Keeping Motivation

One of the trickiest things I've discovered about life is keeping motivation.

There are these bursts of clarity, where things just make sense, where things just come together, and appear to fall into place -- Aha! moments; they are absolutely beautiful. They are awakenings of the mind and soul.

Yet, somehow, they dissipate. They leave, they die. Before I can properly realize it, that beautiful clarity has slipped through my fingers. And, once again, I find myself walking through life like a confused drone. Why am I here? What is my purpose? What does this all mean?  


This is a very frustrating thing. Especially for an excessively attentive and wondering character like myself. To have moments where I hear the beat of life's drum and can find a rhythm to join it in juxtaposed against these awful moments where I have two left feet leaves me feeling defeated. What is it that levitates me to that heightened state of awareness and what is it that brings me down? I'm still searching for that answer... if you have it, please do let me know. 

Superpowers

These survey results are taken from CrowdTap.com

22% of people want to time travel -- or manipulate time like a remote control. 

Steps to finding yourself in a world that's lost

People all too often get lost and confused over what is and isn't important and get stuck over the little things that aren't. They take offense, learn to make jokes out of their misery, and assume that's just how life is supposed to be. That's how alcohol, tobacco, and drugs have become such high-demand products.

If you enjoy your life half empty and are okay with proceeding with propagated actions, feel free. But for those of you who see the glass as half full, want to keep filling that glass and feeling alive, follow me into these steps:

Step 1. Realize it's not your fault. 
Daily, you are bombarded with messages -- by movies, tv shows, parents, guidance counselors, advertisements -- about what should and shouldn't be important to you. This is not what is and isn't important to you; this is what is and isn't important to others; these others are likely influenced by others, who are also likely influenced by others, who are probably influenced by others... when does it stop? Once you realize this simple reality that you are not just a cumulation of the things thrown at you, that you encompass an amazing filter in the form of your brain, and that as soon as you use others as a model for success you are bound to fail, you can move on to step two.

Step 2. Sssssslllllllllllooooooooooooowwwww ddddddooooooooooowwwwwwwwnnnnnnn. 
Really. Part of the problem with our lives is that we move way too fast from one action to another. As a result, we lose sight of things and don't really think about what we are doing nor what messages we are receiving. We just swallow and digest what's given to us without a second thought about it. In slowing down, you can start to think about what you need and what you don't, what you're doing and why, and how exactly you're using up your energy.

Step 3. Think about step one again. 
Did you really stop being a cumulation of things thrown at you? Do you really no longer need to use other people as a model for success? Or were you just ready to move on to step two? Sometimes people idolize others so much and want to be accepted so much that it results in them acting like people they aren't and rather people they think they should be. As soon as your true self is compromised, that puts you back to step one. Sometimes it takes multiple rounds of this before you can really and truly move forward. How you know when you are really ready is when you feel that brain starting to ramp up; it's because all that space that was taken up with bullshit thrown at you is now ready to do some seriously enlightening work.

Step 4. Breathe. 

You have made it this far and that calls for a successful inhale of oxygen and exhale of carbon dioxide. Go to your happy quiet place -- they've created one for you online in case you don't have one of your own. Reactivating your brain to its heightened state is overwhelming and a lot of people retreat because they don't know what to do with it and how to deal with it. When you are a drone for so long, how do you deal with being a human again? Breathe. Keep breathing. Until you are ready for the next step.

Step 5. Work on executing only actions that matter. 
This requires thinking about your each and every action: why did you place your co-worker's stapler there -- is that going to be convenient for him/her? why did you talk about your sports team's winning streak to your girlfriend's guy friend -- did he ever ask you about it? why are you listing off all the things you bought at the mall today? why are you vocalizing your critiques and how are you vocalizing them? There are a lot of things we just do. The older we get, the more things we just do without thinking about. But we have our brain here for a reason. Thinking about your every action can be quite exhausting on the brain -- it's why your subconscious will often try to take over and place your keys somewhere where you later can't find them. Your subconscious allows you to do things a lot quicker, but why is quicker better? Think consciously about things. When you do this, and truly do it, you will be surprised just how much your brain can predict and understand anything and everything. It's a heightened sense of living that puts you back into yourself and in tune with the rest of the world. I really hope you make it here. This is the state at which your brain is running on its own high, achieved through heightened living. And once you get here, you don't ever want to leave. But sometimes... you are forced to... and that's when you have to go back and repeat some steps.

Discovering the truth within yourself

First and foremost, I believe people should think and discover for themselves. All too often people discover something amazing in their own lives -- an epiphany, enlightenment, whatever they like to call it -- and try to impose it on others. I don't think that's the right way to do it. 

One person's enlightenment is not every other person's enlightenment. 

I do, however, believe in giving people the right nudges in the right direction.

Here's your nudge for the week.

Why should you get my tomatoes?

I tried to sit down and finally watch Capitalism: A Love Story today before my Netflix free-trial runs out tomorrow (this is the life of a girl living on a tight budget). I started shifting in my seat 20 minutes in and by the half-way point I needed to hit stop. It somewhat reminded me of when I was watching the remake of The Thing just a week or so ago; it was excessive and I didn't enjoy it. 

This isn't to say that Capitalism is a completely useless movie. In watching Moore, I think he is genuinely curious about what's going on with our country. And I think he does a decent job of trying to dig up the simple truths. However, I think he too often uncovers that the truths that presently govern our society are not simple -- rather, they are highly complicated. I think this frustrates him, and so he takes it out by producing things that forcefully try to hammer in his viewpoints into others' minds. 

Why are the systems on which our society functions so complicated? Because people have been working on these systems for thousands of years. It makes sense that the longer something keeps rolling, the more layers it will have, sort of how like a snowball turns into an avalanche. 

There's a reason for adding layers, too. The people at the top of the "food chain" don't want people they consider not savvy or capable to thrive alongside them. Now that the limit of our resources is hanging over our heads like a dark cloud, our way of living has become a competition for who gets what. The logic is simple: Say I have discovered a potion that vegetates my yard to six times the production but I don't have the time to pluck all the tomatoes. You come by and offer to pluck my tomatoes as long as you get to keep some. I figure this is a great idea. Then, one day, I make a tomato plucking machine. I realize I can replace you, and now I get to keep all my tomatoes. You are now worthless to me. But you still demand my tomatoes. Why should you get any?  

What I learned: 99% of you just don't care enough

My magic carpet post was meant as a social experiment.

Here in the United States people have been ranting and complaining, protesting and posting, about how much things supposedly suck. So I wanted to put people in the (theoretical) situation of being able to do something about it.

I gave people the opportunity to escape to a new world, where things could be better. I even recommended four leaders I thought might be fitting. Even further, I allowed people the opportunity to choose their own leader.

I invited approximately 700 people on my magic carpet ride to this new world. Of those, only 8 people responded, which translates to approximately 1%. This was a very, very sad statistic for me to review. I spent a significant amount of time trying to find a free and simple-to-use survey website that would allow the opportunity for limitless responses. I figured, how could people not answer just 5 basic questions??

My blog post received 138 views according to blogger, so there were certainly more people who started the journey, just not many who finished.

I began wondering why. I thought of a couple reasons for why people were discouraged:

1) They didn't know what it was for -- they perhaps did not, in fact, trust me enough to proceed

2) There was too much text and/or to much to do to proceed

3) There was too little time (only 60 hours) to execute

I think most people quite frankly got lost and confused.

So what can I conclude from this? Well, first and foremost, if I was to ever find myself in the midst of a zombie land, I thankfully now know the group of people I would roll with. Thank you, all eight of you, for being far more awesome than everyone else.

Next, I can conclude that if I ever want people to act on something, I need to provide instructions fitting for a five-year-old: minimal text, minimal work, and step-by-step how-tos and whys. (smh)

Last, I learned that things rarely succeed with the first round. So, look out, because there's a good chance that I will repeat this or something like it sometime in the near future.

Would you like to go on a magic carpet ride?

Hello,

I would like to take you on a magic carpet ride.

I have spent quite a bit of time recently visiting and revisiting TED talks I thought were especially wonderful.

For those of you unaware of what TED is, it is an organization that was started in 1984 as just a series of conferences. Now, TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) has become a massive online database of speakers from all across the world whose ideas fall into the category of "Ideas Worth Spreading."

Frankly, I think TED Talks, or something as intellectually stimulating as them, should be in everyone's daily agenda. Just like an apple keeps the doctor away, I think TED Talks keep the dumb away. Just like you can grab an apple on your way out, you can watch an under-20-minute talk during breakfast, lunch, or an afternoon lull.

Moving forward, I would like to do something interesting here. I am going to present a story to you and I want you to play along. The story goes as follows:

I arrive to you upon my magic carpet and offer you my hand for you to get on. Do you trust me?

YES.

NO.