duke for a job at the firm. One appears to be more impressive than the other, if that sort of thing impresses you.

Here is another fine example that I must include. If you are interested in guitar then you know that Fender is a top brand name. Fender sells a number of different lines but for this example we will consider the American made line and the Mexican made line. Let's say you want a Telecaster and you are looking at the various combinations available in the local store. You find 2 that are nearly alike, one made in the USA and one made in Mexico and, except for the price, you don't see anything different about them. You just know that the USA model is better, don't you? That is the value of that guitar, it was made in the USA. The thing is that it has been suggested that the American guitars are made by Mexicans in America versus the Mexican guitars being made by Mexicans in Mexico. But it is still American made, right?

So value comes down to delivery. Are you someone who wants the delivery to be in use over time or do you take delivery right up front because of name or recognition?

cost and value wage titanic struggle

This 1954 GM show car which never resulted in anything was hyped to good effect recently and sold for an incredible 3.24 million dollars on Saturday.

It is an Oldsmobile F-88 and it is said that there are 2 more surviving examples. It bears a strong resemblance to the 1953 Corvette which did result in something.

This is a car that most people don’t even know about much less lust after. Nevertheless some people think that it is worth over 3 million dollars.

And that is the difference between cost and value.

It is costing someone 3.24 million dollars and he would argue that it is a good value. I would have to disagree.

Since it is relatively unknown it cannot draw many people to his museum.

Since it is 50 years old it cannot deliver performance like a modern sports car.

Since Oldsmobile did not follow up on the car with a production model it has no great historical value, it is just another show car from GM.

To be a good value something or someone has to deliver more than another choice that is relatively the same cost.

Cost is just what we pay for something.

Value is the return on the investment.

This is a little bit of arithmetic that most of us only perceive after the fact, if at all. The result of this tardiness ranges from failed marriages to bankruptcy, from bad deals on new cars to closets full of unused items, from unread books to unused exercise machines.

A perception of value is driven by factors other than logic and the result is cost.

In Arizona this week at the Barrett Jackson battleground cost and value are fighting it out in their never ending struggle.

my creative older brother

My creative older brother has been tinkering with gadgets for some time now. He has finally brought a number of them together and created a music video with his better half.

Take particular notice of the lyrics.Make sure the sound is turned on and click here.

This inspires me and I think I will take my digital camera out for a ride tomorrow.

the dog

Live loyally today - grow - and tomorrow will attend to itself.

How does my dog know this? For little Snickers it is true, I am there for her, for the rest of our lives.

Loyalty: (1) unswerving in allegiance: constant and faithful in any relation or obligation implying trust, confidence, or care; (2) the willing bond of the self to a cause, leader, or friend.

The parental quality is that one cannot help but be loyal to what is held in faith. But faith is a fragile thing, it lives both within and without a person, and each needs the other to exist. I cannot help but think of The Oracle at Delphi, pilgrims came for two thousand years, guided by their faith. The supplicant had as valid a religious experience then as anyone has today, but the faith and the faithful both disappeared in time.

And so it goes.

What happens to the faithful servant when he reaches the top of the hill and the oracle is gone? For some, faith vanishes in an instant, for others, faith remains unshaken, and for this supplicant, there are no regrets for works of faith in the past. However when you realize that you are on a road that has no outlet it is time to consider another direction.

Be not loyal to a map that is false. The ideal of loyalty is eventually spoiled if what you are loyal to is focused on selfishness.

We are all loyal to many things, and since this is a human condition that to which we are loyal may take our talents for granted. When we realize this it is a test of faith. You do not fail the test if you must move your faith elsewhere.

When you go, your dog will follow.

it's magic!

When I got to work today I found out that a guy there is going to Brazil next year on a church mission. So I asked him if he was studying Spanish, that's just my way of being funny.

That's called a misdirection, it's what magicians do. For links to articles about magic and misdirection you can check out the Misdirection Resource Center.

Of greater interest for the general theme of my articles is a page at Quackwatch.
More Ploys That May Fool You

Now this page has many of the phrases used by people who want to get your money. What might be said to you to convince you that you need to buy what they are selling.

I think many of us use some of these same phrases, and ones like them, on ourselves. "Think Positive" is on the Quackwatch page and I am a fan of that, but I always qualify the idea as not being one that will solely by itself carry the day.

Since I don't want this piece to run long I will finish by saying that you should be aware of what is said to you, because someone is trying to fool you, and you should be aware of what you say to yourself, for the same reason.

sweet lens

I have a Zeiss Ikon Contax llla made in 1950.
It is a mechanical marvel.

The normal lens, technically, is not as good as most run of the mill SLR lenses you can buy today. A lens is a mathematical thing and today’s lenses are designed on computers whereas they used to be designed by hand. Slide rules served as the best tool for calculations and funds for optical research were harder to come by. Experience played a bigger role.

Today they can design lenses that are noticeably sharper and have few if any optical flaws.

So why take pictures with a 55 year old camera? Because the lens has something that cannot be designed into a new lens. The lens has character.

I am always surprised at how much I like many of the pictures I take with this Contax. A picture might lack something in sharpness but makes up for it with character.

Your results do not need to be perfect. They are often better if they show character.

painting pictures

Most of us are visually oriented. We see things as our frame of reference in this world. We can do a great job of seeing things in our mind even when we can't translate that to a piece of paper.

To change you need to paint a picture of what you would like to be.

There is more to this than dreaming about want you want to have.

You can always start small. Paint a picture of what you want to be in some small part of your life, but try to make it a moving picture. You see if you want to change something not only do you need to know the destination but you also need to know how you got there.

It doesn't just happen. You can't just be positive about something and expect it to come true. On the other hand you do have to be positive that it will come true.

Why not write about that small picture of yourself right now in the comment section? You don't have to identify yourself.

The way to reach a goal is to set a goal. Do you see what I mean?

knowing what you're going to do

Knowing what you are going to do in all cases is probably impossible.

You certainly know what you would like to do when considering something that will or might happen. But that is not the same as knowing.

There is no reason to be bothered by this state of affairs. Do the best you can in life and you will be as well prepared as anyone. Spending a lot of time worrying or preparing for something that might never happen is a complete waste of time.

Having many interests may be one of the best ways to prepare for anything. If you frequently challenge your mind and body they will respond and you will be better prepared to respond.

I've watched all of the NFL playoffs and I am picking New England to win the big prize. I think they are better prepared than Philadelphia. I really do like the Eagles better but they will need to have their best players rise to the occasion in ways that they might not be able to. If only the whole team was better prepared.

prepare yourself

A prescription for success.

Prepare yourself.

If something is important to you than prepare for it. Time spent in advance getting ready is time well spent.

There comes a time when getting by isn't good enough. Why short change yourself?

Spend a little time planning, successful people do, because it works.

Do the stuff that works.

the short of it

A study carried out by Cornell University psychology professor David Dunning concluded that incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent, and actually are more confident that they know what they are doing than competent people. The researchers said that the reason incompetent people do not recognize their own incompetence is because the cognitive skills required to be competent are the same required to recognize competence. Are you following this? If you think you are it could be because you're too incompetent to realize that you don't understand what you just read.

New York Times

And the long of it can be found here.

Justin Kruger & David Dunning. Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, December 1999 Vol. 77, No. 6, 1121-1134.

stop for lunch

In 1984 I road my Honda CBX out west, visited relatives, went to the Olympics.

On the 3rd day of the trip I stopped in some town in Colorado for lunch. I was making time that day so lunch was going to be snacks at a convenience store.

While leaning on my bike in the parking lot eating some yogurt 2 bikes pulled in beside me.

Now these were real bikers, not the kind of people you see today all dressed up and playing make believe. These fellows were the real deal, true old time bikers. One was on a black pan head and the other had a red Indian. How many guys are left that still ride original Indians for transportation?

We talked about what we were doing, me about my trip on my bright shiny silver six cylinders in a row liter bike and them about their ride into New Mexico for a biker wedding and annual rousting by state troopers.

Some of the nicest fellows I met on the whole trip.

While we were talking a Pinto pulled in behind these guys. The lady got out, reached back in and locked the door that was near the bikers and pulled her 2 kids out of the driver’s door. She had a worried look on her face. She was afraid of us.

In that moment I became aware of 2 realities. The reality of some strangers running into each other and being friendly because they recognized the bond of a common interest, and the reality of someone who saw motorcycles as a sign of danger.

Those boys went their way and I went mine, west, down a road that was 90 miles long with no intersections, and a million yellow butterflies.

good ideas sometimes aren't

Seemed like a good idea at the time, and it probably was.

We all have lots of good ideas. Governments and companies of all sizes have good ideas.

Unfortunately most good ideas don't end up being all that good after all.

There is nothing wrong with that. You learn a little or a lot from it, you recover and your next good idea is tempered by the experience.

Good ideas are not just the ones that work out, they are also the ones that produce any different result than anticipated.

I am writing about this because I thought I had a good idea with my previous post, 'the prepared mind.' However I don't think it is all that good now. I don't think I produced the result I wanted. I don't think it conveyed the idea intended.

That last post should be written again but I will let that wait for another day.

What is really important is that when you have a good idea you should execute it in some way. I find that mulling things over in conversation is an excellent developer of ideas. Conversation draws the lines more clearly around an idea, it gives it more substance.

Be sure to talk about some of your ideas whenever you can, it can be like the knock of opportunity at your door.

the prepared mind

The only things we are well prepared for are the things that we are most familiar with.

Everything else is a challenge.

As long as you stay inside your zone of the familiar your ready and able to handle whatever life throws at you. When you step into something new and find yourself without appropriate skill sets it is not only challenging but also frightening. Going into a new area voluntarily is one thing but the unexpected cannot be prepared for.

If you are prepared to fall back on basic skills of logic and evaluation you will be able to work through new challenges. Perhaps the best way to prepare is to seek out challenging new tasks as a habit.

Is there something you have always wanted to do? I'm not talking about travel, I'm talking about actually doing something. Don't let your life slip by without doing it, do it as soon as you can.

Always challenging the mind is the best preparation for the unexpected.

if it doesn't seem right

Got home about midnight from work and noticed that the Jack Johnson documentary would be on at 1 A.M. Stayed up and watched it, took my little dog out side at 3 (I always go with her) and she started barking. Across the bridge from me, about 75 yards away, we could see 2 men walking.

Now that didn't seem right, not only was it 3 in the morning but it was also 0 degrees outside. Not the time or the place for a walk. I scooted Snickers back inside.

When you feel something isn't right, go with your feelings.

A while later there is a pounding on the front door. There's a guy outside saying that he was just robbed and needs help! He doesn't have a coat on, I don't know him and I don't know where he came from.

I called the sheriff for him but I wouldn't let him in. There are a couple of other people in the house who cannot fend for themselves.

It was, or it felt like, a long wait. I live on the last road in the county.

A deputy finally showed up and I went outside at a different door. This poor fellow really was robbed (he could have been a robber himself using a simple ploy to get in.) The 2 men I saw earlier had gotten in the nearby VFW and surprised him, held a gun to his head, but he bolted and came straight to my house. They had followed but kept going.

Our instincts still work. We just aren't in touch with them as well as we could be. When you feel that you should or shouldn't be doing something, pay attention to your instincts.

I talked to the victim outside. I was full of remorse for not being able to let him in. My instinct was to apologize profusely, which I did.

insulated

Every night, I work outdoors.

Just for a short time. Out the door I go.

Usually my simple hooded sweatshirt suffices for insulation. But with a good dose of arctic air sitting over Ohio, it was sweatshirt and coat night.

I insulated myself from the cold, from what I didn't want, and for the heat, what I did want.

We don't really need coats to do that do we?

To keep out what we don't want and to keep in what we do want? Comes naturally for all of us. There is an easy example I might use but it is banned from my blog. Too polarizing. Too obvious.

Many of us only want to hear that which supports our point of view. If that is all you are willing to listen to then expect your point of view to narrow.

Many of us experience actual discomfort if we have to listen to something besides our own opinions. We wish to remain insulated from the world.

Change can be painful. But if you are not happy with your lot in life than you must choose to change. The world will not change for you.

shooters

Snapshots are often quite horrible things.

They just aren't pretty pictures.

A snapshot serves its purpose of capturing a moment in time, of recording the presence of people either in the image or at a place. However they also let us down because the snap shooter can only take snapshots.

And a snapshot is not as good as a photograph.

I define a photograph narrowly as a work of art created by an artist.

In photography to become an artist you must first become a shooter.

A shooter takes lots of pictures and here is how to do it. Take one reliable camera mix in a lot of film, shoot lots of pictures, have every frame printed and look at every one of them. Assuming that you already know the difference between a snapshot and a picture you will find, somewhere in your first 100 or so pictures, a couple of good ones. Then you do it all over again.

When you aren't doing this go to the library and look at all of the pictures in all of the books in the art and photography section.

With much practice you will notice that you see things differently. You will find more and more good pictures.

Then you are on your way to being a photographer.

It is a good plan for being on the way to anything. Practice, evaluate, practice, evaluate, get results.

rewrites

So far, I've written most of my articles pretty much on the fly. Typed it all out at once, did a little bit of editing, changed something here and there and posted it.

If I was writing my great novel I would be a bit fussier. I would write and rewrite until I was really happy with it.

There was a recent article that I posted and then had doubts about. I did a rewrite and it is nothing at all like the mess it was originally.

You see you can almost always go back. You do not have to live with a carelessly written script in your life. If you do not like how things are going then start doing some rewrites. There is no shame in having a pencil with an eraser on it. Start by doing one scene at a time.

You are writing your own story as you go along.

flat tire

My favorite bike has a flat tire.

Not that it matters much, it's 20 degrees outside so I'm not taking it for a ride anyway.

But it has had a flat tire for quite some time now.

In a way, the flat tire is very useful, it contributes to the reasons I need not to go for a ride.

So the flat tire becomes an item in my collection.

We all collect things. I've collected many things and I need to start selling them off.

But I also have collections that can't be sold. The flat tire is in my huge collection of excuses. These excuses are a personal thing, I don't often give them to other people, but I use some almost everyday. They are all small, unoriginal and insurmountable. They are little locks keeping me from opening the doors to my own potential.

But at least I am aware of them. That is, I think, a far better condition to live with than most people.

Most people are not aware of their own collection of excuses. That condition can only result in frustration.

Collections are always in need of organizing and I am going to start work on my excuses right away. Each time I use one I will stop and catalog it. Give it a name. Record its purpose.

Yes, all excuses have a purpose. An excuse is a small reason preventing a big improvement.

Do you have a collection like mine?

every man should own a great car

It's a maxim to live by.

Every man should own a great car.

What about good cars? You probably have one of those already. A good car does many things well. It is comfortable, efficient and useful. Anywhere, any weather, the good car will see you through. You don’t mind putting stuff in it and you don’t mind leaving stuff in it. It is a comfortable fit.

A great car may not be a good car.

A great car will go while a good car will merely go along.

You will feel different in a great car while you might not feel anything at all in a good car.

The low production exotic car makers produce great cars. Well, I’ll qualify that by saying that they do it more often than not. They have produced some duds along the way.

On the other end of the spectrum are guys working out of their own garages. There are tens of thousands of hot rods and street machines and a few of them are great cars.

The most likely place to find a great car is to look for a Corvette or a Porsche 911. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that all of them are great, it depends on what options were picked when the car was ordered. A few of them are great and the rest are near greats basking in the light of this greatness.

Since a car is not judged great by the standards of our times, but by the standards of the times in which it was built you can look at a Jaguar XK 120 for greatness. They are all over 50 years old now and many new cars will show them their heels but I want one even now.

Stop fooling around and set a goal for yourself to own a great car in your lifetime.

(Just don’t sell the good car, you’ll probably need it.)

mechanics

"The functional and technical aspects of an activity."

Learning to do anything?

If you are then you are learning the mechanics of the subject.

The mechanics can be taught to just about anyone. The student becomes skilled at the activity.

But this is only half of the story. The other half has to do with the nature of the student.

Some of us have a feeling, a talent, that the rest of us don't have.

You have seen it. Someone who plays the guitar, knows all the chords, but just isn't that interesting. Someone who works in wood, makes fine cabinets and furniture, but they just don't look quite right.
Maybe it is a person who works on your car. He replaces the broken parts but doesn't know how to give it that little tweak that makes everything feel right.

The mechanics are easy to teach and easy to learn but it is this intrisnic skill we look for in a person when we want something done.

If you are interested in hot rods or custom bikes you might know about this. The builders with this talent are the ones who get their work featured in the magazines.

It is this talent that separates the craftsman from the mechanic .

on the fly

The heck with my pages of notes in Word, I'm writing this one on the fly. Taking my own advice and letting the words tumble down.

It isn't a hard thing to do. Not hard at all.

Not much different than the way so many of us live our lives. Get in a groove and hold on. Can't be bothered with thinking of the next thing to do when I'm trying to work out the last thing to do.

Endless string of uncompleted ideas. Always something to do on the house. Always something to do for the kids. Always something to do for someone or something. Doesn't anyone or anything become independent anymore?

If you were young again would you choose to create a small tribe of dependents? Have you ever, and I do mean ever, been neither dependent nor depended on?

I can't imagine. Wouldn't know what to do. That is something like freedom. We talk about it but we don't really have it.

Freedom is not being entangled in dependencies. Freedom is not being attached to anything or anyone. Absolute freedom is not something most of us would choose and if we did it probably would only be temporary.

It would be, however, a great experience. It would place demands on us that we would not find otherwise.

It might be scary to have a mortgage but it is a shared kind of experience. If you were completely free you would be alone in a city of a million people.

A bird in the air might be free but it is in its nature to come back to earth.

Ultimately freedom is the ability to make the choice not to be truly free.

cutting through writers block

A famous author, I don't remember who or when, once said that there was no such thing as writers block. If a writer was whining about being blocked, well then he was just being lazy.

Now that was a startling idea. Flew against popular opinion.

Writers block seems perfectly plausible, after all I often find myself unable to think of a single thing to say so being unable to think of something to write is more or less the same thing.

On the other hand I have come to accept the statement as true. You see he did say 'writers block' which spells out that it is a writer who is having the problem. A writer is someone skilled who lays strings of words down over and over again, it is his job, his vocation. Can you imagine going into work one day and saying that you are blocked and, sorry, can't do a thing today. No, won't happen. Wouldn't get away with it.

Now I really don't know how big a problem writers block is, might be all mist and no substance. Probably belongs more to those who aspire to being writers. If you are bringing home the bacon with work on the keyboard then it would be an unaffordable indulgence.

When you are staring at a clean white field and don't know what to write about, just start writing. Write about the view out the window, the drive to work, the talking heads on TV. When some new thought comes to mind go ahead and write it down even if it means leaving the last one unfinished.

The writing will come because it is a skill.

You have a skill as a result of practice.

Practice is the act of hard wiring your mind and body to accomplish a goal. The goal of course is to have a skill.

Once you have developed a useful skill keep it sharp by using it. If it falls into disuse it is like unplugging the machine. It stops working. The electrical contacts will become corroded. The investment you made will be lost.

A saw cuts because it is sharp. A saw is sharp only because it is kept that way by someone who knows that it has value when it is in prime condition.

We all have skills that we want to keep up and if they are not in constant use then take some time and practice.

sudden change

A hill came down on a town in California.

It came without warning but it was expected.

It had happened before.

Nevertheless people chose to continue to live there.

They continued to do something dangerous, living at the bottom of an unstable hill, rather than change.

Most of us are like that.

Most of us continue to do things that either harm our health or get us nowhere.

Like most of the people in this small town we are also aware of the danger. However we go right along as if nothing will happen.

Unfortunately the hill comes down far more often than not. Everything changes suddenly at that moment. Usually the changes are far more drastic than if we had corrected our actions to keep out of the path of certain danger.

What outcomes are your actions leading to and are those outcomes that you want?

crackpot theory # 1

I call it a crackpot theory. You might call it a belief.

It is a way to see the world. I have a number of them.

This one is my theory of escalation.

I will not claim that it is original to me. Someone else must have noticed this before.

The theory is that whatever is acceptable today will be pushed to new limits tomorrow.

Listen to popular music. In appearance alone the early rockers were pushing the envelope of acceptability. The lyrics were mostly tame with a few probing the limits of what was acceptable at the time. Listen to some Gene Vincent to get the idea.

Then along came The Beatles, pushing appearance again and right on their heels came The Rolling Stones. Now the Stones pushed on the limits for lyrics right away. It was great fun to be young and to shock your parents with those songs.

Well the limits kept escalating, pushed by each new band who had to top the music they heard while growing up. All those kids from the 60’s lost contact with popular music along the way, they stopped listening to new music and found comfort in oldies. These baby boomers were shocked to hear what their own kids listened to.

The limits continue to escalate. That is just the way it is and it is our fault. We allow limits to be pushed when we are young and can’t complain about the way things turn out.

There comes a time when a person needs to stop and ask where is this all going?

Of course I am not just talking about music. Escalation happens in everything. You can see it through all of popular culture. You can see it in simple things that you now find acceptable for yourself. From the size of your next meal to the amount of clothing you own.

You can see it in the behavior of people. A gun is used now to settle a minor dispute when a fight would have been the limit in the past.

More, more, more!

Start asking yourself if you need as much as you’re able to get. Start asking where it’s all taking you. Start asking if it will be a better world because of this. Start asking what it teaches your children.

Remember, because all limits will be broken, it will not be the same world that you are comfortable with now.

You get to decide what the world will be like every time you accept some new limit on what is acceptable to you.

distracted

I was a fish keeper when I went to high school.

I wasn’t when I left. My interests had moved on. They’ve been moving all my life. I’ve had too many for my own good.

Now this isn’t entirely a bad thing, makes for an interesting life, keeps the synapses in shape. Good for meeting whole groups of people you didn’t even know existed.

But, such a life lacks what Napoleon Hill refers to as a Definiteness of Purpose.

“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement, and its lack is the stumbling block for ninety-eight out of every hundred people simply because they never really define their goals and start toward them.”*

There are few real differences between all of us. We all have a set of characteristics. If you could place values on these characteristics you would find that they do not vary too greatly from one person to another. If you charted the characteristics of each person you would find that for most people the values would fall into average ranges shared by everyone else.

So why do some people achieve so much?

They achieve more because they are well above the average in some characteristics.

I don’t think you have to excel in very many characteristics to achieve a lot. Just a few key ones will put you ahead of the crowd, and conversely lacking in a few key ones can be a great barrier in your life.

Definiteness of purpose should be considered a key characteristic. It has a knack for increasing the values of other characteristics. The sooner you develop it the better off you will be.

Having a definite major goal is more than a wish, it is a burning desire. It does not allow you to be distracted. You know what you want and you know what you have to do to get it.

If you don’t already have definiteness of purpose it is something you should work out for yourself right now.

I won’t distract you further.

*Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success

the cure in curiosity

from 'Callings - Finding and Following an Authentic Life' by Gregg Levoy

"According to those interviewed for this book, who are people very responsive to their callings, any practice that strengthens our powers of observation and our ability to see subtleties within ourselves, any practice that allows us to step outside and look back through the shop window, will help us overcome the kind of inadvertence of which Joseph Campbell spoke and from which Willy Loman suffered. These practices include anything that helps us pay attention to our lives, gently sanding our fingertips to make them more sensitive to the feel of things, such as: a daily journal, meditation, therapy, artwork, movement work, martial arts, dream interpretation, music, long walks, intimate conversation, retreats, fasting, rituals. These practices also remind us not to spend so much time awaiting big booming voices from on high that we stumble over the whispers that are right at our feet. "If you listen down below," instructs the Torah, "you will deserve to hear from above." "

Paying attention to our lives. So difficult when there is so much more wanting us to pay attention to it.

Aren't you curious about yourself anymore?

Get curious again and observe something you do with detachment. Don't think about it, just watch it.

Start small. Do it a little bit everyday.

You will regain something that you did not know you lost.

failure analysis

Failure

Happens to all of us

Sometimes all at once, mostly it just sneaks up on us

There was a moment, in the past for most of us, when we had something just the way we liked it. A peak state of health for ourselves, a newness for something we had worked hard to get, a moment in time when everything was right.

Almost invariably it slips away.

Why does this happen?

Perhaps there aren’t very many good answers to that question.

“I don’t know, it just happens!” we think to ourselves.

I am certainly guilty of the offense. Of letting it all slip away.

Here is a reason to consider.

We have a tendency to arrive at premature conclusions. We think we have successfully accomplished something when the truth is that we have only started to reach the accomplishment. We see the light at the end of the tunnel and think we are standing in the bright sunshine.

As soon as we think we are good at something we start coasting. It is a trick of the mind. When you think you are good at something is the moment when you are just starting to get good at it.

A friend and I lost a lot of weight a few years ago. Accomplished a lot. We were getting a lot of compliments.

However we forgot one little thing when we reached our goals, it got lost in the success and the compliments and the feelings of renewed health.

We were still fat men.

We are fatter still today and the work must be redone.

What happened? How did we ultimately fail?

I think we just moved on to some other interest which is a problem for all of us.

A failure to maintain focus.

So the solution, I think, is to decide what is important and to always keep focused on that. Other interests can come and go but they cannot be allowed to displace the most important areas of focus in our lives.

Write down a list of the things you need to focus on. Keep it handy and review it often. Don’t let your focus slip from what is truly important to you.

the antagonist and the protagonist

The antagonist.

He was intelligent. He was well read and had picked up an inexhaustible supply of platitudes.

He was a homilist. When his delivery was careful, sparse and precise he sounded like a genius. But eventually he served them up with wild abandon, as if he was an autistic savant repeating all the license plate numbers in the parking lot. When he got to this point he lost credibility.

The protagonist.

He was smart. He learned the basics and he applied them.

He was a driver. He built his life on a solid foundation that remained unshaken in times of turmoil. He wanted as much as possible as soon as possible, like the rest of us, but he had learned to exercise restraint. In the end, it did not seem like he had missed very much and he managed to escape many of the troubles that awaited everyone else.

The antagonist is easy to find. He wants to share with you. He wants you to listen to him. He is looking for you too.

The protagonist is out there for the finding also. But it is up to you to find him. You must then look closely to see if he is the real thing. If he is, then you need to do a little of what he does in order to build the foundation you wish you were standing on.

maintenance

I bought a Mercedes Benz 560SEC recently.

I was looking for a large coupe and the S class cars from the 80's were on my short list of candidates.

I managed to stumble upon this one.

At first glance, the car seemed to be a bargain. For sale at less than half the usual asking price.

But there is an old adage among Mercedes owners, "Nothing's as expensive as a cheap Mercedes."

This car has most of its service records with it so I was comfortable with its history. It had not been neglected.

Nevertheless it was in need of some service. I could do the work myself but it is the dead of winter and I have only a shade tree for protection from the elements.

So now I am spending about a quarter of my purchase price to take care of some immediate needs.

It is money well spent.

Neglect now will cost more in the future.

And it is the same for us.

Both the body and the mind respond positively to use.

Exercise, learning and work constitute use.

Indulgences such as careless eating, drinking and passive entertainment will cost us in the long run.

I am behind in my maintenance.

However no catastrophe has yet befallen me. I do not need an overhaul of some vital organ. Simply returning to the maintenance program should be enough.

Spending time on exercise is time well spent.

Consider the well published alternatives such as debilitating health problems or time in the hospital.

Whenever I find myself thinking that I don't want to work out today I'll consider those alternatives.

look here brother, who you jiving with that cosmic debris?

There are, perhaps, thousands of self improvement programs. They all teach you one basic thing, How To Think.

There are, perhaps, thousands of diets. They all teach you one basic thing, Eat Less Calories Than You Burn.

There are, perhaps, millions of naysayers. They all want to tell you that whatever you are trying is a load of crap.

I would like to tell you how to set these knuckleheads straight but I haven't got a clue how that is done. What I can tell you is that you just have to learn to ignore them. Focus your attention elsewhere when they speak. Nod and say 'uh - huh' as the monologue is delivered. I don't think they will notice because they are amazingly sure of their ignorance.

Like most things, this takes practice.

Hit the gym after work last night. I am not the man I could be.

Title for this posting courtesy of Mr. Frank Zappa

the next page

I clicked the next blog button.

It was in a different language.

apropos

It is easy to find out what to do but it is hard to actually do it. Might as well get the instructions in a differnet language.

Not to say that we don't understand the advice that we seek, not on the conscious level anyway. However good instructions tend to bump into not so good internal structures. Hard wired habits based on good feelings delivered by them over a long period of time.

It is a good admonishment to avoid sweets but there is that internal desire to overcome. They taste good and I enjoy them therefore they are good for me.

Knowing the truth on one level is not convincing enough for the other level.

dissatisfaction

"The genuine writer, artist, and even scientist are dissatisfied persons - as dissatisfied as the revolutionary - but are endowed with a capacity for transmuting their dissatisfaction into a creative impulse." Eric Hoffer

In the grand character set of a persons psyche dissatisfaction, at first glance, may not seem to be a natural member.
Look closely and add it to the list.
It is satisfaction that lets time slip away and allows things to remain undone.

If satisfaction comes too easily then pretend otherwise. Decide to be dissatisfied with parts of your life and change them accordingly.

422 today, time for housework and exercise and my doxie needs a bath.

a few things of importance

(well for me anyway, right now)

• Drink Water
• Exercise
• Do your Housework
• Lose Weight
• Ride Motorcycles
• Shoot pictures
  
• READ
• WRITE
• play guitar
• Maintain your Vehicles
• Fix the place up for GODS sake!