I've developed a love for writing poems. So here is a Shakespearean sonnet about the flame within!
How darkness threatens to overtake me
The foreboding presence that lingers around
A black panther waiting to pounce upon thee
A dark sky forming shadows over ground
But the everlasting flame burns inside
Neither does it burn too hot nor too cold
Like an infant sunrise frozen in time
Enough light breaking the grip darkness holds
Frozen yet fantastically set ablaze
Mighty winds whose team is adversity
Threaten, rooting for stillness of no flame
May it waiver back and forth possibly
Like a drunken sailor while out to sea
Yet the flame within stays lit guarding me
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
2 Words You Should Limit
There are some words in your vocabulary you just shouldn't use or at least limit. No, I'm not talking about swearing. These two words catch people up and limit their actions. Put a limit on these words, don't let them put a limit on you.
#1 Try
This seems like an okay word, doesn't it? What then, is so bad about the word try? Shouldn't we all try to do our best?
a) I'm gonna try to lose 5 pounds next month.
b) I'm gonna lose 5 pounds next month.
What one sounds better? Letter b sounds a whole lot more empowering to me. You see, young grasshopper, try is used only when failure is expected. Try invites failure to hang around. Yoda had it right all along, for there really is no try; it's either mission accomplished or not. I realize that yes, just because people say the word try doesn't always mean they intend to fail. We say it out of habit. But maybe it's time to toss this habit. Maybe it's time to start empowering ourselves more. We can do this by limiting this one word. Some of you might be thinking well, what if i don't say try but still end up failing. That's perfectly alright.
I'm losing 5 pounds next month. When i said that, i intended to meet that goal. I didn't go into it thinking i might or might not lose the weight. I didn't intend for failure to happen but it did. That just means i have to work harder and convert that unburned potential into work and that work into results. Potential is always there, even during failure. You see, i believe it all boils down to the unconscious mind. When you eliminate that three letter word from your sentence, you in a sense eliminate failure. Your brain then has to think of ways to achieve that goal!
#2 Talent
Talent really is a nasty little word. It does an effective job limiting peoples' potential. A lot of people get caught up on this word; i know I use to. The talent definition straight out of the dictionary: a special natural ability or aptitude. Where many people go wrong, is thinking that unless they were born with it, they won't ever have this so called talent. That, my friend, is completely untrue. Talent has the dirty trick of masking over it's contender, that of skill. Skill has just the opposite effect on people. Much like learning to play an instrument; people believe they can acquire the skill. Generally, they believe they weren't born without the capacity to learn.
Now don't get me wrong, there's always going to be people with whom things come easy. There's always going to be people who blow you away with their awesome creative works. But they too at one point had to master the techniques and skills at which they are now so good at. They had to master them even if they came easier than with other people. You see, it is possible to become "talented". The way I see it, the only pure form of talent is the talent of mastering skills. And that's something I believe everyone is born with. The key thing to remember is that perseverance and desire can get you further than talent alone. Read my blog post, Can You Walk Away, for my own run in with talent vs. skill. Also, head on over to After the Rain for an excellent post on talent and skill.
An additional word you shouldn't use: HELL
If you knew how bad Hell really was, you wouldn't use the word so lightly.
#1 Try
This seems like an okay word, doesn't it? What then, is so bad about the word try? Shouldn't we all try to do our best?
a) I'm gonna try to lose 5 pounds next month.
b) I'm gonna lose 5 pounds next month.
What one sounds better? Letter b sounds a whole lot more empowering to me. You see, young grasshopper, try is used only when failure is expected. Try invites failure to hang around. Yoda had it right all along, for there really is no try; it's either mission accomplished or not. I realize that yes, just because people say the word try doesn't always mean they intend to fail. We say it out of habit. But maybe it's time to toss this habit. Maybe it's time to start empowering ourselves more. We can do this by limiting this one word. Some of you might be thinking well, what if i don't say try but still end up failing. That's perfectly alright.
I'm losing 5 pounds next month. When i said that, i intended to meet that goal. I didn't go into it thinking i might or might not lose the weight. I didn't intend for failure to happen but it did. That just means i have to work harder and convert that unburned potential into work and that work into results. Potential is always there, even during failure. You see, i believe it all boils down to the unconscious mind. When you eliminate that three letter word from your sentence, you in a sense eliminate failure. Your brain then has to think of ways to achieve that goal!
#2 Talent
Talent really is a nasty little word. It does an effective job limiting peoples' potential. A lot of people get caught up on this word; i know I use to. The talent definition straight out of the dictionary: a special natural ability or aptitude. Where many people go wrong, is thinking that unless they were born with it, they won't ever have this so called talent. That, my friend, is completely untrue. Talent has the dirty trick of masking over it's contender, that of skill. Skill has just the opposite effect on people. Much like learning to play an instrument; people believe they can acquire the skill. Generally, they believe they weren't born without the capacity to learn.
Now don't get me wrong, there's always going to be people with whom things come easy. There's always going to be people who blow you away with their awesome creative works. But they too at one point had to master the techniques and skills at which they are now so good at. They had to master them even if they came easier than with other people. You see, it is possible to become "talented". The way I see it, the only pure form of talent is the talent of mastering skills. And that's something I believe everyone is born with. The key thing to remember is that perseverance and desire can get you further than talent alone. Read my blog post, Can You Walk Away, for my own run in with talent vs. skill. Also, head on over to After the Rain for an excellent post on talent and skill.
An additional word you shouldn't use: HELL
If you knew how bad Hell really was, you wouldn't use the word so lightly.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Memory Photos
You know what i hate sometimes? How times goes by and things feel like they're fading into memory. I know you cannot control this process but still i don't like it. In a way, things seem like they never really happened. Like it was all in a dreamland or something.
It seems just a short while ago i was sitting in my apartment at my desk being so grateful for the current moment because i knew this day would come. I thought about how I'm going to miss coming back to my own place with my friends around me. And that no matter how much i bitched about classes, i was truly glad to go through them if it meant having what i didn't really have in high school. To relearn what i had forgotten: what a good friend is really like. If I was bored, I could just go over to the other room to my friends and we could help each other procrastinate. Yes, that last semester i probably lived more in the moment than i ever did. I wanted to capture what no picture could.
Do you ever look at something and take a picture of it only to discover that it wasn't as good as what you saw? That's because your eyes are the best camera and your memory is the best photo. To have a photo from the memory really is the best thing. Way better than an actual photo i think. Because a memory photo is a 3D picture; it contains the sounds, the feeling, the smell....everything you can think of really. Yes, an actual photo can do this but really all it's doing is reminding you of that memory photo. That's its job... of being the second best to remind you of the first.
I'm so grateful because i feel like i have a lot of those memory photos. And knowing that makes me feel a little better when I look back and realize time really does go on by.
It seems just a short while ago i was sitting in my apartment at my desk being so grateful for the current moment because i knew this day would come. I thought about how I'm going to miss coming back to my own place with my friends around me. And that no matter how much i bitched about classes, i was truly glad to go through them if it meant having what i didn't really have in high school. To relearn what i had forgotten: what a good friend is really like. If I was bored, I could just go over to the other room to my friends and we could help each other procrastinate. Yes, that last semester i probably lived more in the moment than i ever did. I wanted to capture what no picture could.
Do you ever look at something and take a picture of it only to discover that it wasn't as good as what you saw? That's because your eyes are the best camera and your memory is the best photo. To have a photo from the memory really is the best thing. Way better than an actual photo i think. Because a memory photo is a 3D picture; it contains the sounds, the feeling, the smell....everything you can think of really. Yes, an actual photo can do this but really all it's doing is reminding you of that memory photo. That's its job... of being the second best to remind you of the first.
I'm so grateful because i feel like i have a lot of those memory photos. And knowing that makes me feel a little better when I look back and realize time really does go on by.
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