(note: I am challenging myself to write every day for 30 days. What follows may not necessarily be interesting or even coherent. Parental discretion is advised.)
Brutus. Popeye’s adversary. Spinach, Popeye’s ally.
Robin Williams. Boy Meets Girl. Wonderwall.
Ergonomics. Professional courtesy. Trauma.
Self-healing. Psychedelics. Mushrooms and cake.
These are the random words that are streaming from my mind right now. With no real idea of what to talk about, I’m letting the words flow as they please.
Sometimes it makes me wonder where they are coming from. There was a study done years ago that produced very interesting results as to answering the age-old question of determinism vs free-will.
This study asked each of the participants to think about raising their finger and then reporting the thought the second they are asked to do so. So, the idea here is of figuring out what came first — the thought or the action? And in this experiment, they had people hooked up to a device which measured neural activity, specifically the area of the brain responsible for motor control.
The results seem to prove that action preceded thoughts.
Understand why this is so weird. Like, even my typing on the keyboard right now is not actually consciously being realized. For instance, I’m not thinking about pressing the E key or the T or the W as I’m typing these words. It’s automatic. It happens without any real thinking.
Or the thinking is being done on a level deeper than conscious awareness, like a reflex. Like breathing or the beating of a heart.
And… that’s fascinating to me. There are times when I sit still and observe thoughts that wander into my mind and wonder where the heck are they coming from? This is a normal question to ask within the practice of meditation, but it can apply at any moment where an idea “pops” in or an observation or a desire or feeling that didn’t seem to… originate from a conscious vantage point.
I thought about writing the entirety of this post in a stream-of-consciousness style where I wouldn’t ever stop typing and let words flow. Somehow it resulted in this fairly coherent description of the above-mentioned experiment and… It’s strange. It really is odd how… order manages to emerge from chaos without my feeling like… I’m directing it, although I obviously am.
I’ve spoken to many people about writing over the years, such as my mother, who I tried to convince should write a memoir about her life. She knows it’s a great idea because she has a lot of stories to share, but at the same time, she has no confidence in her ability to write well.
And… I don’t think that should be true of anyone. I think we all have this ability to express our thoughts. Through our mouths, or through our fingers, even in dance and poetry and painting and song… Through carpentry, sculpture… There are so many avenues of expression available that whenever someone says “I wouldn’t be good at that” I keep thinking… just find out what you enjoy doing and try different ways of expressing yourself until you unlock the door to your greatness.
Because… in all sincerity, I believe each of us are interesting people who have interesting thoughts and live interesting lives. That might be a bit of a stretch for some who may consider themselves dull and without depth, but I truly believe that depth of emotion and thought is inherent in all living beings. It’s also relative to the observer. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, as they say. My story and life may be the most fascinating tale when told to an African tribesman who has never experienced the Western world, for example.
So… As I started this post, I had no idea of what I wanted to say. 24 days in a row of writing every day has made me less focused on coming up with ideas for things to write and more focused on just getting it done.
And… The results speak for themselves. I’m impressed with some of what I wrote so far, and I am not feeling so great about other things, but ultimately, I found stuff to write about even when I felt like I couldn’t or that I didn’t have enough time, or whatever excuse or obstacle that I would point at to keep me from achieving my goal.
Writing. It’s… liberating… I can write garbage and feel okay with that because I’m not obliged to impress anyone on here. This is about effort and not quality. It’s about… challenging myself to do something that I didn’t think I could really do or would want to do because… I’m very much an “inspiration” guy. I like taking my time, waiting for lightning to strike and then nail it onto paper with a flurry of frenzied fingers before it retreats back into the ether from which it came. I like to plan, I want to put the best possible version of myself out there. Sometimes that keeps me from doing anything at all.
Years ago I did a National Novel Writing challenge where, in 30 days, you are expected to write 50,000 words of a novel. Some novels actually are about 50,000 words and to think that I achieved this was quite a turning point in my life. I realized that yes, I can find things to write if I truly desire to write. The only thing that prevents me from doing so is myself. As long as expression is thought of as important and comes from a place of duty — I feel that inspiration is more of a cherry on top of whatever is accomplished.
We may not have that perfect body after going to the gym three times a week for six months, but it’s not really our appearance that gives us fuel to motivate ourselves with, it’s the effort we put in. The way we challenge ourselves and push the boundaries of what we feel ourselves to be capable of.
That’s where the excitement really is.
And that brings me once again to realizing the importance of a few things.
Faith. Have faith in who you are and your worth as an individual. You’re worthy, you know it, even if you feel like you’re not.
Ability. Have faith in your ability, because so much can be accomplished if you removed the psychological barriers you’ve placed in front of your goals.
Goals. Goals are the direction in which we orient ourselves. Small goals, big goals, they don’t even matter what they are as long as you keep moving towards them.
Effort. When we put effort towards anything on a consistent basis, we get results. When we get up in the morning to go to the gym, to meditate, to contribute a little something towards our goals — we then… find reward in the effort itself.
It is more about the journey than the destination.
So… that’s my contribution for today. This post isn’t much of anything that I would consider to be great in terms of quality, but it’s something that I’m proud of for doing because I had faith, ability, a goal and put in the effort.
As Les Brown, a well-known motivational speaker often says:
“It’s possible!”
Think of something you would want and ask yourself:
Is it possible for me to achieve that?
Yes. IT IS POSSIBLE.
That means you have a chance to succeed.
But it’s going to depend on your faith, your ability, your effort and how realistic the goal is.
It’s all in your hands.
And whenever a struggle presents itself, just remember.
Faith.
Effort.
Your ability.
And the goal.
In that moment of anxiety or angst or lethargy, remember why you are doing it.
And know that you can do it.
So…
What’s stopping you?
It’s possible!
