Vision and mission

So much can be said for the person who has a plan and is able to stay on track with their plan as they usually end up getting to their destination!  If you were to just set out on a trip not knowing where you were going, you would have no idea if you ever got there!  This may sound silly, but it is the sad reality of a great many people, they have no idea where they are going!  There is a quote that goes, “if you shoot at nothing, you are sure to hit it!”  But there is no satisfaction in that at all!

It may sound “too predictable” to some and even “boring”, but the fact is, if you have a goal, a vision or plan, it can actually add a lot of excitement to your life.  It is always best to have short-term and long-term plans so that you can see if you are making progress towards arriving at the completion of your goal or not.  If you plan out your day by making a “to do” list, and you check off this list as the days goes on, it can be a source of inspiration!  I know that for myself, as I get things taken care of  throughout the day, I feel alive and as though I am accomplishing something!  Especially when I can check off the things on my “to do” list that are particularly unpleasant!  In fact, it is usually those things that are unpleasant that are best to take care of right off the bat, as they tend to be the what leads to procrastination!

When I get those difficult things tackled at the beginning of the day, the other things that remain on the list, that are not as difficult, are so easy to tend to!  I feel really good after I get things done and don’t feel so guilty at the end of the day to get that much-needed “chill time”!  I even feel as though I deserve it!  There is just something stimulating about getting things taken care of, but the trick is usually the getting started part. But once you get started you are pretty much half done and you begin to feel more alive and on top of the world!

It is a daily fight to keep the vision since there are so many distractions in the course of the day.  Things will come up that seem to be so important, and you can get side-tracked by them and… boom, once again you end up off track and behind on your plan!  It takes a concerted effort to stay focused, but it is absolutely necessary if you want to make it to your destination.  Not only is
it reinvigorating, it will also be financially rewarding as you will see that by doing so it will lead to greater success!

Do you plan your work and work your plan?

Are we perfect?

I have made so many mistakes throughout my lifetime because I tend to be a person who has acted on inspiration rather than being logical.  Inspiration is a wonderful thing and it is important!  When you are inspired you have enthusiasm which can push you forward through difficult times, but it is not the all-in-all and cannot be depended upon when making decisions.

I have learned (and am still learning) the importance of taking a good long look at any new projects in order to count the cost.  When you do take a leap without looking, you are certain to learn lessons through potential mistakes, but you can be miles ahead if you are to go slow and consider all the angles and potential scenarios or ramifications.  There is a quote that often has spoken to me and it goes, “if you go slow you get there quicker or at least you get there!”  Another little saying is in regards to the fable of the hare and the tortoise which goes “the hare never made it but the tortoise did”.

You can think that you will get somewhere quicker if you rush in full speed ahead, but the fact is you may never reach your goal if you don’t study the road first and plan you trip.  I guess when I was younger, it didn’t seem so important to me to take the time and consider everything, I just wanted to get started and get going.  But now that I am mature…ahem, I cannot afford to make too many hurried mistakes, time could run out and leave me in a real fix.

This may seem pretty elementary to most of you, but unfortunately may problems, and in particular, financial problems are caused due to improper investigation.  These then cause trains on relationships with spouses and partners which then lead to even greater difficulties which may have not been taken into account.  So it pays to learn early on to look before leaping!

Life as there's no tomrrow

“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.”  Stephen VincentBenét

I guess we really don’t appreciate things until they are long gone!  We live our lives as if we will be here forever, and then such as in Italy recently, an earthquake strikes or a natural disaster and it your whole life has changed, or in some cases it has ended!  As long as you read about news from a far land you can get a false sense of security, but when it happens in your back yard, reality strikes! This could be you!

A time of reflection is healthy and often occurs when something devastating happens just around the corner.  But it would be wise to have this “reflection” each and every day!  Just think, what if you didn’t show just how much you appreciated your wife/husband/child or friend yesterday, and you wake up to find that they are missing through an accident or disaster? We often think of where we have failed so miserably in times such as these, but in the hustle and bustle of the day, we can tend to largely ignore or take for granted those we live and work with.

We would be better off living as though today was our last.  Be there for others, show appreciation, give a hug, be kind because tomorrow may never come for them, or even for you.  This is a reality that we often choose to ignore since it is an unpleasant thought, but the world would be a better place if we all had this mindset!

Is gadget fulfillment of our happiness?

We live in a pretty demanding world full of a million distractions and things to keep us pretty busy. Some of the things are important and demand our attention, others are less important, and then there are the time wasters that worsen the life out of you should you allow them to.

This gadget happy, materialistic environment that calls out to us continually to occupy our minds with thoughts and things that are “nice” and “handy” can tend to distract us from the pure simple and natural joys of living, that for some have gone all but lost in the shuffle.  All of these great, new and wonderful commodities are useful tools that can help us accomplish more.  They can bring us temporary fulfillment and happiness because they make our life easier.  But they will never bring us the lasting happiness that  feeds our inner soul and brings us back to the simple childlike joys of yesteryear.

I was thinking about this the other day as I took some off-time from the frantic busy life-style that I now call my “normal”.  This day  I took the time to enjoy the beauty of a flower, watch the sunset and gaze at the stars in the sky brought me feelings of appreciation for my family and loved ones as I remembered moments that I had spent with each one.  That is a joy that lasts on forever.

If you hope to have a great time, put aside all of the distractions, be it work, play gadgets or toys and take the time to feel that inner-peace and joy you experienced as a child. Learn to be happy with the moment, don’t
allow yourself to be dependent on “things”.  They are but tools that we can use, just don’t allow them to use you!

Do you take the time?

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

Life is a great teacher as we never really ever stop learning from our experiences in life.  There is a quote that goes: “A wise man learns from the mistakes of others, a fool learns from his own mistakes”  I had heard a paraphrased version of this same quote and so I went looking for it online as I actually thought that it went like this: “A wise man learns from his own mistakes, but an even wiser man learns from the mistakes of others”  For the longest time this is how I would quote this and I would add that the world is full of simply “wise people” and not so many “wiser ones”, as we tend to have to learn things through our own experience.

I would agree that if we are really smart, we will the word of those who have had certain experiences and learn to avoid the same mistakes through their testimony.  But unfortunately it just doesn’t seem to go this way most of the time.This why it is said that experience is the best teacher, in fact, if you run into a brick wall you usually try to go a different way the next time around. ( Notice that I said usually.)

While growing up it seems to be innate to not take people’s word for things and to have a buying desire to prove other’s wrong, especially if they assert authority over us. But then, as time goes on, you start to figure that it might have been a lot better if you had paid attention to the teacher who had “been there and done that” in order to save yourself a lot of time and sometimes grief.  There can tend to linger on a certain pride that battles with having to give in and finally say “uncle” and accept that someone else just might know what they are saying. Weird, but we more often than not want to be right, sometimes even when we are wrong.

I believe that wisdom shines its light on us when we finally realize that we are not actually the “all-in-all” and that we need to pay attention to others on certain topics.  It is wonderful that we can have such a vast array of talent and intelligence around us from whom to draw.  We just need to use this and allow wisdom to “kick in”.

The Babadook?

This movie quite interesting and mind blowing. One of the 'smartest' stories I've seen about the Shadow archetype.

So the Babadook is the shadow archetype. Quick rundown, for those who aren’t familiar is, the shadow is a part of the ‘self’ (a persons mind) that we refuse to accept as part of ourselves. Aspects of ourselves that are so vile, repulsive, or contradict to how we view ourselves that it is utterly ignored and unacknowledged. So, the shadow is named as such because it is the darkness of our mind, and by nature largely unconscious. Amelia has a great deal of hate for her child. It’s difficult to face such feelings when you believe yourself to be an unconditionally loving mother. Her child is a burden, abnormally difficult to raise, and worst of all is to blame for her husbands death. The beginning of the story shows Amelia tackle this difficulty with a great deal of compassion, and endless patience. But of course, all of that hate is hidden inside and as the story progresses we see it unleash.

This process is well documented in Analytical Psychology. Allowing a part of the mind to remain fully unconscious lets it grow unchecked. It allows it power it doesn’t rightly deserve. If you ignore it, it will grow stronger. Sometimes this results in an eruption, causing those unsavory aspects to overtake all other aspects of a person. Psychosis, fits of anger, etc. And so it does, rapidly and with little warning.

This has purpose though, to the mental health of the individual. Becoming a more consciously whole person can be of great benefit. When you can ‘let in’ parts of yourself that were being denied you can gain power over impulses and behavior being caused by them. So this eruption of the Shadow to the surface is a violent way of aspects of ‘self’ merging. We see at the end how Amelia has learned to have a pressure valve for her mind, and to handle this in a more healthy fashion. There is no getting rid of the shadow (babadook), it’s rightfully a part of each of us.

One thing that I loved so much is the portrayal of the ‘realness’ of the babadook. We might not be able to set them on a shelf, or take pictures, but they’re as real as gravity. At no point did the film say, ‘oh this was all just in her head’ or ‘she’s just crazy’. Many other films with a ‘monster in the mind’ scenario do take the route of showing how ‘none of it was real’.

About the babadooks unmasking, of course the surprise is that she sees herself (I think that’s first made clear from the popup book?). I also notice the bright light, perhaps this is the gems I referenced earlier.

I do wonder, why worms in earth as food? I see how important the scene is of her keeping and feeding the babadook, but I have a hunch I’m missing exactly why that offering was chosen.

Why babadook? I found interesting information about it.I saw someone translated this to 'chuckling father'. I'm mostly struck by the primitive sound of the word (which is why baba is often the word for father, children can say it). The Shadow is primitive, the definition being- denoting the character of an early stage in the evolutionary development of something. Archetypes (which include the shadow among others) are the building blocks of modern mind.

Overall, it quite a different horrow movie compare to others. But some may view it different because of it's literally meaning. Last but not least, I would recommend you guys to watch it because the element in the story can challege our mind where at first i dont get what the movie was about.  

Movie review (21 Jump Street)

Movie review:

This movie quite a awesome. In other words, "21 Jump Street" is pretty good. There seemed to be little demand for a movie spinoff of the crime drama that ran on Fox from 1987 to 1991, and which had an early starring role for Johnny Depp. Perhaps realizing that, the filmmakers have abandoned any pretense of being faithful to the series, and turned to a mashup of screwball comedy, action and "The Odd Couple" formula.

The couple here are Schmidt and Jenko (Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum), who were opposites in high school and still are eight years later. In high school, Schmidt was a pudgy nerd who wore braces and couldn't get his mouth to work while trying to ask a girl to the prom. Jenko was a good-looking jock to whom all things came easily; unfortunately, he was the dim bulb in the chandelier.

In a brief prologue, the movie spares us the tiresome routine where the jock makes life miserable for the nerd; all he does is snicker with everyone else when poor Schmidt gets tongue-tied. They have no reason to be enemies, because they're from different planets. When we meet them again, they're both in the police academy, where Schmidt aces all the exams and fails everything physical, and Jenko does the opposite. That makes them both misfits, and they feel a growing camaraderie.

After an unpromising start as bicycle-riding cops on park patrol, they're exiled to an undercover unit investigating a dangerous new drug infiltrating a local high school. The captain in charge (Ice Cube) is the typical police veteran who can't believe the incompetence of these losers. I should mention that his name is Dickson.

But back to the story. It often strikes me that the actors in high school movies look too old. But Schmidt and Jenko look really too old, and the movie isn't shy about pointing that out. Indeed, one of the pleasures of "21 Jump Street" is that the screenplay by Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill is happy to point out all of its improbabilities; the premise is preposterous to begin with, and they run with that.

The interesting part was:

There might have been a temptation to write Schmidt and Jenko as rivals, but it's more effective here to develop them as friends who screw up together. They were pre-enrolled by Capt. Dickson in hand-picked classes, but trouble starts when they can't remember their undercover names and are assigned to each other's classes. That means Schmidt ends up playing Peter Pan in drama class, and Jenko is in advanced chemistry.

Apparently the conviction that we got high school all wrong is universal. Now Schmidt and Jenko get a fresh start, and Schmidt even gets another chance to ask a girl (sweet Brie Larson) to the prom. Meanwhile, they're seeking the source of drugs in the high school, which inevitably involves chase scenes and a motorcycle gang including a fat bald guy with high-rider handlebars. As usual, the chases and explosions are boring.

A disastrous party with abuse is funny, as the movie uses bizarre graphics to illustrate the various stages users go through while using the new mystery drug. What it all comes down to is a funnier and sweeter movie than I had any way of expecting. Therefore, i would recommend you guys to watch this movie where it taught the importance between friendship. Schmidt and Jenko showed the value of friendship even though they fought during the climax of the story. They taught us don't always heliitle your friend whever they need your help. Last but not least, don't forget to watch this movie and enjoy it.