Thanks Steve...

Stay Creative (or in my case: Just Be)

Let’s all follow these guidelines for living….

”I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."

"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black Holes and Revelations

(Post title which btw, is an awesome album)

Of all the uninspired moments in my limited blogging history — all of the directionless days gone by, the mind games searching for stimuli, the fruitless quest for insight and imagination — these last few months, void of interesting written rambles, might be the most anti-climatic.

So what inspires you?

Sometimes I forget. I mean, it’s been months since my last proper post. Not because of a lack of desideration for creating readable composition, but because it feels like I’ve forgotten how to glean any originality out of the everyday. Forgotten how to be inspired in these moments marred by instant messaging and instant attitudes. Searching for those cycles of cathartic insight have instead been replaced by clichéd rhetoric.

The reviews are in.

"Frustrating," is my lack of reverie.

"Disappointing," is the effort.

"Disheartening," is my feeling.

It is all of the above and I wonder what it means. I don’t mean to intentionally lose sight of what my passion is or what my why is. But instead of engrossing in the tasks at hand, I get distracted. Too easily I become disconnected. Diversion and I have married together like brats and beer. Suddenly I’m built for beguilement like a Maserati is built for speed and a La-Z-Boy is built for comfort. I’m getting caught in the web of the internet. I’m watching TV shows online. I’m wrapped up in facebook feeds and twitter tales. I’m reading blogs and opening links and reading more about people and places. Time disappears. And as sudden as it is expected, I’m not working on projects – I have forgotten them.

But here’s the thing that oftentimes escape me, it’s amidst these diversions where I most easily forget that there are also stories out there that can pique our imagination. I forget that in reading twitter and facebook updates, watching shows online, opening links and reading more about more people, the more I learn about what inspires me. I forget that there is more to my distractions than the distraction itself. The journey is as significant as the destination.

Cutting through the diversity and abundance of the internet, there are anecdotes and narratives that do remind me of our capacity to inspire or be inspired. The diversions of the web allow me to see the best and worst of mankind. I read stories that anger me and stories that motivate me. I learn about danger. I learn about courage. I begin seeing the world in views that are not my own. All of these distractions can be as trendy as it is trite or as dazzling as it is disorganized. But we live in an era of 24 hour news cycles. This is the time of instantaneous information and split-second scandals. Old school in this generation is November. And by indulging in all of these disruptions I am allowing it to stir up thoughts and ideas and emotions that ultimately guide the direction that I am creating.

In life, we’re always looking for those moments of Zen or prolific epiphanies. And as I’ve discovered the last few months, the pursuit is fleeting and elusive. And even though this short blog is not enough to draw any meaningful conclusions about the dynamics of this dilemma, I finally appreciate just having an opportunity to be present and grateful in each moment, which in the past, normally loses out to my daily consciousness of convention and routine. I am no expert. I am still very much a student in all of the above and I too need reminding often. But this time instead, I'll try to remember to allow my distractions to inspire rather than discourage me.


"The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time." 
- Bertrand Russell

                                                                                                                    - Dr. Brene Brown