“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
–Thomas Edison
Tag: happiness
Someone Once Said…#4
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
— Nelson Mandela
Icarus, Wax Wings, and Living Half Full
I never understood Greek mythology when I was in school. I never quite got it. But I always enjoyed the story of Icarus.
Perhaps you recall the story of Icarus. Icarus and his Dad, Daedalus, were imprisoned on the island of Crete by King Minos. The only way to escape from their captivity was by air. Daedalus was a gifted inventor and created two pairs of wings that he and Icarus would use to fly to freedom. The father’s instructions to the son were simple; do not fly too close to the sun, as the wings were crafted of feathers and wax. Flying too close to the sun would melt the wax and destroy the wings. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Icarus did, which cost Icarus his life on his flight to freedom.
Cruising Altitude…and the White Knuckle Ride
“Feel free to move about the cabin…the captain has turned off the seat belt sign…”
Cruising altitude. That point in the flight where you’ve risen above the turbulence and the clouds. Time to sit back and enjoy the ride. Ease the seat back and grab a $4 beer. Or two. No worries, mate. It’s all good.
It wasn’t that long ago that life sort of worked that way. You’d get to a certain point in life where you could finally just sit back and enjoy the ride. Career stable, home life stable. Blue skies ahead. There was a calming and reassuring predictability to life.
Cruising altitude.
Continue reading “Cruising Altitude…and the White Knuckle Ride”
Someone Once Said…#3
Guitars, Drums, and Trusting Yourself
“Forever trust in who we are, and nothing else matters…”
In the world of inspirational and positive affirmation quotations, we are used to the words of Wayne Dyer, Anthony Robbins, Norman Vincent Peale, and others. One of my favorite inspirational quotes, however, comes from the duo of James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Hetfield and Ulrich are better known by their day jobs as lead vocalist and drummer, respectively, of the band Metallica. The above quote is from their 1991 song “Nothing Else Matters”.
Trust is a funny thing. As kids we learn to trust our parents. We learn to trust our siblings. We learn to trust our friends. But at what point do we learn to trust ourselves?
The road to trusting ourselves is sometimes treacherous. Especially if a troll named Insecurity jumps out from behind a tree. Insecurity is the arch enemy of self trust.
Welcome to the Year 1439
It was going along just great until Johannes Gutenberg changed everything.
It was 1439, the year that Gutenberg is widely believed to have invented something called moveable type. Moveable type was the foundation of the modern printing press. Gutenberg crafted individual letters and then could assemble words, then sentences, then paragraphs, then pages of information that for the first time could be mass produced. Prior to Gutenberg, calligraphers ruled the world of printed information. The only problem with calligraphers was their work could not be mass produced, thus greatly limited the distribution of information. The printing press changed the world.
Being a calligrapher in the age of the printing press was not a good thing. Suddenly your skill set is no longer as useful to the world as it used to be. I’m sure calligraphers of the day fought this technological change; after all it was a direct threat to their trade and their ability to provide for their families. Fight as they may, technology won, and changed the world.
Technology always wins.
Someone Once Said…#2
“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
– Zig Ziglar
Someone Once Said…#1
“Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at will change.”
— Dr Wayne Dyer
A New Found Appreciation for Trees
You can learn a lot from a tree.
As children, we excitedly spoke of what we’d like to be when we grew up. Doctors, firefighters, baseball players, teachers. I don’t recall anyone ever saying that they’d like to be a tree.
I can honestly state that I never wanted to become a tree. Even today I have no desire to radically transform myself into trunk and branch. Even if I did want to, I’m not quite sure how I would even go about it. Trees have many great characteristics that we’d all love to possess. They are tall, strong, self reliant, patient, and can weather the extreme changes of seasons. The thing that inspires me about trees, though, is their attitude.
Peter Mis LivingHalfFull.com 