You're Odd? Well, That's Okay.

"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers." - Mignon McLaughlin

There can be a lot of pressure to fit in with the crowd.

Maybe it's just human nature, but people tend to fear what appears odd or different.  People can make the odd ones feel bad and out of place.

It's just that though--they CAN make the odd ones feel bad if the odd ones allow it.  But, that's not the way it has to be.

If an odd one isn't negatively affected and hindered by the words of the crowd, then great things can happen.

Ignore the crowd and believe in yourself.

I think it's important to respect the crowd and to hear them out. But, don't let them make your decisions just because.

Understand that they only critique an existing world.  It's hard to comprehend something new that hasn't been thought of yet.  And that fear of the unknown can keep the crowd slamming on fresh thinkers.

Odd ones think of the unthinkable ideas--the ideas that the crowd doesn't think of due to conformist restraints.

But don't be odd JUST to be odd.  That's conforming in itself, and it's very phony.

If you have a huge passion, and a great idea that doesn't fit society's status quo, then that doesn't mean you have to abort your mission.

If you have enough faith in what you are doing, even if you are alone and are the only one that can see the magic of your weirdness, then protect your weirdness from the crowd.  Give your weirdness a chance. Don't let the crowd's misunderstanding of you wither out your special, unique, one-of-a-kind weirdness.

Weird people change the world, but only if they ignore the negativity of the crowd.

"Here's to the crazy ones." - Steve Jobs

This Present Moment Is Sooo "8 Minutes Ago"

"The past is strapped to our backs. We do not have to see it; we can always feel it." ~Mignon McLaughlin

It's 7:08 am.

You see the sunrise peeking out over the distance, and it lights your 7:08-in-the-morning world.


I remember learning in elementary school that it takes sunlight about 8 minutes or so to travel across the galaxy to reach our planet.

So that sun that you see at 7:08 am is actually the sun that existed at 7 am.

In a way, when you look at the sun, you're looking into the past--You're seeing how the sun was 8 minutes ago. And that sun of the past is what lights our entire present world.

Is there some sort of lesson here?


I feel it's important to not be defined by your past just because it's your past. However, the past has lit the way our present.

I used to weigh 280 pounds. How'd I get to that point?  I got there by the immediate past.  I never exercised and I ate lots and lots of bad food.  Those were the past habits of my husky 280 pound self.

Then I lost weight and got down to 180 pounds. How'd I get there? I got there by the immediate past.  I watched what I ate, chose better foods and exercised multiple times a week. Those were the past habits of my leaner 180 pound self.

Now I am back up to 230.  It's no surprise that I got back up to this point in my weight. My current immediate past is back to the habits of the old 280 pound me from years ago.

My present will soon be the past, so it's important to make my immediate past a good one--that will have meant that my present was good too.

Mistakes happen. They become a part of the past. Don't be defined by them--learn from them. And don't forget them so the next time they come around, you'll be ready. Forgive yourself if you have mistakes in your past, but don't block them out.

With a healthy immediate past, odds are you have a healthy present.

Also, take a look into the night sky. See all those stars? I wonder if any of them are a thousand lightyears away.   That would mean that you are looking a thousand years into the past at a star that might not even exist anymore, right? Kinda cool!

"The Ratatouille Effect" - Lessons Are Everywhere

"Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." - Pixar's Ratatouille


Once upon a winter perhaps during a darkening dusk, I asked my dad why the days during the winter got to be so short.

He told me that Earth's tilted axis allows the world to move farther away from the sun during winter which creates both the colder season and shorter daylight hours. The farther we are from the sun, the less light there is.

"The less light there is, the more dark."

That made so much sense to me, and I never forgot when my dad told me that.

Throughout the years, I've come across friends, family or acquaintances who were sad, stuck, angry, negative etc...

I, myself, have always been more or less a jolly soul, and I like to least offer an ear or some sort of help to people that need it. I said this:

"The more you love, the less you hate."

or

"The more positivity in you, the less negativity."

Tuns out, my dad's lesson taught me more than why the days during winter are shorter.  Sure, that is literally what he taught me, but I TOOK much more than that from the lesson.

In fact, I "took" two important things from his lesson.

Here's the first:

I learned that there is really only 100% of a ratio. There is no more than 100%, there is no less than 100%.  In my dad's lesson, the ratio is the light/dark ratio.  So can the factors can be interchangeable?

If the idea that "the less light there is, the more dark" makes so much sense to me, then why should it only help with my questions about short days? Why not exchange "light" with "love" in the equation?


That way of thinking brought some sort of clarity to me.

"The more you love, the less you hate."
"The more you love, the less you hate."
"The more you love, the less you hate."
....Now that made a lot of sense to me.

"The more positivity in you, the less negativity."
"The more positivity in you, the less negativity."
"The more positivity in you, the less negativity."
....Yep, that made a lot of sense too.

It still does...

The human brain can only take so much. It can only be filled to 100%. So if you really REALLY fill it with love, then the love/hate ratio will tip in love's favor, Don't you think?

Think of a glass of Hershey's syrup chocolate milk...

Is it a glass of milk? Or is it a glass of chocolate?
Well, it's mostly milk with some chocolate mixed in.

If it was a glass of chocolate syrup with a little milk mixed in.... Well that's just gross! I like my chocolate milk more over on the milky side.

The glass is 100%. It can't hold anymore. So best fill it mostly with milk with just enough chocolate to keep things interesting and inspired to keep drinking.

If anybody out there who's reading this is suffering from sadness, hopelessness, anger, depression, inferiority etc... I challenge you to stop feeling that way. Stop thinking that way. Fill your brain with positivity instead of negativity. Fill your heart with love instead of hate.  Tip the ratio in favor of the positives. Give yourself a chance.  No overnight task to some, I'm sure. But if you start now, then guess what; you started. Now all you have to do is keep going. Easy, right? ;)

I mentioned earlier that my dad's lesson taught me two important things.

Here's the second:

My dad taught me a lesson about the sun, planet and light. But I took way more than that from it.

I realized that I can learn valuable lessons anywhere and everywhere. It's not necessary for someone to slap an answer at me right in the face. I can find some answers anywhere that presents the opportunity.

As of this blog, I'm calling it, "The Ratatouille Effect."

RA·TA·TOUILLE EF·FECT [rat-uh-too-ee ih-fekt]
noun
An epiphany caused when one learns a valuable lesson from ANYWHERE, especially obscure, random or unforeseen places.

A definition? Wow, now its official, eh?

In the Pixar flick, an incredible chef ends up coming out of the sewer in the form of a rat.

The lesson they are teaching is that you don't have to be rich, popular, male, female, white, black or anything in between to do something great. It can come from anywhere.

Why should the lessons stop there though? Why not take something else?

"Not everything can become a great lesson, but a great lesson
can come from anywhere." - Ratatouille (with interchanged factors!)

My "Done" List

"Rather than viewing a brief relapse back to inactivity as a failure, treat it as a challenge and try to get back on track as soon as possible. " - Jimmy Connors

My introductory post for this blog mentions documenting my rise. Lets see how I've done so far since that post in 2010 when I was 24...

HANDFUL OF PROS:

• I graduated magna cum laude.
• I kayaked with dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico.
• I met my drum idol Mike Portnoy twice.
• I moved to Spain to finish up my college degree
• While in Spain, I visited the cities of Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada, Jerica, Gandia, Madrid, Barcelona, Sagunt, and lived in Valencia.
• I tripled my knowledge of the spanish language. (Still don't know much at all)
• I road tripped to France from Spain, Slept in the Pyrenees Mountains, rock climbed in Fontainebleau France, and visited Paris.
• I visited Marrakech, Morocco in Africa, road tripped into the Sahara Desert, rode a camel to my tent where I camped in the desert.
• I improved my photography skills immensely. (Still never fully satisfied with my photos)
• I visited London, saw Harry Potter in the Odeon Theatre, and ate fish 'n chips!
• I wrote and recorded four songs of my own, and wrote three musical scores for others including a  documentary for Kevin Sorbo of the old TV show "Hercules" fame.
• I created a music video recorded all over the world using Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater (my fav band EVER)'s iPad app, and got some attention from him personally.
• I travelled, couch surfed, and have seen many new states.
• I became a ski bum and worked on a beautiful snowy mountain just to snowboard all season.
• I visited the bahamas.
• I photographed my first wedding, and the couple is happy with the work.
• I moved to Massachusetts.
• I saw Peter Gabriel in concert.
• I've gone apple picking! Very new experience for me.
• I've learned to Salsa dance. (Still a beginner!)
• I've gone to my first pro baseball and football game.
• I lost weight. My heaviest was 280lbs. I got down to 180.
• I've made many plans for my future. Great plans. Plans just right for someone as odd as me.
• I went skydiving

HANDFUL OF CONS:

• I keep "planning" my future.  Planning is just make believe.
• I gained weight. I'm now at 235.. "Obese" according to the BMI.
• I keep setting off to do these huge plans in my head. Take some action towards my dreams, and I feel like the efforts aren't even close to what I need to do to make them real.
• I feel like I run in the same circles with some of my close relationships. (Can't embellish on here.)
• I have not written 50 songs, only 3.
• I have not created much video content. Lots of footage, but not many full productions.

To keep things short, I limited the pros and cons very much. I must admit I've done some RAD stuff.  The things I have done are great for conversations.  I actually do get some sort of enrichment from doing amazing stuff.

However, I don't feel full because of them.

The weight in the few cons I posted is enough to tip the scale.  Gotta get started.

Habit Forming

"It's been a while! A lot has happened in the past year. For one, I went to live in Spain for three incredible months. I've learned a lot more than just Spanish while I was there. I think I've learned, like REALLY learned the importance of the concept of "today."

I'm usually such a planner. I try to think of how I want my future to be or things that I want to eventually do. But "planners" are just dreamers. Dreams think up dreams. And dreams without action are just make believe. I have a nice little future built up in my dreams, but until I do the actions, it's just make believe.

I met some truly incredible people in Spain that inspire me. Now that we've all split when we came home from Europe, I miss them dearly. They won't be easily forgotten. I just knew in the back of my mind that I would see some of them again one day.

One day? Which day? Some day in the future? Well, here's an idea - how about TODAY, you "planner" you."

-Me 2/6/2011
______________________________________

I started this blog to show my own self improvement and growth.  I've only published one post.

That stuff up there was supposed to be my second post, and obviously I didn't get around to finishing it or posting it.

"Didn't get around to it. Didn't get around to it. Didn't get around to it."  (So much for that TODAY talk I mentioned up there, huh?)

Habits and habit-forming are powerful things.  A person could wake up at 5 in the morning and run 20 miles without thinking if that is his/her habit.

No problem.

One could wake up, cook, clean, drop the kids off, shop, cook again, pick the kids up, clean again, cook again, all while having a part time job and part time college classes if that is his/her habit.

No problem.

One can also wake up late, go back to sleep, and wake up later staring at the ceiling all day day after day if that is his habit.

No problem...

Habits are things you do without thinking. They're actions that your body does time and time again to where the action isn't even a thought.  You practice your habits every day.

I want to make blogging or documenting my life a habit. The only way I can do that is to DO IT. TODAY not later.

In that post I started in Feb '11, I talked about how I'm such a planner... Such a dreamer...

I still am.

That is my habit. I'm GREAT at thinking about what I can do and where I can end up. That is my current habit.  It's also a problem to a degree.

"You can dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it because dreamers always chase but never get it." -Aesop Rock


Actions are required to make dreams a reality. I feel like I don't act.  Or if I am acting, I'm going VERY slowly.

Why don't I act?

To be honest, I do "act" to a degree, but I don't act to my full potential. I don't even think I act to half of my potential.

So why don't I act?  Good question.

Hmm... Maybe?...

• I feel I'm such a perfectionist at times. It is easy for me to start a million things.  As I go along, I find it hard to make final decisions.  When I have a prototype or demo of something I'm working on, I don't feel it is good enough.  Since it's not good enough, I work hours upon hours to try to make it good enough. It never gets there in my eyes, even with all the hard work. That has made me lazy because I see it coming--the hours of fruitless work... and that discourages my action. This has happened time and time again. Habit.

• Does life get in the way?  I do have some massive things going on in my life, and it's easy for me to play victim and say that those things prevent me from acting.  I literally can't talk details of the massive things going on in my life, but take my word on it--They aren't ordinary, they seem brutally eternal, and they take jabs at my spirit.  I'm not sure that's a good enough excuse to prevent me from acting.  There must be a way to turn "life got in the way" to "life happened along the way."  I'm very used to life getting in the way of my dreams. I let them prevent me from action often. Habit.

• Perhaps I'm scared?  I don't feel scared. Being scared is no way to live. I truly believe that. IF I'm scared, it must be hidden deep in my subconscious.

So I leave my work and passions unfinished. I'm a perfectionist, I'm lazy, I'm a planner, I'm a dreamer, I allow life to get in the way, and perhaps I'm scared.

....These are my habits. I'm great at them, I do them everyday. It's clockwork. It requires no thinking.

There is a word that I want to add to my habit list...
..."action"