Courage? Really?

If you have not already watched the HBO series, "Tell Me You Love Me," then go directly to Netflix, do not pass go, and rent season 1. Sadly, season 1 is the only season that can be rented. Spoiler: there will be no season 2. Do not let this ruin the experience of season 1 for you. So go now to Netflix and rent this show. You will be the wiser for having seen it.

During the last episode of the season, and the series, there is a poignant dedication made by the therapist. She dedicates her newly published book, "To the men and women who have the courage to be happy."

Courage?

It takes courage to be happy? This is a somewhat surprising thought, that happiness requires courage... really, what does happiness have to do with courage?

I guess I have never stopped to think about what happiness requires. Odd that I have never really thought about this before.

This is something I am genuinely curious about.

on Happiness

from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:

"...the best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."

from John Gardener:

"We are designed for the climb, not for taking our ease."

from Tal Ben-Shahar:

"Attaining lasting happiness requires that we enjoy the journey on our way to a destination we deem valuable. Happiness is not about making it to the peak of the mountain nor is it about climbing aimlessly around the mountain; happiness is the experience of climbing toward the peak."

Immerse Yourself In The Doing

Some insightful quotes from Uncommon Genius, by Denise Shekerjian, related to creativity:

• Creative people seem to have a greater tolerance for the ambiguous circumstances that begin most projects and are more accepting, even welcoming, of unstructured time.
• The person who can combine frames of reference and draw connections between ostensibly unrelated points of view is likely to be the one who makes the creative breakthrough.
• Paying attention to the conditions likely to enhance one's creative impulse is something that each person has to sort out for him- or herself.
• Money is not nearly as important a condition to doing creative work as maintaining the confidence and the courage to keep at it.
• Strong communication skills help, in the effort to bridge the gap between what the culture will tolerate and the innovator's vision. The package of skills includes the ability to explain ideas cleanly and neatly, the sense to know when and how to do it, and the wit and good manners to do it with charm.
• When a work or idea is made or presented in such a fashion that it is accessible to the viewing public, not only does the work stand a greater chance for survival,... but there is also a ripple effect to enjoy - from your new thing a viewer gains the insight or the confidence to develop his new thing, and from his new thing another person goes off and discovers yet another new thing, and so on. Thus we progress as a culture, inch by inch.
• The act of doing is an act of faith. If the creator is capable of the seriousness of the commitment and approaches it with an unclouded mind he may be rewarded with the store of knowledge that will enrich every one of his creative urges.

Part I Summary:
1. Find your talent.
2. Commit to it and make it shine.
3. Don't be afraid of risk. Or even failure, which if seen in its proper light, brings insight and opportunity.
4. Find courage by looking to something stronger and better than your puny vulnerable self.
5. No lusting after quick resolutions. Relax. Stay loose.
6. Get to know yourself - understand your needs and the specific conditions of your favor.
7. Respect, too, your culture.
8. Then finally, break free of the seductive pull of book learning and research and the million other preparatory steps that could delay for the entire span of a life and immerse yourself in the doing.

STORY

Rather than paraphrase, I am just going to include a long exact quote from the fascinating book: A Whole New Mind, by Dan Pink. Read this book!

We are our stories. We compress years of experience, thought and emotion into a few compact narratives that we convey to others and tell to ourselves. This has always been true. But personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose.
More than a means to sell a house or deepen a doctor's compassion, Story represents a pathway to understanding that doesn't run through the left side of the brain. We can see this yearning for self-knowledge through stories in many places...
What these efforts reveal is a hunger for what stories can provide--context enriched by emotion, a deeper understanding of how we fit in and why that matters. The Conceptual Age can remind us what has always been true but rarely been acted upon--that we must listen to each other's stories and that we are each the authors of our own lives.

Perspective

The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions. -- Ellen Glasgow

One Way to Start

"Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?" -- Mary Oliver

Today is April 30, 2008. Today seems like a good day to begin my life of publishing. It feels unbearable now, to continue this life without publishing. I have been ignoring this voice in my head for far too many years. Today I shall ignore the voice in my head no longer. Today is the beginning of something new. And only by writing shall I discover what this new thing is, where it will lead me, and who I shall become.