Category: Purpose

How Many Days Are Left In Your Life?

4/21/2014

Recently, I've been reading a lot about writing as I work on my first book. I came across the site 17,000 Days. The person's inspiration for the blog came when she calculated how many days she had left in her life.

She suggestions finding your age on this chart, then getting your remaining years left and multiplying it by 365.25 to get your remaining days.

I did it and got 17,017 (!). Using this date calculator, my estimated day of death (D.O.D. ??) is... (drum role!):

November 21, 2060

I'm now going to use that date as a countdown on the main page of this site, as a reminder to make each day count!

How many days do you have left?

1 Comment

O Muse My Fuse - Spoken Word Poetry

4/6/2014

2 Comments

Here is some spoken-word poetry I wrote after being inspired by a passage in Steven Pressfield's The War of Art, and excellent kick-in-the-butt manifesto for creatives. He encourages artists to invoke a muse before beginning their creative endeavor. Listen here:

The Greeks
full of aspiration
had a source
for inspiration
a course
for perspiration

They called it the muses
and made no excuses
seeking a vocation
they made invocation

invoking the gods
provoking the odds
with a shout
they cried out:

O Muse
My Muse
Be my fuse.
Light my fire
My true desire
lest I tire
in the mire
of stuck and slow
and luck run low.

I have no clue
yet just a few...
inklings
among my...
weaklings

O muse
my fuse
give me some clues
lest I return to the booze

My muse
my fuse
MINE
to lose

Invest in me
lest I divest
from thee

now’s not the time
to nickel and dime
or count
the mount
-ing cost

for I am lost

O muse
my fuse
give me some clues
'fore I put on my shoes

O muse
my fuse
MINE
to lose

You pursue the meek --
Now rescue those you seek!

find me
lost
in the mi(d)st
of the wilderness

find me
lost
in the bliss
of a kiss

find me
lost
at all cost
find me

for with you
my muse
I cannot
lose.

2 Comments

What do you want?

4/3/2014

0 Comments

Yesterday I posted to Facebook about this interesting documentary about a peculiar man who retired to simply skate. Here is what I said in my post, followed by the video, courtesy of NYT after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

A different kind of retirement. Summary: "Slomo" used to be a doctor. An old man once told him to "Do what you want." As his eyesight started failing, he decided to "retire" and reinvent himself as someone who skates everyday down the San Diego boardwalk. He's perfected the art of skating slowly, tapping into the acceleration we feel as we glide on the earth's surface around the center of the earth (for an explanation, see about the 9:00 minute mark or so). He says he gets called all kinds of things, and thinks people react in different ways (mostly positive) to seeing someone doing exactly what they want to be doing. Pretty inspiring.

After accepting the advice to "do what you want to," 'SloMo' identifies the next step as figuring out what you want (let alone for now what makes you successful). As I've mentioned in a previous post, I continue to struggle with a similar about wants in life, namely Who Am I? and What is my purpose?

Emily reminded me of a therapy technique used to identify what we want. The theory behind it is that our emotions, both negative and positive, come from our core desires. Put another way, our emotions are expressions of what we want.

The exercise is relatively simple, although you will want to write some things down or have a patient partner there to listen and help trace the pattern. Here is the step-by-step process:

Start with the intense emotion you feel. Name it, whether it's sadness, anger, joy, etc.
Next, ask yourself what the emotion makes you want to do?
After naming that action, ask yourself how you would feel if you did what you wanted to do?
Keep asking yourself what emotion you are feeling and resulting action you want to make until you reach a state where you are completely content.

Think of emotions as layers of an onion. Each layer is peeled away to reveal another emotion until you reach a core state of being where you desire to be for a long time, if not forever. For most, this is complete and utter contentment, joy, peace, love or happiness.

The purpose of the exercise is to not simply uncover your core desire. It is to show you how your emotional reaction to a situation is actually in your own self-interest in getting what you want. Your core desire is just hidden in many layers. This helps in understanding your emotions and how they serve your ultimate purpose.

Try it out next time you have an intense emotion that you're not sure where it came from. What might initially appear as destructive behavior might lead to something more constructive.

0 Comments

Shedding the Should: Identity Identification

2/27/2014

1 Comment

Since August 2013 when my two-year residency at First Pres Ann Arbor came to a close, I have been unemployed and working on a book about my grandfather.

I've discovered that writing is hard, and writing one's first book even is even harder. Granted, I've been traveling throughout the fall and finally landed in Kaua'i with my wife Emily. We are still trying to secure suitable housing in a place that is both incredibly beautiful AND expensive.

Not being settled or having a routine has not made the writing any easier (like the litote? Anyone, anyone?? Not even my spellcheck?!). And all the devilish thought-demons begin to emerge:

What stories have I told myself that aren't true?
Where am I "shoulding" on myself? I should be this or I should be that...
Doesn't someone need me?
Why not let other set an agenda for me? Striking out on one's own is just too hard.

So for inspiration, I have read a lot of blogs (notice: each word takes you a to different blog), not to mention a ton of eBooks and online videos.

One thing that has become apparent to me is aligning my goals in life with my identity.

Now, I have never been very good at taking on a specific identity. I identified as a "floater" in high school, unwilling to commit or see myself a part of any specific group. Later in college, a mentor had me write "Who Am I?" at the top of the page and fill it out for the next week...

I still have that page, and it is still blank:

And in case you're wondering what is on the other side:

So yeah, I struggle with Who I am and My Purpose in Life. Yet recently I've decided to make some headway in this area.

I realize that my fear of taking on any identity keeps me muddled in a mental morass of what I am suppose to do day-to-day, let alone my purpose in life.

My solution: Take on an identity moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour.

Maybe eventually I'll work my way up to a day, a week, a month... a lifetime.

But for now, in this moment, I am a blogger. Soon I will transition to being a writer and working on my book. This afternoon I will be a frisbee thrower. Tonight: a husband, a partner. When I'm cooking, I am a cook. When I'm reading, I am a reader.

Sounds simple enough. And maybe once I get used to identifying with these different hats, I will be closer to identifying with me, Evans.

Who is that guy, anyway?

1 Comment

How Many Days Are Left In Your Life?

November 21, 2060

O Muse My Fuse - Spoken Word Poetry

What do you want?

Shedding the Should: Identity Identification

Author

Archives

Categories

Quick Links