This was a very (seemingly) long but also fulfilling month for me. I have learned perhaps more than ever during the last 31 days than I have in my entire life! Thanks to the great people on this website who continue to shine a light upon this dark cold world of ours. Well, dark and cold for some… =D
* Privacy / Acceptance:
Some people’s life situations demand certain things to be kept private. Its wrong to demand openness from someone if they do not wish to be open. Everyone has their reasons and stories. Who am i to be the judge of that? Nevertheless, I have found in my own life that the more open I am about who I really am to the world, the more I feel I am accepting myself. Or at least wiling to be accepted by myself. I plan to continue becoming more and more open to the world. Eventually I want to make my whole life completely public. Not for attention but to show people that there is a way out of the “hole of suffering” most people feel trapped in. I am a living example of this and I am willing to sacrifice some privacy to share my story with the world. And as mentioned before I have no doubt that this ‘sacrifice’ will we bring me closer to my true self. Mine-as-well make the most of the potential of the modern media outlets. First I gotta get that video camera…
* Art:
Related to the last part of what i just wrote, i still think art is the greatest gift we have to share a message and bring people together. That is why art is the main pursuit in my life. Although I am still honing my skills and the road is long. As I like to say, I am still just warming up. I have revealed a little of my capabilities but not much… plenty more to come. An ocean more. A mountain more. A volc… well you get the point.
* Change:
Change is inevitable. We can live the kind of life where we change with change or we can live stuck and still and frozen in time, wondering why change wipes our lives to shreds again and again.
* Ego:
My old friend. Yes you mr. ego, don’t think WE don’t know about you. So long have you controlled my thoughts, so long have you “protected” me, so long have you prevented me from going after everything that I truly value in life, so long have you kept me in chains and brainwashed me with your weakness, your lies and your debilitating attitudes. And for so long did I try to destroy you, to overcome you. Those times are over my friend. I know now that you are apart of me and will always continue so. Instead of laughing/loving you into exile, I welcome you to accompany my journey. Just know that your days of power are over. If you are willing to live with those terms you can rest your weary self in the dark catacombs of my soul working on what you know best: the engines of creation. If you are not willing to do that then sorry but I don’t negotiate with terrorists.
* Empathy:
What greater skill is their in life than empathy? Yet, what quality of human characteristic is so depressingly overlooked in our current culture? This is something that forms the backbone of deep communication between two beings. Empathy is the anatomy of understanding. Oh how I have failed at this. And oh how until right this moment as I write I have never realized before that empathy is something we can start with the person we know best: ourselves. It all begins with awareness…
* Moments:
This one is related to everything I wrote above. While meditating one morning and “trying” to overcome this anxiety I was experiencing, a powerful thought rushed through my mind and sliced all thoughts before it into little fragments of lost memories: we are not the moments which have already passed. Yes! How powerful this is even though the thought has been recycled again and again through human history in many different forms. We are not the thoughts we thought a moment ago but only the ones that we are thinking now. Furthermore, we are not even those thoughts! We often attach ourselves to stuff we believed in an hour/day/year ago, whether in our heads, in conversations, in forum posts, in our journals, etc. How easily we become our ideas, our causes and our concerns. Yes we can walk on a path of continuity and build the pillars of our inner/outer empires slowly and surely. But to attach ourself to a single brick among the thousands of other bricks used to build great walls is a sure-fire way to get lost! Of course, this profound “moments pass” thought tends to get away from me cunningly with each new passing moment. I remind myself that just like all thoughts, it is just another thought.
(btw, a good/fun way to practice this with other people: when someone tells you they are feeling like so-and-so just reply with “cool, and how are you feeling now?”, lol… + when someone asks you how you are, remember to not confuse with how you were a moment ago with how you are now!! e.g. “i’m horrible… but now i’m great!”… hahaa…)
To conclude with, here is a quote by an inspiring author who goes by the name of Dan Millman:
“There are no ordinary moments.”
Spring is coming! I can’t wait! Wait a minute… haha, get it?
- Comment by Jenee Hallick on May 9, 2011 at 4:18am
- Thanks for sharing… things come to you just when you need to hear them the most (-:
- Comment by Joice Winston on May 8, 2011 at 8:22am
- I especially liked the Empathy and Moments sections, thanks for reminding me. 🙂
- Comment by Mika on April 7, 2011 at 9:21pm
- Truly powerful insights, for me too. Thanks for sharing!
- Comment by BigG. on April 3, 2011 at 3:36pm
- Thanks Markus.
🙂
“Well, dark and cold for some… =D”
- Comment by pradtf on April 2, 2011 at 1:11pm
- you’re 3 for 3, markus!
in friendship,
prad
- Comment by PK on April 2, 2011 at 1:52am
- Markus,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, lessons, and growth with us so that we might grow as well.
We are not the thoughts we thought a moment ago but only the ones that we are thinking now.
A wise one has told me that there is no past and no future, only the present moment:D
Mr. Ego
Mr. Ego can be a good tool in this life if used properly. Someone once used the analogy that a hammer is a tool that can be used productively such as in construction, or it can be used poorly such as harming something or someone. The problem is not with the hammer, but with the user.
I believe Mr. Ego can be a good guide and source of personal strength and esteem, but he should be quickly reprimanded if he becomes a source of arrogance or abuse.
At this moment, I am feeling marvelous.
Peace, PK
- Comment by Jack on April 1, 2011 at 10:23pm
- Growth can happen in unexpected directions, but I must say I do like the direction you’re growing in. I think you were less well served by some of your hot intentions a month or two ago than you clearly have potential for.
I certainly agree regarding art; written words are mine, for in them I feel the strongest flow of my passion, and of my skills, beyond what can be conveyed by thoughts alone.