I realize that God has blessed me with an enormous amount of flashing thoughts and deeply set dreams. Ultimately, I realize that they are His. He can do as He wishes with them, but I must be willing to be a vessel.
I understand that if I don’t categorize my fleeting thoughts, big ideas, and mammoth future goals… if I don’t organize or prioritize them in some way… NONE of them will be accomplished. If I don’t say ‘No’ with certainty to a great idea, then there’s no time for the best idea. This is why writers may have thirty ideas for a book, but may only work on one or two at a time.
Ideas that get knocked out of the park are focused, not spread out. I’ve heard that a flashlight could become a laser if it was more focused.
I’m curious. How do your organize your thoughts? How do you focus?
To stop an oil spill, you stop it before it begins.
People may say, “We never would’ve guessed that this would happen,” but that is just something that we tell ourselves. There have always been earthquakes, hurricanes, and the greatest of natural disasters. There are always ways to even help prevent another 9/11 from happening. If there are ways to prevent or prepare for these, then aren’t there ways to prepare for a failed test before it happens?
If we don’t act, it is going to happen. It’s not negativity, but reality and wisdom. Part of growing, learning, and becoming… is preparing for the inevitable, so that the inevitable doesn’t play out the same way that it might if no action was taken.
How are you prepared for WHEN the oil spills…..and continues to spill?
When I log on to Facebook, I am a visitor. I don’t live there. I don’t own real estate there. I simply visit.
When I go to a friend’s house, as a visitor, I don’t expect to be forced to observe someone else playing Farmville. I don’t expect to have to watch someone else play Mafia Wars. I don’t want the looming judgment of whether someone ‘likes’ or ‘dislikes’ what I have to say. Frankly, I want friendships that delve deeper or, at least, have the opportunity to delve.
When I visit a friend’s house, they don’t try to target me with ads that fit my interests. They don’t try to tell my secrets to other people outside of our circle of friends that might benefit from knowing them. In truth, they would never ask me a thousand sideways questions to get me to justify their telling of my secrets to others. They never even have to go backwards and say, “What we meant to say was….”
When I visit a friend’s house, I am looking for community. I am searching for people to form genuine friendships with. Facebook had it going on, a few years ago, by not getting involved in the details. The key for any community builder is to provide a medium and STOP messing with it. Honestly, this is why Twitter works so well for building communities in an organic way.
Will Facebook change? Probably not. Is the answer to delete your Facebook account? Probably not. The answer is to change the way we use the medium. Use Facebook in smaller ways. Fewer people. Less clutter. Use it to develop a few key relationships. Go deep, don’t go so wide. Having 999 friends looks cool, but it also can look silly and ineffective. Don’t ignore ‘Friend Requests,’ but be intentional about how you develop relationships. You won’t have 999 incredible relationships. Impossible.
… by wide open spaces (and don’t like the Dixie Chicks’ song by the same name), then you should read today’s post on Seth’s blog. He hits the nail on the head.
For a person with the strengths of futuristic ideation, like myself, this is right on.
What if we took it a step further and asked God what He thought? Perhaps He will help us figure out the next step rather than us second guessing a thousand sideways stutter steps.
I’m looking for stories of people who have willingly given up something substantial for a bigger cause. I’m looking for stories of those who have opened their hands, poured them out, and trusted. Send them here.
Have you given up something significant? Something that almost knocked you over as you gave it away? A job? A comfortable life? An ego? A car? A person? A hobby? An obsession? Describe the experience, the lessons, and how you grew from it.
With your permission, I’d like to include your stories in the conversation of Vacant Hands.
When I was in elementary school, I found an Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) on the side of the road or somewhere. Maybe my dad brought it home. Don’t remember. What I do remember is that for a period of a few years, I developed an intense connection with turtles.
Our family became turtle ranchers of sorts and even had a chicken-wire pen in our backyard for the animals, with a pool. We named each of them: One-Eyed Willie, Star, Rachel May, Slider, etc. We were the turtle family. Show and Tell at school. We even had copycat competitors who built a turtle pen in their backyard.
We eventually released all ten or twelve of them into the wild frontier of our backyard. We said, “Run away. Be free!” And they did.
Very slowly.
We learned from each of them.
5 Reasons You Should Love Turtles
1) Turtles are turtles. They can’t change into giraffes. And they realize this.
2) They move slowly. Methodically. Purposefully.
3) They know when to sit still and when to move.
4) They eat slugs.
5) They retreat into their shells when necessary. And they value alone time.
No specifically intended metaphors. Just the facts about turtles.
Caricature: : (?ker-i-k?-?chu?r) 1: exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics.
An over exaggerated you could be exactly what the people around you need. Take your strengths and the things you do well and let them be amplified!
Perhaps they need YOU to become EVEN more like the YOU that God created YOU to be. A mouthful.
Most of us have spent much of our time trying to become cheap copies of other people. As a coincidence, most of those we try to imitate actually have become caricatures of themselves.
What would you look like if you became more like you?
When you’re going hard and there’s no time to breathe. Be silent.
It seems that all too often, people who say the most have nothing to say. And often the ones who are learning their role and mission in this world don’t plan periods of solitude. The times of solitude and silence help us realize our own humanity.
We need the silence. Often you see actors, musicians, and others find it through unhealthy ways. Rehab.
How do you find it? Do you stop blogging? Tweeting? Do you go where no one will disturb you? Do you give up your cellular smart phone fixation for a week? Do you go to sleep early? Do you give up TV? Do you wake up earlier than anyone else?
Which is more important to you: the silence you need or the sacrifice needed to achieve it?
