thought

i truly believe that the people whom we develop into is a direct result not of the choices we make, but of what we do and learn from what life throws our way.  the good and the bad.

One of the most important things I've learned in life...

...is that in order to live a life to it's fullest that you must understand and accept your circumstances completely.

violence and so forth

 People get so upset about violence and shootings... "people shouldn't solve their problems by shooting someone"
I agree.
Yet, this is exactly what we do.

Where do people get these ideas of solving things with war?  That killing another person is okay?

How about... society?
Children playing violent video games, watching violent movies and TV shows, listening to music about crime, violence, and sex.
Maybe that's where they get the idea.


Maybe that's where.

Now, I don't mean to come off uptight (I like me rated R movies and sweet video games), but if we really think about it logically, isn't it messed up that we can see someone be killed and not think twice about it?
I, personally, hate gore and violence (in movies, games, etc.).
Where do people learn to stomach that stuff?
It is absolutely unnatural.  We are conditioned to be okay with it.
When we turn a certain age we don't immediately decide that seeing people decapitated on screen is fun.  And, I am pretty certain that seeing that as a small child would horrify you (and if not, we have a bigger problem...)

My point is... people need to look at underlying reasons of things more often.  Critical thinking is a good skill to have.  I think so many of today's problems could be fixed through preventative measures instead of just complaining and trying to fix things on the surface.

On Wisdom...

"Cast away all negative thoughts and fears. If your will is yoked to wisdom, you can achieve anything."
-Paramahansa Yogananda

You get out of it what you put into it.

I was recently reminded of a piece of advice and given another.

The first was that in any job "you get out of it what you put into it."  I've heard this before, and absolutely believe it.  Moreover, a lot of things made me think about this with regard to life.

You get out of life what you put into it.
Investing your time into relationships with others to experience the joys of loving and being loved.
Investing your time in education and learning to become learned, insightful, and wise.
Investing your time in God, and understand love, grace, and being the person God created you to be.

Those are only a few examples.  Whatever it is you choose to do, you will get out of life what you put into it.  Life takes effort, something I think that most people fail to understand.  The world doesn't owe us anything.  We don't deserve anything on this planet.

So to you, sir or ma'am, I say stop dreaming.  Life is REAL, so we must be REAListic.

The second piece of advice I was given was that the secret of life is to enjoy it, and to have as much fun as possible.  This goes hand in hand with the former piece of advice.  What do you want to get out of life?  What will make you enjoy it more, realistically?  A secret that I've discovered about this, is that life definitely has little daily joys, and joys that come easily; however, life also has joys that come from hard work and perseverance, and I think many people fail to see that, and ultimately only taste a part of what life can offer.  Figure out what you want to get out of life, and then start pursuing the path that will get you there.  This realization can be tough to swallow, but I think it can be extremely motivating.

Here we go! (think mario kart)

Dear reader(s),

As it stands, I have 5 blogs, and I have decided to cut that down to 2.  This one will serve as the blog for anecdotes about life, things that make me smile, etcetera while Intrinsic Explorations will remain my creative writing blog (http://intrinsicexplorations.blogspot.com/).

I have quite a bit of time now, and much to say about everything (as usual) so I'll be writing more, which I am so excited about!  The past week/semester has been eventful, so more to come on that!

So follow my blog because it's awesome and so are you! :)

Jon

A Cherokee Legend

love this!

--------------------------------------------

A Cherokee Legend:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves,...

...and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."
-excerpt from The Little Prince

Some of you hate them, some of you love them.  Some of you think of them as natural birth control.
Regardless, children are fascinating, and no one can hate too hard, because we were all once children.

The quote from above from The Little Prince (which you should read), is so clever!  I think it embodies so much--namely, the creativity of humans (or lack thereof) and the effects of this world on that creativity.

I'm going to spare you a child psychology lesson about how the brains of children develop and how their understanding of the world is shaped by their parents, blah blah blah.  Instead, I want us to think about the rawness of a child.

I came across an interesting concept several weeks ago, and the idea I can't seem to shake.  It's put the innocence and naiveness of children in a new perspective for me:  Children have a much higher capacity to create than adults.  "What?" you ask.  "How can this be?  Children are so... small... and unlearned."  Correct, but I'm not talking about the knowledge of children, but the capacity to imagine.  We always say "teach children to imagine."  So, as we grow older, our imagination skills that our parents and teachers teach us should be SO GOOD!  On the contrary, dear friends.  As children mature into teens and adults, slowly, but surely, they realize that the world is limited (I know we like to think of the world as infinite, but really, that's just metaphorical language and a playful motivational thought).

The best embodiment of this is people's fear of trying new things.
Where does this fear come from?  Our recognition of limits.  We think "I can't draw well."  "I am not good at this sport."  "I am not smart enough."
I'm not here for a pep talk, but when you were 5, I bet you never thought these things.  (And if you did, you're weird, and subsequently, replace "5" in the previous sentence with smaller numbers until the sentence applies)

For example.  I am flabbergasted by robots (and most technology for that matter).  I have no idea how to make things move with electricity.  Heck.  I still don't really get how batteries work after 6 years of chemistry and physics.  Which is why I'm excited to see kids program robots at the FIRST lego league I'm volunteering at this month. (http://www.utfll.utah.edu/)  Children come up with the most ridiculous ideas.  But what's awesome is that these ridiculous ideas might be so ridiculous that they might work.  Or they might inspire some other idea that works.  They're not scared.  They don't have the same inhibition I do about not knowing enough about about LaPlace transforms.  All they see is "cool, a robot, I'm going to make it move!"  And so... they do!  They make it move (and do so much more)!  As adults, we're limited by our specializations.  Education.  Sports.  Music.  Arts.  Dance.  Writing.  etc. etc. etc.

So, what I'm getting at... is not to be like children.  That's silly.
What I am getting at is to stop thinking you know so much about anything.  That's right.  I'm not going to say that we should all "go out there and try new things."  That's easier said than done.

Instead, try to think of yourself as a person.  Just a person.  Not a musician or an academic or an athlete.  Think of yourself as a person with interests.  This will not only humble you, but it will take away fear you have of imagining new possibilities.

for those of you who are visual:

__________     foreign thing too scared to try             interest    interest
| specialist  |                                                     _|____|_
| specialist  |      ----------->>>>>>>>>>            | person  |---interest
|_________|                                                    |_______|---interest
                                                                           |        |
         foreign thing too scared to try                   interest   interest



Final thought: 

"The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise."
-Alden Nowlan

Happy Birthday, Earth!

Welcome to 2011 and my new blog!
You might know me from my creative writing blog, Intrinsic Explorations, but I'm betting you don't since that blog only has 3 followers.
(http://intrinsicexplorations.blogspot.com/)

What you will find here are my thoughts (surprise!).  Nothing purposefully complicated or simplified, but just ideas how they are.  Probably also some quotes and music too.  Maybe a movie review or maybe I'll dance for you if the demand is high; who knows?
For me, writing is a beautiful way to explore ideas.  For you, hopefully this will engage your brain.
Read to your pleasure.
-------------------------------
So...
Why do we celebrate the New Year?  The beginning of the New Year is pretty much arbitrary.  I highly doubt God created the Earth on January 1.  I'd say there's probably a 4/1461 chance that this was so, in fact.  ((1/365.25)*4)

I've concluded that the celebration of a New Year is simply to satisfy the human need for a new beginning, and ultimately, hope.
Perhaps it is because we've made mistakes we want to be in our past and putting them in a different year helps bury them.  Perhaps we are anxious for something to happen that we attribute it to a coming year.  For some it's a time to create new resolutions for a later date, or in other words, procrastinate.

What I'm getting at is that while celebration and hope is great.  I truly think that one of the most important aspects of being human is to take responsibility.  Take responsibility for kicking your bad habit now.  for forgiving others now.  for not wasting time waiting for the future, but savoring the now.

It's often said to live in the now.  But what does this mean?  I think most people don't really know.  To many, it means living on impulse and spontaneity.  To live worry free.  To live without thinking about consequences.

To me, living in the now means something quite different.
Living in the now means accepting your past and accepting your future.  It does not necessarily mean "living on the edge" or "living like you'll die tomorrow."  Sure, you might die tomorrow, but there is a much greater probability that you won't.  So this, I believe, is too simple---it takes away the essence of the "now" and confuses it for disregarding the past and future.
On the contrary, we need to acknowledge and accept the past and future.

Living in the now?

It means to...
...accept your past.  The painful memories; forgiving others and, more importantly, forgiving yourself.  Understanding that you cannot change what has happened.  Address your mistakes as mistakes--take responsibility, but then mend your past by learning something and moving on.  Then it's fine to leave memories, persons, and places behind as necessary.  The beautiful memories; remembering the moments that made your heart skip a beat; holding tight those who are good and were part of those memories. 

It means to...
...accept the uncertainty of your future.  Goals and plans are needed; perhaps we can't control the future, but we can definitely influence it.  You can't ever know exactly how things will work out and you need to understand that things constantly change; when they do change, go with it after some internal and external assessment---that is, trust your feelings, but also use your brain.  Merge your intuition with your knowledge by using common sense and some introspective analysis.

As a blend of the past and future, it's important to work toward personal growth.  This looks different for everyone and something that's small for one person could be large for another and vice versa.  The past: It's important to find your own flaws, not in a self-destructive manner, but if there's something you can fix that will lead you to truly loving yourself more.. it's worth doing.  The future: Once you find those flaws, figure out reasonable and realistic ways to improve them.  The now: Take action!  Keep your eyes on your goal.  Continue trying, always.

For those who do so, pray along the way.  For resolution with your past, realism with your future, and optimism with your now.

So... my New Year's resolution?
I have a few, and one of them is to live in the now.