Author: We can Paint the Sunrise

send forth a ripple of hope

Dear Me,

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

–Robert F. Kennedy

CATCH-WORD

Dear Me,

I’m a stop and think person. But when I say this, I mean I am one of those stop and think too long types. This has its advantages, but equally, or perhaps more so, it has its disadvantages. Those disadvantages tend to include overthinking, overanalyzing, perfectionism, procrastination, many unfinished tasks, and my nemesis, a whole lot of doubt.

I have been trying to shift this and other habits of late. To do so, I have been doing a great deal of reading and listening on the subjects of habit forming and habit breaking. Among the many tools and suggestions, one has been the use of a catchphrase or catchword to inspire a shift towards the desired and away from the undesired. I liked the idea and naturally settled on the use of a line I started incorporating in my thoughts of late.

When reading on, and listening to, a few different sources on the subject of habits, discussions on living by design versus default kept occurring in topic ( I posted a video which mentions this on January 19th). Living by design means being intentional and deliberate with your choices and actions. Living by default means being passive, or even reactive, with your choices and actions. With a default life you place no thought into your actions, just follow a path of least resistance, the easy and the obvious. It’s a very similar concept to the living versus existing concept.

I started asking myself this question throughout my day with the little decision I made. Decisions I would usually make passively out of habit and ease I would now trying to bring awareness to. I would stop and ask “am I doing this by design or default?” Or “do I want to live this moment by design or default?” These sorts of spins on the design versus default thought helped me become aware of my habits, think about my choices, and decide if I wanted to continue as I normally do or make a change. Now, I’m not saying I always picked the high road, the living by design option. But asking this question everytime i could think to do so helped make me aware of how often we have a choice to actively participation in our decisions and actions; and how often we actually choose by default of habit or least resistence. This has helped me make the better decision based on what I want for myself. As long as I know what it is I want, the option became moving towards or away from what I want or what I don’t want.

So now I find myself throwing out a three word question when needing to make a decision, “Design or Default?” And, from this, I have naturally created my catch-phrase call to action, “Time to design,” Which I sometimes just use as a singular catch-word, “Design.” These are used not just to take action, but take deliberate and mindful action when trying to motivate a particular call to action or choice to make.

“Time to Design!”

“Design!”

The motivation I get from using these design versus default questions, catchphrases and catchword is actually quite impressive. It has helped cut down on my hesitation, overthinking, procrastination, and, most noticeably, on my doubts. Instead of allowing my thoughts to go wild, or to bottleneck and overload, these helpful phrases hone my thoughts on present and immediate action to take and that action’s results on my ultimate goals.

So what is your catch-word to help you take mindful, deliberate action?

-Dear Me Original Thought

Grateful for Advertisy

For every hill I’ve tried to climb,
For every stone that bruised my feet,
For all the blood and sweat and grime,
For blinding storms and burning heat,
My heart sings but a grateful song
These are the things that made me strong!

For all the heartache and the tears,
For all the anguish and the pain,
For gloomy days and fruitless years,
And for the hopes that lived in vain,
I do give thanks, for now I know
These were the things that helped me grow!

‘Tis not the softer things in life
Which stimulate man’s will to strive;
But bleak adversity and strife
Do most to keep man’s will alive.
O’er rose-strewn paths the weaklings creep,
But brave hearts dare to climb the steep

-L.E Thayer

Defeat, My Defeat

Dear Me,

Many thanks to BEKNOWN for this poem in video/audio form

DEFEAT

Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;
You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,
And sweeter to my heart than all world glory.

Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,
Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot
And not to be trapped by withering laurels.
And in you I have found aloneness
And the joy of being shunned and scorned.

Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,
In your eyes I have read
That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
And to be understood is to be levelled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness
And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.

Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,
You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,
And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,
And urging of seas,
And of mountains that burn in the night,
And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.

Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage, You and I shall laugh together with the storm, And together we shall dig Graves for all that die in us, And we shall stand in the sun with a will, And we shall be dangerous

“Defeat” by Kahlil Gibran, from “The Madman”