Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself.
I’ve known this for a while intuitively (I think most of us do) and I had it confirmed by passages in the book The Science of Happiness. But here it is in a video…
…which hopefully makes up for the fact that I’ve been a slacker about writing it up.
Bonus: John Cleese of Monty Python fame reports on the same thing…
Julia has a lot of YouTube fans and she invited them all to help create her music video for her new song Binoculars. These kids make me so happy.
…that if she doesn’t let it out, she’ll probably explode. Check this out:
I have been sick this week. It started Sunday. I finally went to the doctor today, Friday, because it wasn’t getting better and I decided it must be a sinus infection, and I wanted antibiotics.
As a precaution they did a test for the H1N1 virus, which involved sticking a long cotton swab up my nose and then dipping it into a test tube. I may have it backwards, but I think she said, “Red is bad, blue is good.” I cracked a joke about political orientation and thought nothing of it.
I can’t have the dreaded Swine Flu, I thought. The media reports that it’s deadly and that you’ll be horribly ill and in the hospital. What I had, I thought, was a bad cold which turned into a sinus infection.
Well guess what. I do have the Swine Flu. I tested positive for H1N1.
And, also, I have a sinus infection.
Because of all the fear mongering going on about this dreaded flu, I have been taking extra vitamins and washing my hands so often you’d think it had become a compulsion. Maybe because of that, and also maybe because I’d gotten the regular (not H1N1) flu shot, my case is ultra mild.
My lungs are clear. I never ran a temperature. Two of the things closely associated with the H1N1 infection didn’t affect me.
What tipped off my doctor’s office that I might have it was the fact that I was having hot and cold flashes, that I was feeling bodily aches and pains (though not severe), and I did have the occasional dry cough. All my other symptoms were those of the sinus infection.
Because the onset was last Sunday it was too late to give me Tamiflu, and she said the worst of it was already past. True, because today I feel 80% better than I felt yesterday. I’m now on antibiotics for the infection, and am cleared to go back to work next Monday.
So as a layman, and not a doctor, here are my generalized recommendations, being that I’ve gone through this:
Personally, I am wondering how many people have had it, or will have it, and never notice. I wouldn’t have. Its a fluke that I got tested.
Communism, cold-war paranoia, and a missing high school (Morse Science High has disappeared!) add up to the strangest, funniest, and most bizarre comedy recording ever made.
“The Howl of the Wolf Movie! Presenting honest stories of working people portrayed by rich, Hollywood stars!”
It’s on UTV … “For YOU, the viewer!”
And don’t forget…
“…you can believe me, because I never lie … and I’m always right.”
What the hell does all this mean?
Well, your guess is as good as mine. But if you’re an intelligent person with a strong affinity for the bizarre, you’ll enjoy it. Immensely.
“Stop calling me Fred. My name’s Adolf!”
This tidbit from the legendary Newt X sums it up perfectly: “Don’t Crush That Dwarf is unusual for comedy, in that, rather than focusing on live monologues or studio gags, it’s a unified concept album that encompasses the full space of an album (both sides of the original vinyl) and comes together more like a novel than a joke. The story that unifies the piece features George Leroy Tirebiter, who is handed some food physically THROUGH his TV and finds himself involved in an unfolding story of a life in hell.”
To really try to explain the story and its ramifications is almost impossible. You simply have to listen to it. Better yet, listen to it with a bunch of friends. Then sit around for hours analyzing it like the best and more interesting deep piece of philosophical literature you’ve ever heard performed on tape. This is Shakespeare from the drug-addled 1970’s. This is Goethe’s Faust filtered through Thorton Wilder’s Skin of Our Teeth. This is, as mentioned in the album itself, “Parallel Hell.”
“I’m going to cut off the soles of my shoes, sit in a tree, and learn to play the flute!”
Here’s the strangest thing – and I would take advantage of it if I were you, quick, before it gets corrected: On Amazon.com they sell the album as a digital download for $9.99. Right? But it only has two tracks on it, both over 20 minutes long, and if you buy them singly you get the whole album for $1.98 (99 cents a track). Ooops, somebody goofed!
This is my favorite of the Firesign Theater Albums, closely followed by The Giant Rat of Sumatra.
This young woman is so talented that it makes me proud to be a human being.
It’s a very good thing to have dreams and aspirations. The problem is, which ones do you chase? Which ones do you lock in as a goal, and work toward? For some people this is a no-brainer, but for others — especially creative types who have a very large range of interests — choosing can be difficult. So difficult, in fact, that you end up making no choice at all.
Another pitfall is choosing to pursue something that, in the end, you lose interest in. The time in your life is finite, and it’s a shame to waste that time and energy chasing something that turns out to be a whim. That’s why it’s best to take some time up front, studying, to discover what it is you really want out of life, before you dedicate a lot more time working toward it.
It’s like that Talking Heads song Seen and Not Seen, where the guy spends years slowly changing the shape of his own face to an ideal, which — halfway through — he decides isn’t what he really wants.
Here’s what I did, and it worked for me. Maybe it will work for you as well.
Spend a couple weeks making a list of the things you really want out of life. Don’t be afraid to think big. What is it you really want?
Don’t worry about listing them in order, and if you think of something else later, you can add it in at any time.
My [highly edited] personal example:
Make sure you don’t lose this list. I kept mine on my Palm Pilot, because I carried it with me everywhere. You can keep it on your computer, in a blog, or in a notebook you know you won’t lose. It doesn’t matter where, just as long as it’s accessible and safe.
Now, over the course of the next 6 months to a year (or even longer if you’d like), go down this list and rate your desire for each one on a scale from zero to ten, using decimals if you so choose. Do it at least once a month. When you’re done, you’ll have a list of numbers beside each:
You can see immediately the goals I’ve consistently craved over time are things like a beach house and a really cool camera (I’m leaning toward either a Nikon or Canon digital SLR). One of the things obviously a whim was my desire to open a Starbucks of my very own.
Now, average each one up and sort them highest to lowest:
And there you go. You have a well researched list of what you want out of life. Concentrate on the top of the list, and forget about everything averaging below a seven in your ratings.
I did this about three years ago. I’ve achieved the top item on the list, and am now working toward the others. (Being that the camera was so close to being a seven, it’s still on my list of goals, but it’s a lower priority.)
Now, right in the middle of all this, you may stumble into something else that fires your rockets. Add it in. Pursue it a bit. Study it as well.
The most important thing is to make sure you enjoy it, and keep enjoying it. It could turn out that something on your list (that you’ve wanted for over a year) will suddenly drop off after you’ve started pursing it. Maybe something you pursued while you were making your list takes its place.
It’s okay. If you feel a passion for something, and the passion doesn’t fade, you may not even need to make a list or study your long term desires.
If that happens, then I am happy for you! Go for it!
If not, then at least you have a solid place to start. And everything you do, learn from it. If you can do that, then nothing is wasted, and you’re living your life to its fullest.
[Updated with Sago Palm and Xylitol]
An email showed up this morning warning me not to feed grapes or raisins to dogs, and I thought … oh that’s BS. I’m checking Snopes.com.
But sure enough, it’s true. It can cause their kidneys to fail. So I read on and found a number of things we eat that are poisonous to our canine family members:
I don’t currently have a dog, but plan to adopt one again someday, and I’m going to keep this list handy (and updated here on the web) because I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Every first grader knows that 1+1=2. Those who’ve read George Orwell might also say they’re familiar with the concept of 2+2=5. Today I’m going to tell you that in some circumstances, 1+1=11.
The number 11 is a perfect symbol for a strong, loving relationship made of two very compatible people.
Of course, when one person joins with another it makes two people. But in a really good relationship synergy gets involved, so that the total is greater than the sum of the two individuals. Two people can bond and reinforce each other to become much more than just two. Much stronger than two. More confident than two. More capable than two.
So you add 1 and 1 together, it makes 2, or it makes 11. It’s a different way of putting the ones together, but symbolically it works.
The number 11 depicts two ones standing together to make one number, yet that number is far greater than the sum of one and one. And while being a single number, they retain their individuality, standing side by side, inseparable, reinforcing each other.
Just like two people in a strong loving relationship.
Two pillars standing side by side will support far more than twice of what either pillar would individually. Two minds, put together, can brainstorm far better. Two passions together can ignite hotter, stronger flames.
The number 11 is also a prime number, which cannot be divided by anything other than itself.
All this is why, to me, 11 is the number of true love.
In this modern society faced with limitless choices, do you sometimes feel paralyzed?
Join the club. At no other time in history has a book like this been necessary, let alone popular.
In a culture that celebrates freedom via offering limitless choices, here’s a book coming along saying that what we really need in order to be free is to set limits on ourselves.
Perfect example: On a recent episode of WNYC’s Radio Lab, the show hosts are faced with a dazzling array of fruit and their task is to pick just one. While co-host Robert uses his gut instinct and just grabs something, co-host Jad deliberates agonizingly over which one to choose. He’s almost paralyzed by the array of choices spread out before him, and he finds that he fears — horror of horrors — making the wrong decision.
That’s our modern life in a nutshell.
Leo Babauta’s book, The Power of Less, is a brilliant guide toward circumventing this modern problem. The solution? Some soul searching and introspection to determine what it is that you really want to do in your life, and list these as your essentials. Then examine what you are actually doing with your life, and start limiting yourself to tasks and goals that are aligned with your essentials — and systematically eliminating everything else.
Let me tell you, over the last few months I’ve toted this book with me literally half way around the globe, reading it on airplanes, hotel rooms, restaurants — and taking extensive notes. The book is brilliant in its simplicity, and also in its scope. For something so focused it delves into every aspect of your life, guiding you through discovering what is essential to you and helping you limit yourself to that which gets you to your essentials. Not only in your personal life, but in your professional one as well.
It challenged me in some areas, it gave me many “Ah-hah!” moments, and it also echoed a lot of things I’d already decided were truths in my life. But nowhere in the book did it strike a sour note — the philosophy is pure, easy, and true.
I recommend this book, and also, I recommend listening to the Radio Lab’s podcast on choices as a companion. They reinforce each other as well as expand each other’s horizons. And here’s an open suggestion both to Leo and to the guys at Radio Lab — you need to get together and do a show on The Power of Less. The synergy would be fantastic.
Leo’s blog: Zen Habits Book website: The Power of Less
Buy the book here: Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Borders
Listen to the Radio Lab podcast on Choices: “Choice” by Radio Lab