It's interesting that my post from Dec. 1st is a sunset. Really, on a cold day how do you tell the difference between it and a sunrise?
I've been doing a thing or two since Dec. 1st. I just finished losing the 30 lbs I said I would. I can attribute the last few pounds at least to a vegetarian diet (yeah, that's new too). Unfortunately, I can also attribute some of it to loss of muscle (I hear it weighs more) - so I am exercising now (new again). I am even getting up at 5:30 every day and sleeping less by going polyphasic (I qualify because I take 2 naps instead of one). My focus on sleep has been helped by quitting caffeine and alcohol.
But there is one other little thing I am working on - which caused the recent silence in posts. I am figuring out my true life purpose by the end of the year. I'm confident in success, but time is understandably short. I am writing my way through exercises, but once you start digging on a subject like that you fall right in - no time to clean it up for audiences. Although I did feel guilty enough to leave comments on Speroni's blog (note to self - put him on a link section, as he has been kind enough to do).
So what comes next? Well, I am going to expand the scope of the blog into more traditional areas. I will use it to discuss thoughts on purpose and the order of life.
You know, I think I will add posting daily to the list of habits I am cultivating. It will teach consistent action - even in the face of imperfection. Some may be surprised that I have a serious side - but worry not, the more important something is, the more amusing it can be.
I have to warn you about a conflict though - another of the habits I am cultivating is to not talk about myself. It recently came to my attention that a vast majority of conversations involve one person waiting for the other to finish talking so that they may tell a related story from their life. I have yet to put my finger squarely on the positive rush you get from talking about yourself and your experiences, but it is a near-universal sensation. Thus, I have made it a habit (in addition to cultivating better speaking skills such as dropping "umms") to not tell my stories - and even to move away from couching statements with "I think" or "I can see" or "in my opinion". Of course it's your opinion - that should be assumed.
This is an exception to that habit, because it is squarely within common use of blogs to talk all about yourself. Endlessly. That's kinda their purpose. Originally I shied away from this - that is why it was a photoblog. I wanted to provide content - in the way of humor - not another "blog about what my cat did". I would continue with this philosophy even now were it not for two things. One, I would like your input on my thoughts. Part of my search strategy is to listen (really listen, as best I can) to other people. As I bring up topics, I would value your sincere input. Two, this dialog on purpose and experiences I am having will hopefully be informative to you. It is my hope that I can share all the tips I find on how to "live well" - and that some will be useful.
Living well involves a lot of things, foremost among them is living happy. Maybe we can learn to live happy together.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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9 comments:
Impressed, confused, wished we still spoke...
Huh, my rss feed failed me, but for some reason my 6th or even my 7th sense was right on the money. Hmm... I should check out Frosty's blog. I was going to razz you some more about not posting for a while. Although you have come back with a vengence.
I mush congratulate you on your moving toward a better lifestyle and the benefits it has yielded. I was meaning to tell you that you were looking extra dashing lately.
I ache at the idea of 5:30. However your motivation is inspirational, quite inspiriational. Vegetarian? I am curious why? (Make sure you have lots of peanut butter and soy, you'll need protien.)
I'm not sure the purpose of life is traditional for a blog. You were closer with the idea of cat talk.
I look forward to posts of more subtance, they are more fun to comment on. I'll comment often and in depth. :-D
In a way it's impossible not to talk about yourself. Every thing you say is a thought of your own, derived from an experience you had. Although there is different degrees of this. One can be totally selfish and talking about their feelings and express a personal opinion on everything in an ego centric kind of way. Or one can be relaying an amusing anecdote about being on fire, which when told for the amusement of others isn't really as bad. But I guess if you are talking about philosophy, and you leave out the fact that you are expressing your own view on it, its probably the least you can be talking about yourself. I am guilty of indulging in the art of self talk quite a bit and in the worst ways. I'm quite introspective and always want to compare notes to see if my subjective experience of being me lines up with other peoples perceptions. That being said I am trying to funnel those kinds of thoughts into the blog, as you mentioned is a good place for it.
_I_ would like to point out something ironic that _I_ noticed with _my_ experience of the reality around _me_; when _I_ post on _my_blog, or when _I_ leave comments on others, _I_ find my self anxiously awaiting for replies. _I_ genuinely want to hear what other people have to say. That being said I'll try more so to limit the self centric talk outside of the blogosphere.
I don't quite post daily, but I am posting pretty regularly, and with varying depth.
I am quite aware of the serious side. In fact I prefer it. Although the interjections of humor are quite appreciated as well.
So planning to determine your purpose by the end of the year...? If it were anyone else I would scoff at the idea, however you have shown true gumption in your goals so far. I am interested to see what you come up with, I am expecting sound logic, and not just a whim. More so I am interested in the mechanism by which you come to this conclusion.
Far be it from me to redline your comments (unless it is solicited - perhaps in relation to a book?) but "I mush congratulate you" made me chuckle out loud - and since I've just recently added sit-ups to my routine... it hurt ;)
RE: the diet - I'll post on that directly, but your push for protein is oddly peanut-butter-centric... do I sense a personal penchant for PB? BTW, I just found out I've been mutilating "penchant" my entire life (whadda ya mean it isn't "penchance"). It's times like these that I feel like someone from the future just went time traveling to hunt dinosaurs and stepped on a butterfly.
Excellent term - "self talk" (have you noticed I'm addressing each paragraph sequentially - kinda like a gradeschooler's pen-pal letter) although I just realized you had a "centric" in there. Self talk just got filed away in the vocab none the less.
_I_ wonder how much impact on quality of life there would be if there was an external counter for all of us that summed the number of times you used "I" "me" "my" versus "you" and "your". It appears that we are in agreement that regardless of stating it or not, everything is "in your opinion".
Re: you posting - you are refreshingly frequent and - with the addition of your story - providing unique content. The only reason I aim for daily is so that readers will be able to make reading the blog a habit - and you know how I am about habits now ;)
_I_ appreciate the vote of confidence and the compliment it entails... as far as the method of my purpose exploration, I'll be posting on that directly as well.
See you on the front page ;)
Hmm - double carriage returns appear to be necessary.
I will do better next time...
@anonymous
So speak.
So in some blogs (Slashdot for example) you have a comment structure such that you can comment to the main post or directly to comments.
Also about my mistype, on my beloved laptop which is all tricked out there's automatic spell checker. On my work computer I am forced to use IE, and this is no good for me, so then I sometimes get a little lazy about the spelling/sentence strurucururture.
Kudos on all of the self-improvement plans :) Many of them are things which I know I couldn't do, but I have a lot of respect for those who can (exercising, 5:30 waking and vegetarianism among them).
I agree that yes, most conversations are series' of "This happened to me." "Well, this related story happened to me." "Well, blah blah blah" and so on. However, I'm not really in agreement that there's something -wrong- with that. Yes, listening more closely is certainly a positive, but if all you're restricting yourself to is "Well, that's fascinating" and not contributing anything of your own before you go back to typing (or whatever)... it could be a bit of a let-down to the person telling the story. IMO, naturally.
On meanings of lives or lack thereof, though, I've got nothing to say. Literally. Heh.
Cheers,
-Laura
Some say they strive for happiness and betterment of life, never really change their way of living and ponder the reasons for the lack of change. My applause to you in your endeavor and many wishes for your success and continued enlightenment. May your road be filled with positive habits, but leave room for a few bumps as bumps make for great stories, even if you do not wish to share them.
And I would note that your new look has not gone unnoticed, however, I hate being only an echoed voice of redundency getting lost in the the croud.
I too have noticed the give, wait and take rhythm of an average conversation. While it may not always be the most philisophical of discussions, this style of conversation allows a sharing of personal information and experience which can facilitate release, enjoyment, interest, learning, and a general sense of closeness or understanding between the participating parties. At its core, I cannot understand how this style of conversation could be considered a bad thing. I, for one, would certainly come to miss frosty's stories of heartfelt expression should they begin to disappear entirely. At the same time, I also enjoy hearing/reading his thoughts and ideas in his exploration of his life, which one could say, is an abstract story unto itself.
And to those who wish to speak, but do not, I would say this...speaking in a contributory manner is a noble thing. However, speaking at the degredation of others for no other reason than to hear yourself loudly proclaim a fleeting thought, which may be of no consequence to you a minute post, but which could have a lasting personal effect on another, should be carefully considered.
I shall end with this, as I have not yet begun to create any positive new habits such as spell checking or proof reading my typing, you may have to cope with the occasional spelling and gramatical error. My apologies.
All of your heartfelt input is greatly appreciated... I'm torn between replying in the comment section or rolling it together into new posts - I'm taking more of the latter route to keep my thoughts together better - they need all the help they can get ;)
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