May Day ~ May You?

I have posted 221 posts not counting this one. Since October 4, 2011. That’s nearly seven complete months of writing without missing a day. Feels good to say it. Also surprises me. I didn’t imagine I’d have the discipline to write an essay each day and feel good enough about the product to let it see the light of day! To share it with others. To open myself to criticism! 

All of the blog postings total nearly 200,000 words; enough material to cull for a book. And I have the outline in the works. In fact there is enough material for two books. But time will tell if I ever get around to making any of that happen. 

What is more important to me is that I am expressing my thoughts, and feelings about modern day life. How some people live their lives and impact the lives of others provides interesting counterpoints to my thinking. Some people are brilliant. Others are duds. Still others are horrendous malcontents who seem bent on destroying all that is good on this planet! Well, now you see my problem. The rants of some stir me up. Always have. And I have always felt it necessary to counter those rants with my own! Yep! It’s true. Just ask my family and close friends.  

And my rants were not much better than the ones I complained about; because rants really don’t count. They are just spleens venting. Useful to the ranter; of little value to others. 

No, there are better ways to make sense of disturbing matters. Explore them. Understand them. Dig deeper to be sure I understand them. What do they mean? To me and others? To us as a people, a society, a nation? How do we make sense of all of these words we hear and speak or write and read every day? Do they all matter? What do we keep as valuable and what do we discard as worthless? 

Discernment is gained with difficulty. It takes hard work to clarify thoughts, check them for accuracy. Then there is the whole application of those thoughts to our lives, their context, our reality. Some discernment comes with ease but often proves to be faulty. Time is needed, and patience. Pondering, weighing, concluding. A process that needs much input to produce only a little output! But the work is worthwhile. 

This is worthwhile work I think. It turns negative into positive with little effort. It salves wounded egos, and softens disagreement and finally allows friendship and collegiality to develop. These are good ends in themselves; but there is more. The more I seek are ideas that go beyond current knowledge and wisdom. These are the ideas that will fuel our quality of life far into the future. And to think the seeds of that are everywhere around us. Now. 

Came across another Internet quote, yet another anonymous bit. See for yourself if this stirs something within you:

“Devote yourself to an idea. Go make it happen.

Struggle on it. Overcome your fears. Smile.

Don’t forget: this is your dream.”

Once in the positive mood, see what you can create. Find a few people who are open to discussing the related ideas and watch as a program, product, organization or business sprouts. See how the parts work together to make good things happen.

Learn to dream by yourself. Make it productive. Then seek others to help. But the largest challenge is to dream together, as a group. Because this requires that you think, work and create together. That is fun and rewarding. But to marry all of this activity as a unit takes dreaming together. If you are successful the dream will come true. And our combined futures.

So think and share ideas. Ponder the value of those ideas in a public place. Seek commonality but not full agreement (mostly not possible!). Then seek your dream and the group’s dream. This created America. This created new technologies. This is the stuff of science. And the magic of working together gives us each a sense of cosmic belonging.

Share and ponder. And dream. It’s your life; and ours!

May 1, 2012