Seananigans

Before I can get anywhere, I have to know where I am going.


Why is it important to have direction/vision?

Staying still is stagnation. No growth, no change. Self-growth is obviously important. We are all trying to get to a proper place of self-maturation in order to handle lifes problems and live in the most abundant way that we can (thanks Moriah).

Having a vision for my future is what leads to something to chase after. To hopefully promote self-growth (b/c that leads to handling lifes problems more effectively, and THAT leads to living more abundantly). Vision involves something not yet attained, but something we can envision ourselves having.

Vision usually requires goals--abstract or concrete. An abstract goal is something like being more spiritual, be happy, be enthusiastic. A goal remains abstract only when it is not clearly defined. It becomes something tangible when you know precisely what it is that you want. Rather than just having an idea that pops into your head.

SO, you have to know what you want before you can get it. But some guidelines must be in order. Some questions must be posed surrounding my vision.
1.) What do I want?
2.) Is this goal worthy of chasing after? Is it important (most important - God)? Long term?
3.) Will it promote self-growth?
4.) Will it make me happy? Is it fun?
5.) Is it acceptable in the eyes of everyone? How does it affect others?
6.) Does this goal align with my internal values?

And all of this is before you do any of the actual legwork. Although, this is work in itself. It is mental contruction. Which will require research, time, energy, and investment. Then the physical legwork comes after that. Actual implementation of the vision/dream. Making an action plan. Carrying out this vision day-to-day.



More on leadership and vision here. A really good and to-the-point article on leadership. With video links. This book also looks interesting.

Something I've noticed lately is that people just do not look people in the eyes when walking around. For instance, walk around in the quad and you will see that most students look straight forward or at the ground. Few people will meet your eyes.

I've been making every attempt to look at people in the eyes lately. There is so much life out there, we shouldn't feel like we have to just look at the ground or straight forward. I wonder if its just a culture thing, or out of fear.

Me, I love talking to people and I am just dying for people to make eye contact so I can say hello and maybe start a conversation with them. What are people so busy with? I don't know.. I passed out flyers on campus all day yesterday (monday) and today, and everybody seems so damn busy. On their cellphones, in a rush to class, on their way to something important.. but no one has time for each other it seems. So busy task managing that they forget about the people around them.

Just a thought...

I encourage you guys to always look around you at your surroundings. Realize (as I am realizing) that you NEED people. They are an integral part of your being.

What are you guys/girls seeking from life right now? What do you want?

That's it. That's all.


Please respond.

Youth is an interesting time in a person’s life. When you are young, time seems like forever. You feel that school is going to go on forever. You feel like you have a lot of time at your leisure. You learn by what your parents teach you, and from the friends that you are around. You learn about yourself from how other people treat you. You learn about yourself from how well you do in sports, academics, social life, and with members of the opposite sex.

These are all teachers of life.

We learn about ourselves, from an early age, how we compare with others. If we do well in academics and have verbal affirmation, then we consider ourselves smart, and have a foundation to work from there. Now, if we experience hurt or are denied affirmation, and say we have some very negative experiences with the opposite sex, or our social life, or in school, then we learn at a young age that something is wrong with us. That we don’t match up with the rest of society.

Often, as is the case, if you believe that you fail in one area of life, then you turn to the area that you believe you can succeed in. Say you fail in being successful with girls at a young age, but people tell you that you are smart, then often is the case that you will turn towards the books because girls are associated with pain and un-success. We learn to avoid that pain, rather than confronting the issue. We mask it behind books or sports or whatever, because there is much pain felt in that other area.

What is a kid to do who has no significant parental guidance and doesn’t have good friends? Everything influences a child. If we have learned anything from psychology, it is that we are pretty much a blank script waiting for experience to etch onto us. Everything is written into our memories-often subconsciously. Our parents are teaching us about ourselves, probably more significantly than any other factor. And if you don’t have proper parental guidance, then you are a result of that.

But can we blame the parents? Something that I read recently dramatically influenced my understanding on this. Parents can only teach you what THEY themselves know (or have been taught). So if they teach you by their own good example, then they themselves were taught by (usually their parents) good example. If they teach you love, then they have been taught and shown love. We can only teach what we know, or have experienced, so if they have been taught improper love, then they can only teach you improper love. So you cannot blame your parents because they were only teaching you what they knew.

Our upbringing has so much effect on us that we can never fully comprehend. This is the shaping of our political values, our family values, our ability to trust, our ability to relate to others, and so much more. Our youth is laying a foundation for our future.

So in all of this, all I can think about now is what choices can I make now that will most help lay a proper foundation. What experiences can I have that will positively shape who I am.

For those of you that have read thus far, just reflect back on what influences have shaped and defined who you are today. If you want to share those then please, by all means, do.

The biggest influences on my life would be my parents, coming to college, my roommates, and my relationship with God.

Well a gay barber named Francisco had some interesting thoughts on 'becoming'.

He talked about how society and college all seem to stress the idea of becoming someone important. And that we need to do X in order to become happy. He said we are all on a search for happiness, and we think that different routes or plans of actions will get us there, but that we are mistaken.

Francisco said, "We are either happy now, or we are not going to be happy". This idea that we have to go through this program (I assume he meant college) to acheive happiness is ludicrous.. We are all planning (especially in the college years) for success and for happiness, but that these things which we are striving for will not really bring us happiness, he says.

People really don't stop to critically think of exactly what they are striving for. We are striving for what we assume to be the correct thing to strive for: success, family, kids, etc.. but we don't stop to sit back and critically think about why we chase these things. (Good point). He mentioned the fact that we chase things we don't understand. Like we think we need to be in a 'serious relationship', but what is serious and what is relationship, Francisco challenged.

He also said something of interest. That people don't really communicate with other people. We often don't really listen and understand other people. He mentioned that when in conversation with someone else, we already have an answer or something to say to that person in our head, and cease to be in the moment.

Francisco has a lot of interesting things to say. More morsels of wisdom from Francisco are sure to come.. stay tuned!

Can I encourage ya'll to do one thing?

Goto to the library more often than you do (Alkek if you goto Texas State). The library is a world of information and resources, and has so much to offer to you and your life. Books, magazines, newspapers, computers, internet, videos, dvd's, audio tapes, electronic reserves, and many things I don't know how to pronounce or even know about period.

It is the bank of life for myself. I go there pretty much everyday now, and it is helping open up a new world to me. Go, look, search, explore. It is great. It will make you happy and is the answer to all of your problems.

Ok, I made that last part up, but seriously.. it is quite great, and a quite underutilized luxury we have here at Texas State. DO IT! DO IT!

"Your not in school, but you want to persue academics?", you ask.

Well, quite right. I think this is a very forseeable option I may be considering, God willing. As much as I can look back on my past 3 years of school and realize that I have not made the most of it, I too, can also see that I direly want to make the most of the rest of it.

So persuing academics in some field is something I am strongly considering. Pray for me in those regards.

So, i'm sick. Overnight contamination.

I didn't sleep but maybe an hour and a half last night. Most of it was spent coughing (see Austin Dykes for details). Suckubus.

I could not sleep so I ended up watching Road Trip, which is funnier after only 1 hour of sleep suprisingly. But anyways, I digest.. I mean digress.

*I want to be a good friend.

*I want to be respected and looked up to.

*I want to try and always do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

*I want to always be smiling and always laughing.

*I want to be enthusiastic.

*I want to work hard.

*I want to be a servant to others.

*I want to be spontaneous.

*I want to be creative and imaginative.

*I want to be alive to this world.

*I want to make the most of this life.

*I want to be resourceful.

*I want to be happy.

*I want to make others happy.

*I want deep committed relationships.

*I want truth.

*I want honesty.

*I want to understand.

*I want to be independent in my thinking.

*I want strong relationships with my family (mom, dad, brother, extended family).

*I want to be passionate.

*I want to be compassionate.

*I want to be organized.

*I want to be effective.

*I want a strong, healthy body.

*I want patience.

*I want integrity.

*I want courage.

*I want to take action.

*I want commitment.

*I want character.

*I want to love and be loved.

*I want forgiveness.

*I want to sing.

*I want to be heard.

*I want the Lord.

*I want life. All of it.

Taking some advice off of an internet site on creativity, has given me the idea of learning to do thought experiments. Posing a question in my mind, and seeking to find an answer through thought visualization. Forcasting my mind into the future, or into deeper realms in an attempt to seek an answer.

This is something Albert Einstein did with amazing precision. This quote is taken from www.whyfiles.org, commenting on how Einstein's brain worked:

[Einstein had]
"An insistence that the separate laws of physics could be brought together into one set that is true everywhere in the universe (this is not a reflection of physicists' megalomania -- but rather their esthetic preference for the simple and universal).

*A great ability to visualize interactions in nature, which he used in his characteristic "thought experiments." Einstein was neither the first nor the last scientist to use these free, useful experiments, but he had unequaled ability to interpret them.

*A deep intuition into the essential elements of a problem.

*Great power of concentration, even in a crowd."

Einstein used his mind to develop theories of nature. He studied what was around him, and using all his intellect, he wrote down about his discoveries until he reached a certain theory asertaining to what he could see.

After watching the video my grandpa let me borrowed on Einstein called, "How I See the World" it sheds a little bit of light into an idea of how I should train my mind to solve problems. Einstein did not give up on a problem. With persistence he persued it years after others would have let it go. Time was not an issue, for death is the only true perspective that time can be measured in.

Also written in the Einstein article it mentions Einstein's belief that nature is simple and beautiful. Not complex. Everything can be reduced. There are certain underlying principles that accompany the whole universe.

This other website, www.wilywalnut.com, as silly as it sounds, poses some good ideas on creativity and thought experiments. Asking simple "What if.. " questions. Like "what if I was a genuis?", "what if i knew how to solve any problem", "what if I worked harder than anyone else". Then visualizing the answers.

Also other examples are, "if I was... ", and "what would happen if... ". Questions like that. These are great techniques to explore the realms of creativity.

Try them out.