As I sat thinking and dreaming, I sought inspiration. Thinking it would never appear, my thoughts drifted off on its own having a bit of a wander.
Suddenly, like a slap to the head, it hit me…inspiration does not flow in, it bursts out! When something sparks your imagination, the creativity explodes out of you.
Hmmmmm…….
Awards…we all like it when people recognize that we have done something good. Let’s face it, when we make a mistake, we hear about that to know end by lots of people. Thus the occasional recognition gives us that momentary boost in esteem, confidence, and ego to try even harder to get more recognition.
And what do we do with the clinkage of trophies, certificates, awards, goodies, and various other “Thanks for the Hard Work” chatchkis? We make places for them on our mantlepieces, our walls, our shelves, some even build special rooms to hold all their goodies.
While I begrudge no one for earning their awards, and do respect all their hard work, there are some who will never be eligibe for such achevements and yet they deserve praise as well. THink of the soldier who has to keep the machinery operational? What about the guy who makes sure you have food to purchase in the grocer? How about that person who held the door open for you while you got your groceries into the building and out of the rain? How about the friend who made you laugh until you had a bit of an “accident”?
Perhaps it is time to begin actually saying “Thank You” instead of having all the pomp and ceremony of yet another certificate or trophy that may or may not be remembered in years to come. Just a thought.
I’m the curious sort of shpek. Nothing special, just intensely curious. There are so many inspirations blonking about around us and yet we don’t (or can’t or won’t) see them.
Spent time chatting with a new friend the other day, yes, I do make new friends on occasion, and one of the topics of discussion had to do with inspiration. I asked my new friend, “What inspires you?” to which came a blank look. This, in itself, inspired my mind to begin churning and the squeaky wheels began klunking along. The more I pondered this, the more my mind began to aimlessly wander about. Then…….like the piano out of nowhere that smacks Wile E. Coyote on the noggin, it hit me! Some people are inspired to be uninspired!
Now before you give me that sideways, “You’ve got to be missing a few beans from the pot” look, consider the implication! There are some people who seem to be completely lacking in creative thought and haven’t seemed to have a creative thought in their lives. Why? Because they are inspired to be uninspired. Some appear to be rather robotic. Some seem to be without a spark of life.
And then there are the others. The ones who are find inspirationalosity at every turn and in every speck of floating dust bit. Yet the proof is in the answer to the question, “What inspires you?” Everything……nothing…..or “uhhhhhhhh…..wut?”
What inspires YOU?
“When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it:
admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it.”
~Paul “Bear” Bryant
Great Outdoors? Are you NUTS?
There was a time when I found camping to be quite the enjoyable activity. Of course, that included a refrigerator, shower, cushy seats, and above all else, air conditioning (btw, this is another way of describing a hotel room). That was when I was much younger and far more adventurous. Then came the day that I supposedly grew up and decided it was time to get out and see the world, courtesy of the Army. I had seen all the advertisements regaling the military lifestyle as “Be All You Can Be” which I found to be distressingly vague and highly inaccurate. Permit me to pause here to insert a word, or several, the great outdoors……they make me appreciate the Great INDOORS all the more.
Let me be perfectly clear, I bear the military no ill will. We’re good. I will admit that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with you, with a few minor exceptions, and would highly recommend the experience to anyone seeking a change. One of the aforementioned exceptions has to do with the military version of “camping.” I specifically signed up for a Communications assignment because of the fact that, in communications, the equipment needs to be kept cool which means…we don’t grunt it about on our backs, we drive it around in large trucks with air conditioning.
Perhaps, I should have realized there was something amiss when my recruiter didn’t even let the pen vacate the page at the end of my signature before snatching the enlistment contract away and, with a grin like Dracula about to feed, smiled and said “Welcome to the Army.” I will admit, Basic Training was tough. Lots of yelling, noise, and tossing of items about. Even more spitting on and polishing of everything that wasn’t breathing until the sparkle could be seen for miles, at which point we had to don camouflage to cover up anything that might sparkle so we couldn’t be seen.
We also learned that just because one can yell very loudly and possesses an incredible thesaurus of profanities, does in no way guarantee that said loud person is able to read a map. My Drill Sergeant, who is undoubtedly a wonderful human being, but is highly directionally challenged, marched us out into the wilderness for a few days of adventure. I must point out at this juncture, that the Army idea of “camping” means each soldier (aka “ground pounder”) carries half of everything while his buddy carries the other half. Yes, that means I had half of a tent on my back and my buddy had the other half; I had half the food in my pack and he had the other half; and you get the picture. Subsequently, upon arrival at, what we thought was our destination, since our Drill Sergeant told us to drop our packs and dig a large hole over which we assembled a long bench of sorts (which we discovered later the purpose).
There are several things I could, and probably should, point out in detail regarding this “adventure” for future reference, but I’ll stick to a few generalities instead:
While I enjoyed my time in the military, I have reached the point in my life where I now have a recliner, a remote, indoor plumbing, and air conditioning so THERE!!!
My Second SUNSHINE AWARD!
There’s no way to continue without expressing my gratitude, admiration, and appreciation to Pia Valentin for this recommendation and nomination. Go forth and shower her with lots of love, gifts, and the occasional stalkery act. WOW! I am humbled and actually pretty much at a loss for words except to say THANK YOU!! And then give a big hug! Yeah Yeah, people get nominated all the time……well, I can tell you that this is extremely wonderful to me, because it means someone actually read my words and like them!
There is, of course, a catch to this extraordinary honor….that being the rules. As a rule, I’m not a HUGE fan of arbitrary rules, but in this case I will make an exception to my rule. The rules are as follows, in no particular order (here’s where I get to break the rules):
Here are The Sunshine Award rules:
• Include the award’s logo in a post or on your blog.
• Answer 10 questions about yourself (I’m changing the questions too).
• Nominate 10-12 other fabulous bloggers.
• Link your nominees to this post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.
• Share the love and link the person who nominated you.
And here are my 10 answers to the 10 questions:
1. Favorite sandwich? Peanut Butter, Swiss, and Turkey with Fritos between the turkey and the cheese.
2. What Is Your Quest? To wander about this life enjoying many of the sights, sounds, a few of the smells, and sharing a smile where possible.
3. Favorite Fruit? Fresh
4. Favorite Dessert? YES
5. Favorite Hobby? People Watching
6. My passion? This one is remains BREATHING!
7. Do you have a secret talent or hobby? If I told you then it wouldn’t be secret now would it? But YES I do.
8. Beach, Mountains or Desert? Love the beach, Like the desert, not much on the mountains though.
9. Favorite day of the week? The ones ending in “y”
10. Favorite Song? “I Don’t Wanna Stop” by Ozzy Osbourne (when he was still coherent).
And my 10 – 12 Nominees are……..(insert appropriate fanfare here)………The first 10 – 12 people to read this!
If you’ve ever seen a ship in a bottle (that is done well) it lends itself to the curiosity as to how did the artisan get that ship into the bottle? While the truth of the matter is rather simple (it was assembled inside the bottle, which is a talent unto itself), the actuality of my point is this: Why is it SO important for us to know how it was done, instead of appreciating the fact it was done and done well?
Who cares HOW? Just enjoy!
I’ve got one of those personalities that tends to wonder (and wander) about things that are pretty much useless tidbits of information. For example, I wonder about “Firsts”:
I remember as a child, and YES I was once a child, asking all sorts of questions trying to figure out “why?” and being told by many a frustrated (and longsuffering) adult that I should really spend more time appreciating the inventions instead of constantly trying to figure out why or how. This is true up to a point, I believe. We do need to appreciate the things of life we enjoy, for we do take them for granted far too often. Yet if we are satisfied and become complacent, then there can be no discovery or invention.
Imagine if the Neanderthals were satisfied roaming about the countryside fire free and clothing free. Gnawing on bits and branches they find lying about. What would we be doing right now?
Ponder, appreciate, and seek!
I’ve known for many years that I am my own worst judge. After all, I live with me 24 hours a day, and can tell you that it’s not exactly the joy ride I was hoping for, but one does what one can with what one has to work with. We’ve reached a cordial agreement of toleration wherein I judge my actions and words, but I don’t judge me. Easier said than done though.
Have you ever done that? Judging yourself I mean, not the having a schizophrenic conversation with oneself? We spend a lot of our time passing judgment on others and ourselves. We are our own worst enemy. And why? So we can look better to someone else? To feel better about ourselves? What’s the purpose?
Is it really REALLY necessary that we have to be so harsh with one another and ourselves?
We are only here for a brief time, so why not make the best of our time? Take time to encourage yourself and others. Okay, encourage yourself inside your own mind, because doing so out loud might raise a few eyebrows and invoke the arrival for the nice people with the white jacket with wrap around sleeves.
Speak encouragement. Not the cheesy overbaked cliches, but the truth of encouragement. So we have to ask, if justice is blind, wouldn’t it also be logical that it would be deaf and mute as well?
Life is tough! No big surprise about that. But what I do find surprising are the number of people who have decided that life is too much effort to live, so they go through the motions of the day sucking the life out of everyone around them. These are the Zombies we were warned about.
They are about a difficult to spot as the movie Zombie.
Here’s my point, if you an believe it and are still awake this long (congratulations, by the way):
I’ll leave you with three (count them…..3) wonderful quotes:
“My future starts when I wake up every morning…
Every day I find something creative to do with my life.”
~Miles Davis
“I finally figured out the reason to be alive is to enjoy it.” ~Rita Mae Brown
“Fear not that your life shall come to an end, for it shall;
rather fear that it shall never have begun.”
~John Henry Cardinal Newman
It’s YOUR life! Choose how you intend to live it. It isn’t always easy, and sometimes, to be brutally honest, life is a cruel bitch! But the life is still YOURS. You may not be able to control how others interact with you, but you can control how YOU interact with others.
Change your perspective as needed…….put on the big boy (or girl) undies…..and let’s get about this life thing together.
Each Day Is New!
Have you ever wanted to create a little chaos? And did you?
Did you know you can create chaos without getting arrested?
You will probably get some pretty odd looks, but it’s perfectly legal and safe!
So here is how you Create some Chaos in your world……
Are you ready?
Sure? Go get a snack. We won’t start without you.
Do you need to feed the tarantula? The snake? The dog? Cats are on their own.
Okay….comfy?
In order to Create some Chaos…….change how you think. Simple, isn’t it?
Think about it, every single day of your life is new! A brand new day every single day. Instead of trudging about as if you were attempting to pull the Titanic off the ocean floor, make sure to enjoy the gift of today. It’s the only today you get before it becomes yesterday. And….since you can’t change yesterday…make the most of today!
We expend far too much of ourselves trying to either cling to the past, fight the past, or prepare for the future, that we neglect the present! Take that chance and annoy those around you by laughing more, smiling more, lighten up, have more fun! Remember when you were a kid and you’d take off outdoors at full speed to a day of fun? What happened? We quit living and “grew up” which to some people means you are no longer allowed to enjoy anything forevermore.
Have you seen those people who look like they’re angry ALL of the time? Don’t they look old? Create Some Chaos and BE WEIRD!!!
I'm weird!
I'm odd!
I'm eccentric!
But most important....I'm me!
