Still Struggling

Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought. - Napoleon Hill 

I have been struggling for at least the last the last month with just what to do with this blog. My primary purpose for doing this blog was to write. Just write. The topic and subject material were immaterial. I have long heard that the trick to becoming a writer is to write. Starting up a blog and committing myself to it seemed like a good way to get myself to write. And it has worked in that regard.

A Change in Direction

I have been having difficulty finding enough time for even one post a week on this blog. There are a number of reasons for this. Desire and opportunity would be the most significant. Opportunity because I am quite busy. Mainly doing other writing (and reading). A bit of email. Too much FaceBook. Lots of forums and a few community sites I have been getting involved with. And a couple of other blogs, both of which I write to more frequently than this one.

How you doin?

I'm sure that most people who have been at least a little aware of pop-culture over the last decade recognize the phrase in the title. It is the catch-phrase of Joey from the once popular sit-com Friends. The show turned what was once a common greeting into a "pick-up" line, a come-on. A line of dialogue used in flirtation. I find this line, and the way it's meaning has transformed, to be quite illuminating.

Foul Language

"Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse." — Zhuangzi

In what way could knowledge be a curse? As I had mentioned earlier what we think we know is actually what we believe. We rarely put conscious thought and effort into choosing our beliefs, and fail to realize how much power we surrender by not being more careful in what we believe. When i start believing that bad things are going to happen, or believe that I can't accomplish something, because I know that's just the way the world is, I have cursed my self. I have turned away from my destiny and chained myself to my (self-imposed) fate. I create my fate through my beliefs, and embrace my destiny by exercising conscious choice.