No one wants to struggle, it is just part of life and struggle we must, sooner or later. It is too easy here to let ourselves go, we do not need the physical assets of our youth and we can do without the mental assets of someone with vast experience. We can fantasize about everything by watching TV, we can pretend that we are in the game by watching someone else play, we can tell ourselves that we are Tigers even when we are kittens.
We are woefully unprepared for what can happen to us.
What good is that?
There are a great many things that I would not want to go through, even as some may loom on my horizon. I don't want to have a stroke or a heart attack or become diabetic but all are possible. I don't want anyone in my family or any of my friends or my dog to pass on, but it happens, ready or not.
Why choose to be unprepared? Why do nothing? How can that be any better than the alternative?
The ideal is to be ready for almost anything. Get in shape, stay in shape, mentally, physically, financially.
The ideal is to be able to stand up to life's struggles. Sure you might still get beat sometimes but you will be able to get back up and keep going.
Are you prepared?
Wednesday
inkblotter
Be sure to look in on inkblotter from time to time. You can find a link in my 'blogs worth a look' list.
The young lady lives in Jackson, Miss. She has family in New Orleans.
The young lady lives in Jackson, Miss. She has family in New Orleans.
testing
Millions of people are being tested by fate as I write.
The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the south is awe inspiring.
If I was in New Orleans or Biloxi or one of those rural areas that we haven't even heard about yet, I would be ill prepared for this test. Would you be prepared?
I don't mean things like having supplies set aside, I am talking about being ready physically and mentally for the challenges set before you. Without help I think I would have a hard time surviving.
This is not an ideal situation to be in and it should serve as inspiration for all of us to make ourselves better.
The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the south is awe inspiring.
If I was in New Orleans or Biloxi or one of those rural areas that we haven't even heard about yet, I would be ill prepared for this test. Would you be prepared?
I don't mean things like having supplies set aside, I am talking about being ready physically and mentally for the challenges set before you. Without help I think I would have a hard time surviving.
This is not an ideal situation to be in and it should serve as inspiration for all of us to make ourselves better.
test
I once read that Walt Bellamy would play poorly against lesser opponents and rise to the occasion when he played against Wilt Chamberlin or Bill Russell. Perhaps when he played against the stars he knew it was a test and he met the challenge.
We do not know what we can be if we don't test ourselves.
Ultimate Fighter 2 started last week on the cable network Spike TV. In every episode you see the participants testing themselves, first in their workouts and competitions and then against each other. In this weeks episode Melvin Guillard, with 36 wins in mixed martial arts fighting, loses his match. After the fight Melvin says he froze a little when entering the ring.
The young man put in a great effort and with all those wins you would have thought he was ready. He says he froze and I believe him. The fighting experience is one thing but none of those bouts ever held the opportunity that this one did.
You have to test yourself if you want to rise to the occasion. Every workout is a test, it isn't just practice or something that makes you stronger. Reading a book is a test, I know lots of people who can't do that. Applying for a job is a test, eating right is a test, the car breaking down is a test.
You have to choose to test yourself, if you let fate decide when to test you, you may not like the results.
Note: Melvin Guillard is from the New Orleans area, he is no doubt being tested again. I donated to the Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief, so can you. Go here.
We do not know what we can be if we don't test ourselves.
Ultimate Fighter 2 started last week on the cable network Spike TV. In every episode you see the participants testing themselves, first in their workouts and competitions and then against each other. In this weeks episode Melvin Guillard, with 36 wins in mixed martial arts fighting, loses his match. After the fight Melvin says he froze a little when entering the ring.
The young man put in a great effort and with all those wins you would have thought he was ready. He says he froze and I believe him. The fighting experience is one thing but none of those bouts ever held the opportunity that this one did.
You have to test yourself if you want to rise to the occasion. Every workout is a test, it isn't just practice or something that makes you stronger. Reading a book is a test, I know lots of people who can't do that. Applying for a job is a test, eating right is a test, the car breaking down is a test.
You have to choose to test yourself, if you let fate decide when to test you, you may not like the results.
Note: Melvin Guillard is from the New Orleans area, he is no doubt being tested again. I donated to the Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief, so can you. Go here.
Tuesday
conception of something in its absolute perfection
Do you have an ideal? Do you see a vision of yourself as you want to be? Do you have a vision of your life as you would like it to be? Why not?
This is the most important step to make for improvements in life.
It's not easy. I live right in the middle of America and I am inundated all the time with advertisements designed to convince me that I must buy the product. There will always be new and better product which certainly complicates things. It's nonsense. It's not satisfying either.
To listen to what appears to be the culture all around me is worthless. To pay attention to the life that marketing presents me is to be lost. Sure, lots of people do, most people do, and many are frustrated and angry at the same time.
"We don't recognize either what hurts us or what helps us. All through our lives we blunder along and never stop, or even watch our step, because of this. But surely you can see how crazy it is to rush ahead in the dark. We seem set on getting ourselves called back from a greater distance and, although we don't know our overall goal, we continue to move as fast as we can in the direction we are going." - Seneca
Life comes at you. If you only knew where you were going you could use what life sends your way. You cannot know where you are going unless you hold a concept of your ideal.
Seneca quote from 'The Stoic Art of Living" by Tom Morris
This is the most important step to make for improvements in life.
It's not easy. I live right in the middle of America and I am inundated all the time with advertisements designed to convince me that I must buy the product. There will always be new and better product which certainly complicates things. It's nonsense. It's not satisfying either.
To listen to what appears to be the culture all around me is worthless. To pay attention to the life that marketing presents me is to be lost. Sure, lots of people do, most people do, and many are frustrated and angry at the same time.
"We don't recognize either what hurts us or what helps us. All through our lives we blunder along and never stop, or even watch our step, because of this. But surely you can see how crazy it is to rush ahead in the dark. We seem set on getting ourselves called back from a greater distance and, although we don't know our overall goal, we continue to move as fast as we can in the direction we are going." - Seneca
Life comes at you. If you only knew where you were going you could use what life sends your way. You cannot know where you are going unless you hold a concept of your ideal.
Seneca quote from 'The Stoic Art of Living" by Tom Morris
Thursday
it's time!
"The problem is not that we have such a short space of time, but that we waste so much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure, to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested." Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C. - 65 A.D.) - Roman lawyer, senator, philosopher and playwright.
I am going to Mid Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend.
When I am not watching the races or looking at all the people I will be reading the thoughts of some Romans who lived 2000 years ago. Human nature does not change.
Some of Seneca's best writings are from letters, exchanges of conversation between people, you can help me here by writing something in the comments, even anonymously, once in a while.
Spark a little conversation and we will all get back on track together.
I am going to Mid Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend.
When I am not watching the races or looking at all the people I will be reading the thoughts of some Romans who lived 2000 years ago. Human nature does not change.
Some of Seneca's best writings are from letters, exchanges of conversation between people, you can help me here by writing something in the comments, even anonymously, once in a while.
Spark a little conversation and we will all get back on track together.
Wednesday
hair spray and make up
They all look pretty good.
Yes, the talking heads on TV that read the news to us all look pretty darn good.
Then they open their mouths and if you listen you realize it is all hair spray and make up.
It is difficult to put your finger on authenticity. It is painfully difficult to put your finger on your own authenticity.
It's not about being relentlessly honest, that is an indulgence of the judgmental.
It's not about doing what has always worked, that is a common deception.
It's not about you or me at all, if we work only in our own self interest then we are not being authentic.
"Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice." - Ayn Rand, philosopher.
I don't know.
Being authentic is about not reacting to what we think the world is.
Being authentic is acting according to what the world really is.
Of course figuring out what the world really is, well, that's another posting.
Yes, the talking heads on TV that read the news to us all look pretty darn good.
Then they open their mouths and if you listen you realize it is all hair spray and make up.
It is difficult to put your finger on authenticity. It is painfully difficult to put your finger on your own authenticity.
It's not about being relentlessly honest, that is an indulgence of the judgmental.
It's not about doing what has always worked, that is a common deception.
It's not about you or me at all, if we work only in our own self interest then we are not being authentic.
"Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice." - Ayn Rand, philosopher.
I don't know.
Being authentic is about not reacting to what we think the world is.
Being authentic is acting according to what the world really is.
Of course figuring out what the world really is, well, that's another posting.
Monday
association
I noticed today as I drove away from home to go to work that I felt like going to work. Now if you had asked me an hour or so earlier if I felt like going to work the answer would have been no.
What happened in between?
I took a shower and got dressed in my work clothes that's all.
And therein lies a clue to success.
We associate things with each other, we do it naturally, don't even notice most of the time. We associate the words we use with certain things, we associate the clothes we wear with certain things and we associate the direction we drive with certain things.
Don't feel much like exercising? Put on your exercise clothes and you will find it easier to change your mind.
Don't feel like practicing the guitar, pick it up and tune it.
Don't feel like working on the car, open the hood anyway.
Pay attention to the things around the activities you want to do. When the day comes that you don't feel like doing something anymore then go through those preliminary steps that you had always done before and see what happens.
What happened in between?
I took a shower and got dressed in my work clothes that's all.
And therein lies a clue to success.
We associate things with each other, we do it naturally, don't even notice most of the time. We associate the words we use with certain things, we associate the clothes we wear with certain things and we associate the direction we drive with certain things.
Don't feel much like exercising? Put on your exercise clothes and you will find it easier to change your mind.
Don't feel like practicing the guitar, pick it up and tune it.
Don't feel like working on the car, open the hood anyway.
Pay attention to the things around the activities you want to do. When the day comes that you don't feel like doing something anymore then go through those preliminary steps that you had always done before and see what happens.
Tuesday
back to basics
I went to a hot rod show last year with my cousin Dave, his son and his grandson. They are real long time car nuts and hot rodders. I could learn a lot if I could spend more time with these guys. While walking through a building full of stuff for hot rodders to buy one of them remarked that he remembered when everybody had to make these parts for themselves. Hot rodding has grown over the last fifty years from the only way a young man could have an exciting car to some sort of monster that devours tons of money from the participants. It takes lots of time and therefore lots of money to have everything on a car shiny and perfect. It takes lots of money to have lots of horsepower and lots more money to have a great leather interior.
And it all started with guys chopping sheet metal off of used cars so they would go faster and handle better.
Well a backlash has started, there are now guys building cars again some what like the old hot rods. Take an old coupe body, leave the canvas off the top, no fenders no hood, slip in some old V8 and other old fashioned parts, don't worry about the interior once you get some seats in it and forget all about the paint it doesn't make you go fast anyway, and you've got a hot rod.
I like the whole idea.
Back to basics. Realize that you don't have to have everything you thought you wanted to have fun. Don't need all that stuff to get the job done.
Play some rockabilly in the background. Stand up bass instead of a Fender Precision, stand up drum kit and one guitar. GO!
For a lot of us that is what needs to be done to make improvements in our lives. Get back to basics. Let go of stuff all around us and concentrate on the basics.
There is so much clutter here I don't know if I can find the basics anymore. Might have to keep a basics diary, write it down everyday.
Keep the parts that repeat, discard the stuff that never even shows up and ponder on the stuff in the middle.
Basics.
And it all started with guys chopping sheet metal off of used cars so they would go faster and handle better.
Well a backlash has started, there are now guys building cars again some what like the old hot rods. Take an old coupe body, leave the canvas off the top, no fenders no hood, slip in some old V8 and other old fashioned parts, don't worry about the interior once you get some seats in it and forget all about the paint it doesn't make you go fast anyway, and you've got a hot rod.
I like the whole idea.
Back to basics. Realize that you don't have to have everything you thought you wanted to have fun. Don't need all that stuff to get the job done.
Play some rockabilly in the background. Stand up bass instead of a Fender Precision, stand up drum kit and one guitar. GO!
For a lot of us that is what needs to be done to make improvements in our lives. Get back to basics. Let go of stuff all around us and concentrate on the basics.
There is so much clutter here I don't know if I can find the basics anymore. Might have to keep a basics diary, write it down everyday.
Keep the parts that repeat, discard the stuff that never even shows up and ponder on the stuff in the middle.
Basics.
Monday
set a goal
I'm going to have to set a goal here.
I suppose I had this goal before but it has faded with time.
To write everyday for Ordeal.
Here goes.
I bought a tent, I'm going camping.
It's a practical decision. Cost too much in gas to go to the races from my current home. Wasn't a big deal before, lived closer and the car was smaller.
Now I have a big old S class Mercedes Benz that I prefer to drive and the round trips can add up. Might as well stay the night. The cost of one tank buys three nights at the track.
The only one who will suffer is Snickers.
Next subject.
I'm going to review magazines on my Gazette. Might be a good idea here too except there really aren't a lot of magazines that qualify. "What is Enlightenment" comes to mind but it really is too dense.
Well I snuck one in tonight and I will do it again tomorrow. Promise.
I suppose I had this goal before but it has faded with time.
To write everyday for Ordeal.
Here goes.
I bought a tent, I'm going camping.
It's a practical decision. Cost too much in gas to go to the races from my current home. Wasn't a big deal before, lived closer and the car was smaller.
Now I have a big old S class Mercedes Benz that I prefer to drive and the round trips can add up. Might as well stay the night. The cost of one tank buys three nights at the track.
The only one who will suffer is Snickers.
Next subject.
I'm going to review magazines on my Gazette. Might be a good idea here too except there really aren't a lot of magazines that qualify. "What is Enlightenment" comes to mind but it really is too dense.
Well I snuck one in tonight and I will do it again tomorrow. Promise.
Saturday
mine, mine, mine
In the spring my neighbor, a pleasant fellow, was at his house doing a little work. He said that his family was going to spend a lot more time at the lake this year than in years past and would I mind not parking on any of his property.
The space between the two houses is jointly owned but his is the lions share.
I don't really mind and haven't parked in that space since.
Neither has he.
Their coming out a little more often now than a few months ago but it is too late. The vegetation is two or three feet high in that space and the hill is overgrown. I've been cleaning it up for the last couple of years but have skipped it completely this year.
I don't mind at all. I always got a gift from The Ivy when I did work over there. One year I got it so bad I had to stop going to the gym because my arms were such a mess. Last year I got just a little but it was all on my face.
So what has my neighbor gained? I haven't a clue but it was important to him.
The space between the two houses is jointly owned but his is the lions share.
I don't really mind and haven't parked in that space since.
Neither has he.
Their coming out a little more often now than a few months ago but it is too late. The vegetation is two or three feet high in that space and the hill is overgrown. I've been cleaning it up for the last couple of years but have skipped it completely this year.
I don't mind at all. I always got a gift from The Ivy when I did work over there. One year I got it so bad I had to stop going to the gym because my arms were such a mess. Last year I got just a little but it was all on my face.
So what has my neighbor gained? I haven't a clue but it was important to him.
Monday
principle in action
If you've been reading 1,151! you may notice a success principle taking shape.
Brian Tracy calls it the "Momentum Principle" and if you've been following Rex's writings and his weight chart you can see it happening. The Momentum Principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going. This is what is happening with Rex and his project!
The more you work on something the easier it becomes to work on it.
It may be hard to get started in the gym but do it for a week and it will be easier.
It may be hard to start writing but just start doing it and it will become a habit.
The part that is the hardest in most anything is the first step. Take the first step and it will be easy to just keep going.
Brian Tracy calls it the "Momentum Principle" and if you've been following Rex's writings and his weight chart you can see it happening. The Momentum Principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going. This is what is happening with Rex and his project!
The more you work on something the easier it becomes to work on it.
It may be hard to get started in the gym but do it for a week and it will be easier.
It may be hard to start writing but just start doing it and it will become a habit.
The part that is the hardest in most anything is the first step. Take the first step and it will be easy to just keep going.
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