Creativity revolution? Find your inner artist.

Here' a link to an entertaining and edifying TED talk.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html?qsha=1&utm_expid=166907-20&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Fprofiles%2F851152%2Ftalks

Ray Dalio's Principles

Ray Dalio runs the biggest hedge fund in the world. His firm, Bridgewater Associates, controls over $120B in assets. If you want to get a peek into a financial guru's head and learn some of his tricks, read "Principles." Its a gem, and even better,it's free.


http://www.bwater.com/Uploads/FileManager/Principles/Bridgewater-Associates-Ray-Dalio-Principles.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Dalio

Propinquity

Propinquity is the word of the day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propinquity

I'll be home for Christmas after leaving Texas for work. Can't wait to get back to my friends, family 
and life in Raleigh. 

Quotations: Some Funny, Some Profound, Some Both

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."  -- Oscar Wilde

"Always do right; this will satify some people and astonish the rest." -- Mark Twain

"Clothes make the man; naked people have little or no influence on society." -- Mark Twain

"Courage is resitance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." -- Mark Twain

"Be careful of reading health books; you may die of a misprint." -- Mark Twain

"What other people think of me is none of my business." -- a wise person

"Hell is full of musical amatuers." -- George Bernard Shaw

"Patriotism is the conviction that this country is greater than another because you were born in it." -- George Bernard Shaw

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be goverened no better than we deserve." -- George Bernard Shaw


Sometimes people will try to put you in a box; when this happens, DONT FLIP OUT!

Tiny Dancer (not the Elton John song)

Becoming...

"What you become is more important than what you accomplish." -unknown author

you are marvelous and the gods wait to delight in you.

Today I took hike with my roommate in William B. Umstead State Park. It was called The Sycamore Trail and  for about 2 miles (out of 4 miles) it runs along a river. I recommend it.

Here's a poem from one of my favorite poets.

The Laughing Heart

your life is your life
don't let it be clubbed into dank submission
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can't beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
and the gods wait to delight
in you.

                                             --Charles Bukowski

Unpacking Hemingway

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry." -Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

 



  I've been doing some house cleaning over the last few weeks in an attempt to de-clutter my house.  For some reason, I've kept a few boxes of college notebooks with me since I graduated. I guess the hoarder in me couldn't let go. Together they boxes probably weigh 100 lbs and are almost 7 years old; wait a second, these notebooks are my child. I kid, I kid. Among the notes on Shakespeare and Sociology I discovered some old journals of mine. The Hemingway quotation was written on the first page of one of the journals and I love it. It obviously struck a chord with me 11 years ago when I copied it down and it still does. Its raw wisdom; truth.
   
    Since then, I've been broken many times in many ways. Many times I didn't even wait on the world to break me, I just went ahead and did it myself.  But I'm still here and I have callouses on my psyche.  If we keep in mind that there are going to be obstacles, that there will ALWAYS be obstacles, then its easier to handle them when they arrive. This expectation of challenges will allow you to instantly start to tackle problems while they are still manageable instead of bemoaning their presence.

   Personally, I have suffered many more setbacks than I had to because I have a bit of a hero complex(I just invented that term, its not a psychological term as far as I know). I like to do it all myself. While I may occasionally came out a hero, many times I come out worse for the battle. Notice that the above quotation say "many are strong at the broken places." Also, many are weaker at the broken places. Failure to recognize that I didn't have to fight alone caused the problems to escalate beyond the reach of my capabilities, whether those were financial, emotional, or otherwise.  Then, and only then, did I reach out to family and friends for help. I've been fortunate to have amazing support in my life. I can say with 100% certainty I would not be here today without the people close to me.

    Now that I am beginning my third decade I may be starting to wise up a bit. I'm later than most to learn some lessons, but I've been around long enough to witness that some people never wise up and they dig their own grave. We only get one life, and personally, I want to enjoy it. I have wasted many opportunities I've had, but that is not what matters to me anymore.  What matters is that I am here now with the rest of my life holding as much potential as I can dream up. To borrow a boxing analogy from Mills Lane, a former boxing referee, former judge, and my older brother's high school commencement speaker, "Keep your head down, your hands up, and keep moving forward."