30 Days of Thoughts

Phrase with no meaning, words with no feeling

Rammed down my throat, leave my head reeling

Hackneyed cliché after cliché after cliché

Spill your heart on the page; go ahead, make my day

Tales of woe, overheard and overshared

Stop tearing people down, stop lying

Your poor choices have you ensnared

Talk about bad planning and worse timing

_______________________________________________________________________

Happiness haunts humanity

Like a specter sorely sought

A phantom foiling fulfillment

And it cannot be bought

Violence is no medicine for anger

Revenge is no food for the soul

Vice crucifies on an obsidian cross

And consumes your humanity whole

Ravenously ready

Tragically aware

Sinfully deluded

Unequivocally unfair

But life’s not fair.

For today, a limerick:

If I wanted to live in España

I’d buy a quaint little cabana

I’d visit for summer

Make love to my lover

Quién se llama Susanna

I’ve been a bit frustrated lately because I feel like I haven’t been prioritizing these blog entries as I should. Consequently, I usually end up writing them when I have a few minutes to spare, which results in me feeling like I don’t have time to fully develop the ideas I have on a given topic. The result is short, superficial entries. At this point, the 30 day challenge is partially counterproductive in that sense. It was good to force me to start spreading my creative wings, so to speak, but now that I’m busier I feel like I don’t have time to write every day. Instead, I think I good balance would be to write an entry once or twice a week, which would give me enough time to produce the quality of content I desire. I look forward to the end of this challenge so that I can start doing that instead.

Love lasts long

When kept close to the heart

Like a pendant

Hanging from the neck

But when love

Grows cold and painful

Like ice

Must it be shattered? 

Co-lovers

Co–fighters

Co-conspirators in crime

Slowly jaded

Quickly hated

But we’ll escape in time

Late nights and black liquid

Energize my senses

But steal the sweet sleep

From my tired eyes

So I’ll keep sipping

Those bitter sips

To finish this poem

And rest my tired eyes

My apologies for the short post. It has been an extremely busy day, and I’m exhausted. More tomorrow!

Disclaimer: the post for today adopts a more abrasive tone. I am a firm believer that - on occasion - humans need to hear the undiluted truth. 

Do you ever consider your life and regret all of the wasted opportunities, squandered potential, and apathy that constantly crush your motivation and turn into a perpetual downward cycle of laziness and mental castration?

Stop.

The only way out is to tell yourself the savage truth and cut through all the bull&$#% rationalizations and excuses.  You’re only cheating yourself.

Go into that room in your mind – that room with a four-inch thick steel door, padlocks, deadbolts, and a state-of-the-art security system. That’s the room where we all keep our trophy case of self-deception, worthless pride, and empty promises. Smash that trophy case with a baseball bat. Slam it to the ground. Then set fire to the room. When it’s done burning, gather all the ashes together and piss on them. Eradicate everything.  

Now you’re ready to change. Go do that thing that you want to do. Just do it. And stick with it. 

Most of us are too busy, too stressed, and too distracted. We lose sight of the small things that enrich our lives and provide it with breadth and depth. The fact is, our life is – in some ways – simply the culmination of all the little choices we make. Want to transform your life? Start making little choices that are better than the little choices that you make now.

            Here are some little choices I make on a daily basis that have enriched my life in so many ways:

Make time for a good night sleep

You’ll wake up feeling refreshed and your motivation won’t be sapped due to lagging energy levels. And it’s essential to a long, healthy life. If you don’t sleep enough, your body won’t have adequate time to repair all the damage it suffers thanks to the second law of thermodynamics. Your body can live longer without food than without sleep. That’s how important it is.

Be conscious of what you eat and make healthy choices

You’ll feel better. You’ll look better. You’ll function better. It’s simply unrealistic to think that we can go through life and eat whatever we want, whenever we want it and still maintain a healthy, fit body. This doesn’t mean we can never indulge, but those indulgences should be infrequent and our habits should generally be healthy.

Exercise

You live in a physical world. To ignore the function of your physical body – your only means of interacting with the physical world – is like never taking your car to the mechanic. It will work for a while, but ultimately it will breakdown prematurely and leave you unable to interact with the physical world anymore (i.e. debilitated or dead).

Read

Reading is an essential way to acquire and learn valuable information, entertain oneself, and stimulate creativity. The mind, like the body, needs to be stimulated and exercised to maintain itself and grow. Find the best books you can and read them. I find my books by reading reviews on Amazon.com

Express your creativity

In a world of consumers, it’s refreshing and energizing to challenge yourself to create something. It’s an extremely rewarding process, and provides a potential outlet to explore your own identity and beliefs.

Take time to be alone

In a world of perpetual connectedness, taking the time to calm your mind and refocus your priorities can mean the difference between perpetual stress, and a sense of inner calm. It can be as little as 10-15 minutes a day, but solitude can often be a crucial time for self discovery, and consider any upcoming decisions that must (or should) be made.

All of these can be encompassed with the slogan, “ Make good choices.” That’s ultimately what I strive to do daily. I can attest to its efficacy, and I know you would benefit greatly from striving for that too. Your list doesn’t have to be the same as mine, but start making those small daily decisions that enrich your life.