Cataloging the Detritus of my Life
I don’t want to talk about the game until you’ve played it a couple of times. So please click here now and get it.
Play it a few times through (make sure you read the instructions on the page so you know how to play), each time only takes 5 minutes. Then leave your comments here. When you are all done I’ll say some things too!
There are three I’m trying to cultivate: Writing for a set period each day, meditating (zazen) for a set period each day, and to swim regularly. I’m also trying to get rid of a bad habit I’ve had for far too long; biting my nails. So what am I doing to make this happen? Well the organized folks over at Zen Habits (my source for all things habit forming) have all sorts of ideas! They have all sorts of lists and charts and what-not what it boils down to is this:
1. Be Realistic – Forming habits is hard, especially if you’ve been cultivating all sorts of bad ones (like I have). So don’t expect to turn your life around all at once, you’ll fail and end up disappointed and even further way from making the changes you want to in your life.
2. Be Simple – Whatever habit you are trying to form needs to be broken down into it’s constituent parts so you have a plan of action for accomplishing it. Don’t say “start working out”, It’s vague and you don’t know where to go with it. Instead say, “plan a work out regime, get gym membership, start doing plan, daily, etc…”. Break it all down into simple steps so that you can manage to do it.
3. Commit – This is one of the most important parts, it’s also the easiest one to break. You need to commit and probably in public. Tell your friends and family what it is you are doing, let them know it is important to you, ask for their input and support. Write your intentions down in your journal, on your blog or social networking start. In this case peer pressure is a good thing!
4. Follow Thru – This is the last and longest step. You need to be consistent. Habit’s don’t form until you’ve down them at a regular time at a regular rate, about a month. The first month is going to be a hassle and a pain, but push through and into the second month it’s going to get easier. You’ll find that you had just as mush time as you did before once you’ve adjusted.
Bonus steps:
5. Spread the Word – Once you’ve changed a part of your life, share that experience with your friends, family, and nice people you happen to meet along the way! It’ll get them excited and renew your batteries too
6. Do it Again – Once you’ve formed a habit, pick another aspect of your life you want to change/upgrade. Rinse, wash, repeat!
I’m going to start with swimming regularly and quitting nail biting. You’re thinking, “things are so busy now he’ll never be able to follow through on those!” Wrong! All of us are always to busy to change things in our lives, if we waited until we weren’t busy we’d never get farther! It’ll be a little more hectic but not by much. I’m committed, now all of you know! Hold me to it! If these two are going well I’ll pick up the other two, but you know what they say, baby steps!
I added a new section to the blog it’s called What I Recommend (Link is dead -Ed. 8/1/11) and in it you can find reviews of games, books, sites, etc… Stuff I’d like to share with you on more than just an occasion. Things that get more than just a passing mention up here. Check it out if you must there isn’t much there right now though.
With that out of the way I’ll wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving, you don’t have to be American to celebrate the holiday, anyone can. Yes, there is a story behind Thanksgiving, google it. For my family it never was about the Pilgrims/Puritans, it was about showing proper thanks for the things you have in your life. So, though we aren’t around a table laden with food and there isn’t any god for me to thank I’m going to share my gratitude with all of you here at my blog. Firstly, I’m grateful for my life, for my parents who brought me into it and raised me as best they could. I feel they’ve done a remarkably good job, considering the materials given. Thanks Mom and Dad!. I’m thankful for my girl friend, the love of my life, Diana Burkart-Waco, for putting up with me, for looking past all my flaws and still loving me, for sharing her life with me. Thank you Diana! I’m thankful for all of my friends, for just being there, for talking with or sharing a moment, for being yourselves around me and letting me do the same. Thanks everybody! I’m grateful the opportunities I’ve had in my life, a college education, a job that pays for mostly everything, a chance to better myself, and brighter prospects around the bend. I’m thankful that it’s hasn’t been too cloudy recently and that I can still feel the heat of the sun on my skin, too soon I know I’ll be missing it. I’m thankful for a lot more, but I think that’s enough sharing. If any of you would like to share a little of what you’re thankful for please do! Just leave a comment!
Please excuse the cliche, but the wind happens to be lowing as I look out of my bedroom window and change is something that has been on my mind. We get comfortable sometimes in life, content. The yoke finally fits and we’ve worn a nice smooth groove as we turn the wheel. All the things that used to bother us about our lives, sink into the background as they become the norm. And perhaps we forget ourselves. We put who we are on hold for… For what? I don’t know and it worries me. That I’ve allowed myself to sink in so comfortably. Thankfully life has a way of waking us up (as do the ones who love us most), they shake us a little, until the scales fall off our eyes and we can see clearly again. Just what it is we are doing and why we are wasting so much to do it.
Comfort is an important part of life, but it isn’t all there is to it. We forget what it means to be adventurous, to take risks. We sacrifice challenge for consistency. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m so much better than where I am. I have a fantastic mind, a fantastic education. I have friends and family who support me whatever I may do and I know Diana is right there beside me as well. Why am I wasting all of that on Borders? They don’t deserve all of the extra effort I have put in there, they’ve certainly never compensated me for any of it. Borders provides a check and a meager one at that. That’s it. Nothing more. Yet, I have allowed myself to get completely caught up in it.
It isn’t worth it. There is so much more to this life then getting caught up in a stupid job. I’m not going to spend anymore of my energy on it. It can be better spent looking for a new job, working on getting in to graduate school and spending time with my friends and loved ones.
So this is just a notice that changes are coming. It won’t be easy to make them. But I can do it, and my life is worth more than what I am doing with it.
We consider others crazy when they have the courage to follow their dreams. It would be a better world if all of us were a little more crazy then we are.