also, spent a great deal of time this a.m. trying to add my shared google reader page in widget form. argh! can not. added a link there to the left for now. man, is it frustrating trying to learn/figure out how each page is configured. i'm all for different, but the essentials of the thing should/must be easy to spot & easy to follow. perhaps i'm missing smthg.
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the point of today's posting (this post was started on the 20th) was to be a...
thanks to Dave for once again provoking my thoughts with his post...
The Hard Part is Finding People Who Care
"...instead of asking people we’ve just met what they “do” (usually “for a living”), we should ask them what they care about. What keeps them awake at night. What they would die for. And likewise when others ask us what we “do” we should deflect the question and instead tell them what we really care about. If there’s an obvious disconnect between what we/they do and what we/they care about, that in itself should be the basis for an interesting and soul-searching conversation: Why the disconnect, and what can we do about it? And if the conversation resolves that you and the other(s) you’re speaking with care about the same things, then so much more will have been accomplished than in you had merely exchanged data on your current employment..."
the precursor to most relationships is the time & effort it takes putting-in time with a lot of small talk. hinting at matters, scouting for covalent bonding on issues which seem presently opinion-worthy. it was fascinating to me in my early 20s to primarily gather as much info from people as possible, to follow/study/analyze their paths of thought. there are so many people, therefore, unique ways of seeing, internalizing & rephrasing knowledge - so many stories & histories. now, my mind seems to cloud over with this much info, i'd rather solely learn the heart of the matter. i was never much of a bull shitter, but i could small talk when necessary. i seem to have lost this important ability, important when meeting most people. now, i think i just seem awkward & offish. of course, you never know how people see you. with the more i have learned, i have become (as many do) narrow, not narrow-minded, though not really focused as i'm pretty scattered these days, more sacred than secular (not church-like, a way of discrimminating info into core rather than broad), filtering misconceptions, making decisions, being forced into decisions based on previous ones... my thinking was circular. today, it's more of a cresent, or a dot, & sometimes a squiggly line that abruptly stops.
after many times around the round about, what do i care about?
i'm going to try to answer this question while not sounding like a bleeding heart, or a self-centered jerk, or an ignorant caucasion mama. i don't want this to seem like a bitch session, calling out the global negatives. i won't really label myself with this or that belief system because each is not a complete picture. no -ism or title is a definition on its own, only a small part of the complicated gestalt. i'm not usually one to speak about what i think. it is risky, making yourself visible. if most people actually believe what they spout, then i don't see things the same. i think i'm finally more prepared, not to defend my thinking or actions, but to discuss them. i will not preach. i will question. i will encourage. there is no one right answer. things are too complicated for that. i'm trying not to sound definite about some things as i work to be flexible, adaptable, but i must decide, take a stand at a certain point. i work to understand the world of my childhood, so i may understand the previous generation & their impact on my own. i need to understand my own upbringing, so i may choose to be, choose that which to embrace & that in which to abolish.
with all the preamble out of the way, what weighs on my consciousness? what is paralyzing me, preventing action, change?
i know what i care about, but to translate this on an empty page with no jumping off point... i'll begin by listing things to which i feel connected or passionate: first thought - trees, ocean, mountains... as one whole thought; freedom, real freedom (not without obligations, not with license, with responsibility); sharing comfortable time with friends & family; understanding the global narrative & working to improve conditions for everyone.
what else?
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aside from this, i'm wondering if people are reading blogs anymore. i know i check in from time to time. i'm tryin' to get more into my google reader thing. but i do spend most of my small amount of computer time googling stuff i don't know, & checking twitter & facebook - reading about friends & interesting findings. it's hard then to squeeze all this info into a post & comment. i have time today as my lil one is down with a cold, & not needing my full attention at the present mo as she watches some time-passing shows. it's the only time i really let her sit like a mindless automaton.
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leaving you with these thoughts... thanks to Smile and Think for posting this today, now yesterday. it sums up the way i do things rather nicely. i've not heard it expressed before. i've always tried to explain it as the easiest & most efficient way of doing things. my partner has finally understood me, "the laziest!" well, okay, in his mind, sure. but this is what i've been getting at!
In 1982 Gus Van Sant's 1st project was a short based on the William Burroughs' essay Do Easy.
"DE is a way of doing. It is a way of doing everything you do. DE simply means doing whatever you do in the easiest most relaxed way you can manage which is also the quickest and most efficient way, as you will find as you advance in DE." ~William Burroughs
good enough.
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