Tag Archives: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Compliance not Recommended

Indoctrination begins at the earliest stages of life:

  • Don’t stand out from the crowd.
  • Do as your told.
  • Behave yourself like a good little boy/girl.

It continues in school:

  • Check this box, not that one.
  • Be where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there.
  • Stand out as a cool kid, and you are in. Stand out as anything else. Awkward!

That wasn’t enough for some of us, and we needed remedial training. I fell into this category and ended up in the Army. There I was granted the opportunity to live in forced compliance. March, turn, eat, and sleep. Everything in order and on schedule.

What do the rulers of the world (governments and corporations) want from us? They want us to do exactly as we were trained. They want us to be compliant. The outsiders don’t fit into their plans. They need workers and consumers who can be where they are supposed to be and are able to check the correct box. And the result? The average person will put off their dreams, work themselves nearly to death, and then hope they have a little peace in their final years of existence. From their earliest stages of life, they were molded to be compliant citizens working for “The Man.”

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thinking outside the box is only acceptable when it benefits the higher ups.

Our current pandemic has highlighted the world we live in:

  • Small businesses are getting crushed because they do not fit in with the corporate scheme.
  • Compliance is being forced with our freedoms on the line.
  • Make one wrong step or voice one contrary opinion and Big Brother’s minions, the social gestapo, will cancel you.

To be yourself in this world may be one of the hardest endeavors you could undertake. It could also be the most rewarding. That’s why Emerson said it was the greatest accomplishment. It means we can’t allow others to think for us. We must think for ourselves.

Inspiration from the Genius

Search back through the annals of history, and you will encounter legendary figures who surpassed their fellow men with extraordinary powers of the mind. Today, we would call them geniuses and rightly so. Were they born with this talent, or did they cultivate it through acute observation and a life-time pursuit of learning.?

Let’s face it. Some people are just born with it. Yet, they still must cultivate it. Others were fortunate to get a head start. Lucky them, but only if they kept going. Most of the real geniuses began like everybody else. They all took that first step of the millions they would travel in pursuit of their destination. They kept learning. They kept working. They eventually became the masters in their fields.

The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those geniuses demonstrate to us that anything is possible. Follow their examples. Let it inspire you to find your own genius.

Experimenting in the Lab of Life

What I didn’t like about High School Science: When it was time to experiment, you only had one chance to make it work. And the experiment you were conducting wasn’t really yours, you were just replicating someone else’s.

It reminds of all the time I spent reading the Book of Proverbs as a kid. I had the lessons right there in front of me, but I didn’t have the first-hand knowledge. It wasn’t until I conducted by own ill-advised experiments that I could understand the validity of Solomon’s sayings. Of course, most of those experiments went wrong. Some of them set me back several years. There were dark times of doubt and confusion. There were even more times of delusion where I traded long-term fulfillment for the fleeting pleasures of the short-term.

But not all the experiments were bad. Some were useful, providing a solid foundation that I continue to build on to this day (reading). Even the experiments that went horribly bad (finances) proved to be valuable lessons.

A true experiment, unlike those conducted in a High School Laboratory, ventures into the unknown. It will test your boundaries as it delves into the uncomfortable. Often, we choose comfort, but it is the uncomfortable that makes us resilient to fears, anxiety, stress, and weakness. The more we experiment with our bodies, our minds, and our souls, the stronger we become. By experimenting daily, we can test the boundaries of our capabilities and see what is truly possible in this life.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Get out of your comfort zone. Get into the lab of life and start experimenting.

Feature photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

I Am Medicine

I have been thinking about this lately and may make it my new mantra:

I am medicine.

Powers to heal and to destroy

Proceed from my mouth.

Will I practice good medicine?

Or will I practice bad?

When I am in another world and fail to be mindful of another’s presence, I must remember: I am medicine. What I don’t say can hurt as bad as not saying anything. And when I am fully present, I must not use more medicine than necessary. Whether good or bad, too much medicine can become toxic.

When someone is angry, confused, or suffering, how will I use my medicine? Will I prescribe the bad stuff to counter the bad stuff, or will I try to heal with love? Sending out the bad medicine will never make things better. And since we are all fighting a hard battle, I should remember Plato’s words and be kind. Through kindness, I may prevent making someone’s battle harder than it already is.

This medicine that we have is easy to administer, yet its power is immense. Bad medicine will intensify in the mind of the recipient long after you left. In a similar fashion, words of love linger long after they are spoken.

Our words can evoke a powerful magic sending its healing energy to those in need. It is a power we can all tap into, because we are all medicine.

Feature photo by William Farlow on Unsplash

The Two Step Process to Achieving the Best Day Ever

Hope 11/9/2019

The rational part of you, your mind, has had enough. It makes an agreement with the emotional part you, your heart. The mind tells your heart, “We can’t keep going on like this. We were meant to do better.” The heart sees the logic. Together the mind and heart go to the body and informs the body of their decision. The body is in agreement, “Change must happen. So how are we going to do it?”

Step 1: The Prep Work

It begins the night before. Mind, heart, and body agree to go to bed at a decent time. They have to remember the events of the day, but they cannot let that impede their tomorrow. How do they (your three parts) do it?

-End the evening with a clean conscience. Anger must not be allowed when the sun goes down (Ephesians 4:26-27). The mind must be sober, the heart not hindered, and the body free of toxins. In other words, you need to be sober.

-Journal. There has to be some kind of reckoning. In order to make tomorrow better, today has to be accounted for. What went well, and what went wrong? This is a good time to note any items of gratitude. It is a time to consider how to make things better the next day. There has to be a plan.

-Go to bed with it on your mind. Visualize the best day. What does it look like? It may sound a little hokie to some but consider the words of Thomas Edison, “Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.” See it, request it, and pray for it.

Step 2: The Best Day Ever

The prep work is complete. The mind is willing. It has involved the heart. The heart has sent its nutrients to the body with a little side note, “Take this and go do what you were born to do.” The body revived by sleep, supported by mind and heart, will begin the day full of energy. When the body tires, the heart (soul) and mind (spirit) will give it wings to continue its mission.

The plan has been formulated. All that is left to do is to execute it. Do that, and it could be the best day ever. There may be obstacles and distractions. There always is. Deal with them accordingly and then get back to the mission.

The Next Night

Was it the best day? If not, no worries. You can always try again tomorrow. The goal is that every day gets better than the day before. In order to improve the next day, go back and do the prep work again at night. Repeat steps one and two over and over. You will eventually get there.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finding Your (Sober) Purpose

Justice 10/2/2019

When you look at that bottle, what are you hoping it will do for you? Will it numb the pain or help you forget? Will it make you happy or relieve your tension?

We have many reasons for wanting to uncork the bottle. If you can enjoy responsibly, then you don’t have much to worry about. But if you can’t, then you may be looking for a cure in the wrong place.

I’ve noticed something when I drink. I fall off the tracks. Sometimes it is only for a short while. Other times, I fall off a little bit longer. There have been times in my past when I would go off and stay off. Those were the dark times. Those were the times when I was pretty much useless. No drive. No ambition. My only goal was get to the next drink.

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are some people that seem to be functional drunks. But how functional are they really? And they might be able to function, but they are far from optimal.

We all have a purpose in life. It is hard to find your purpose when you are unable to think clearly. It is hard to keep your purpose and continue working towards it if you are in a constant state of inebriation. So if you fall off the tracks, make your goal to get back on as soon as possible.

To my friend who is going on three weeks of sobriety. Hang in there. You will have hard days. Everybody has hard days. It is in the conquering of those days that you become stronger. You just have to fight for what you believe is right. You have to fight for your purpose.

From Point A to B

Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. -Buddha

It is a new day. Today we start at Point A and begin the journey to Point B. It should be easy to figure out what our Point A is. It is where we are right here, right now. You have to make an honest assessment of your Point A. It does you no good to pretend your starting point is somewhere else. Be truthful. This is your Point A. The great thing about Point A is that it starts over every day. So what if it is the same place as it was yesterday. We can’t go back and do it over. The do-over starts today.

This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going. -Brian Tracey

What is your Point B? Can you see it up ahead? Hopefully we all have a dream destination that we are headed toward. Hopefully we all have a Point B. Take a moment and think about this place. Close your eyes and visualize what it would be like to occupy this point. Imagine your dream as reality.

It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. –Paulo Coelho

The journey from where you are right now to where you are going is not always easy. Some, never looking to the left or the right, will trudge along always making progress. Others get distracted by what’s around them and never even realize they deviated from the path. And then there is another group that never leaves Point A. Which group are you in? If you are not in the first, it is okay. You can be there. Once again, today is a new day. Do it differently. Do it better.