friday, we state the obvious -

i guess we all need to remember,

it's all about how you define 

"here".

i'm keeping my "here"

a little fuzzy

at all times

forever.

just helps me breathe a little better,

you know?

the lesson for thursday? rotate the sun.

we are taught

to look forward,

for our goals.

to look behind us,

for our lessons.

but what if our lessons and our goals

were mixed throughout time,

and we had to find what we needed

by looking both ways

at all times.

or looking at ourselves

in the moment,

the only "time"

when we truly exist.

i saw this and thought:

"i love the feel of the sun on my face"

and then:

"maybe i should grab it, so i can turn wherever i want,

and see whatever i need to see,

better."

i am beginning to think that our lives would be better lived

if we learned to apply warmth

where we need it,

and light

everywhere we look.

the wednesday lesson : payoffs

i had this posted on my door

at old navy:

and i,

like most everyone i worked with,

believed in this.

fervently.

it didn't always work out.

that's human, that's life.

but part of doing it,

working as hard as you can for a goal,

for a group,

for creation,

has it's rewards only if you can turn to those next to you

and say

WE did great.

i imagine in any venture it's true,

but i know when you are in a creative field it is for sure,

it is the team, not the individual,

that makes it

ALL come together.

and living more like that,

or at least trying to,

let's me feel like this:

ok,

who didn't see that one coming?

what do you expect?

my grandfather handed me ayn rand

when i was TEN.

motto tuesday : activation

so, 

i've been thinking . . .

my motto has always been from john gardner's GRENDEL,

and amazing book that takes the beowulf legend

from the p.o.v. of the monster.

heavy and wonderful stuff.

teaches you to question who's telling the history,

and what the other side of every lie is.

because every story has it's portion of lie.

anyway,

grendel lives by the motto

NIHIL EX NIHILO

(nothing from nothing)

which initally we think means a form of nihilism,

darkness,

despair.

until we come to learn that it is a shortening of a life philosophy.

that nothing comes from nothing,

therefore you have to DO something 

if you are ever to expect a return.

the corollary being, of course,

EVERYTHING FROM EVERYTHING.

so,

i offer you these two thoughts,

along those lines:

and,

more poetically,

more powerfully:

go, kidlets.

BE.

be everything.

monday's lesson : acceptance

so,

i'm a little slow right now.

this week, 

dedicated to posts around inspiration,

thought provocation,

and general perspectification.

i've never been very good at simply "accepting"

the way things are.

i was raised to create my own reality,

to be "anything that i wanted to be",

to "fight for what i wanted".

so i came across this,

and my friends,

i get,

but i struggled with it:

it's so . . . final.

it's so fate over free will,

that it stumped me.

but, i gave it time, and this is where i began to come out.

i have always believed, as in #1,

that we are meant to meet the people we meet in life,

and it is OUR choice how we deal with that.

we either learn the lesson, take the gifts, provide the help,

or

we don't and are fated to meet them, in some form, again

(and again and again)

until we do.

fate, meet free will.

i get #2.  it plays into HOW you deal with #1

#3 is a tough one for the landis.

i just told tim today my big life lesson is PATIENCE,

and i'm not very good at it.

and anger isn't the issue in my life, FRUSTRATION is.

funny how the two fit together.

so waiting for the WHEN is harder than dealing with the NOW.

#4, whew.

it's perhaps the most true.

and perhaps the most heartbreaking.

my version?

the most important thing to do

is say "goodbye".

too many times in life i've neglected that,

and too many times i've wished i'd done it.

and in the end of this discourse,

i came down to the inevitable.

one through four,

mean

acceptance.

the hardest lesson for us all.