Living a good story is … more like writing a good story. And writing a good story happens when a writer has created the disciplined habit of sitting down.*
Donald Miller

The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.**
Jessica Hische

Maybe that thing you find yourself pondering or playing with
when the “main thing” stalls or finds itself in the doldrums
needs to be given some serious time:
You may have found your other story, the really
good one.

*Donald Miller’s Hero On a Mission;
**Austin Kleon’s blog: Productive procrastination.

“Connais-toi pour t’améliorer” (“Know yourself to improve yourself”).*
Alain de Botton

Old opinions shouldn’t define who you are in the future … But if you avoid pain, you avoid improvement. Avoid embarrassment, and you avoid success. Avoid risk, and you avoid reward … Remember the classic story arc of the hero’s journey. The crisis – the most painful moment – defines the hero … If you avoid pain, you avoid what you really want.**
Derek Sivers

You create your room
of requirement when you identify where you are
and where you could be – both are necessary,
The latter being identified when you take stock of your talents and
energies and values;^
The fun stuff doesn’t begin when we get to perfect, rather it opens up
When we embrace our imperfection but also discover
there’s far more to us than we thought (and, there’s far more to others, too) –
And then we have to move to action this,
For hero think: person willing to
step into uncomfortable one step at a time.

*Alain de Botton’s Religion For Atheists;
**Derek Sivers’ Hell Yeah and No, and How To Live;
^I can help with this – geoffreybaines@gmail.com;
^^I’m pregnable, I’m pervious, Imperfect?.

The truth about vulnerability or dependency is that’s who we are. And so I try to rally the lovesick and the brokenhearted.*
Adam Kahane

Blessed are the vulnerable
for they shall experience the fullness of life,
Blessed are the dependent
for they shall create communitas,**
Blessed are the lovesick
for they shall become a movement of love,
Blessed are the brokenhearted
for they shall become our healers.

When we seek to be impervious to these,
We deny ourselves – denying or avoiding pain leads to
the evasion of joy, yet embracing these in ourselves
and in others, opens us to as much
devotion and bliss and beauty and awe as
we can humanly cope with –
And we can cope with a lot.

And if stand or sit or be
with the vulnerable and
dependent and
brokenhearted and
lovesick, then …

*Adam Kahane’s Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems;
**Communitas here refers to a group of people who find their bonding and togetherness around a common purpose.

But you’re not under the circumstances. You are the circumstances.*
Seth Godin

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.**
Walt Whitman

May you understand that
you are more-than-enough circumstances to
be who you are and to
do what you must do, that
the only difference you need is how
you see yourself –
This is the gift of humility:
not having to high nor
too low an opinion of yourself, but
a true opinion;
So Walt Whitman is not only “upping” himself as he dares to
celebrate and sing himself,
He is celebrating and singing everyone –
Indeed, only as he does so can he fully
be himself … and I can be myself and
you can be yourself.

God, as I have come to understand God through Jesus, is happy to remain anonymous or to be named in a wide variety of ways or even to go incognito.^

*Seth Godin’s The Song of Significance;
**Dacher Keltner’s Awe;
^Brian McLaren’s Faith After Doubt.

Trying to flee from insecurity to security, from uncertainty to certainty, is an attempt to find an exit from the very system that makes us who we are in the first place.*
Oliver Burkeman

The difficulty is a sign that you’re on an important part of the journey.**
Gabe Anderson

The universe may resist,
But it also helps us;
I desire security and certainty as much as anyone,
But I sometimes wonder what I might be missing when I’m not prepared to play
with the unstable and unknown,
Perhaps that blur is life
passing me by.
.

*Oliver Burkeman’s The Antidote;
**Gabe Anderson’s blog: Freddie and You.

Instincts never lie to you. Pay attention to the messages that don’t change; those are your instincts.*
Katherine Morgan Schafler

I’m good at it vs. I got good at it. The second one is almost always more true.**
Gabe Anderson

Your instinct is tied in with your
talents and abilities
energies^ and
values –
All of which can be grown and developed, meaning
instincts can become better, stronger;
You’re not taming your instinct,
You’re enwildening it.

*Katheriine Morgan Scafler’s The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control;
**Gabe Anderson’s blog: Got Good;
^As in, what greatly energises you versus what painfully deenergises.

The artist talks about the making of the album as a long journey, ups and downs, creative road blocks and break throughs, the blood sweat and tears and years. But amount of effort has never been a very good measurement for how good a song is going to be.*
Gabe Anderson

Poetry, says Marie Howe, hurts a little going in.**
Krista Tippett

Whatever our art – and by art
I mean the most creative and elegant solution we
bring out of our lives for others – it will be uncomfortable coming
out
and going
in.

*Gabe Anderson’s blog: Listen For Yourself;
**Krista Tippett’s Becoming Wise.

The good myth integrates the myth maker into society in a generative way. Our personal myths provide our own lives with a sense of unity and purpose. But our own lives connect to other lives, or myths, to other myths. The most mature personal myths are those that enhance the myth making of others.*
Dan McAdams

So look around at those existing ideas in the world. You can imitate them and still be offering something valuable and unique … Why? Because we are imperfect mirrors.**
Derek Sivers

We find ourselves through one another,
Our unrepeatable imperfection^ creating something
different and vibrant;
Through many others,
Constantly changing and becoming
uniquely ourselves –
And they, uniquely themselves –
Adding nuance and complexity to
personal dreamings, songlines, myths.

Each life is capable of this.

*Dan McAdams’ The Stories We Live By;
**Derek Sivers’ Hell Yeah Or No;
^Viktor Frankl’s wonderful description of humans.