Passionate Living

This is the 100th post on Passionate Living, and coincidentally I have been meaning to make a change of plans. The writing projects I’m doing will be on hiatus as I take this time to focus on music projects which deserve priority for the moment. Therefore, this blog will also be on a hiatus, and the 100-post momentum seems like the appropriate time to stop for a moment.

This is not however the end of everything: let’s call this the first semester. The blog will continue at a later time, after a phase of relaxation and a recharge of creative ideas; also coming back with an emphasis on quality over quantity.

Thank you if you’ve been following this blog for however many posts ago. I don’t think this blog has many readers, so for the small group of you who do, you have my gratitude. I hope the ideas and insights I’ve shared have been valuable to you as they have been to me, and I pray that life holds more change and progress for all of us. Let’s look forward to the future, to the second leg of this blog that will meet you at a future time in your life where things may not be comprehensible seen from the present but is nevertheless good and welcome.

The final, 100th thought for you to think, and I think is the basis of the first chapter of this blog, is most appropriately conveyed through this little parable:

The Puppy, The Pillow, and The Dark

A small, white, furry, bubbly little Puppy is playing around. Its jumping and rolling and scurrying around and wagging its little tail like it’s having the time of its life. Its playing with an innocent joy that it’s getting from the only other companion around: a fluffy, soft, lifeless white Pillow.

The Puppy is prancing and preying, running around The Pillow, barking its little tongue out as it plays around The Pillow. The Pillow, of course, just sits there lifeless and motionless as The Puppy grabs the edges of the pillow with its teeth and drags it around. The Puppy, even though receiving no response from The Pillow, just continues playing around, lost in its own little world.

The Dark, surrounds The Puppy and The Pillow. There are only the three of them in their universe of existence: the white Puppy, the white Pillow, and the pitch black Dark. The Pillow is lifeless and feels nothing: it is there because it is only there and would still be there even if The Puppy disappears.

But The Puppy is unaware of The Dark. It is unaware that around it there is nothing else but The Pillow, which is his source of happiness, joy, and everything else in life. The Puppy is unaware of the danger and the change about to happen, as everything in its world falls apart.

The Pillow suddenly disappears one day. The Puppy, not knowing anything in its life other than the Pillow, is now made aware of The Dark. The Pillow, as it turns out, has only been in its imagination all this time, and it is The Dark that is real and is the place The Puppy lives in.

Now The Puppy is alone with The Dark. Its obliviousness to The Dark before, because it only knew The Pillow, leaves it completely vulnerable and unable to deal with the reality of the situation. Everything it believed in: Its Joy, Love, and Happiness, has all disappeared together with The Pillow. The only thing that’s left is the looming Darkness that surrounds The Puppy in every direction it sees, and as far as any distance it goes.

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Our reality in life is subject to be proven. Our beliefs that we believe to be true and unchangeable, are in fact as easily changeable and vulnerable as a fluffy white pillow. The danger we can make, the mentality of a little puppy, would be to build our lives based around these superficial beliefs because one day – since they are superficial – these beliefs will fade and fall apart and reveal the truth of our real reality: the darkness that we have avoided acknowledging this entire time.

If there is one question we should ask ourselves right now, it should be: but is it real? Are the values we believe in real? Are the things we say real? Are the ideas with which we build our lives on real, and will still be real tomorrow?

This question is for you to answer: is what you are doing right now real, in the sense that it will still be part of you ten years from now? Are the relationships you are in real, in the sense that the love will still be there twenty years from now? Is your identity real, in the sense that you still uphold the things you say now, even until the very end of your life?

-END OF CHAPTER ONE-

Plenty has been said about how TV is bad for you. In the modern Web 2.0 era, several digital media experts even say that broadcast is obsolete. With the advent of online programs, now you can choose what to watch, when to watch, and where to watch it.

Fatty watching himself on TV by Cloudzilla

The generation that grew up sharing a culture – everyone watching Happy Days or The Brady Bunch – doesn’t apply any longer in the digital era. Each person tailors her own consumption of entertainment, everyone having their own versions of top hit singles and favorite TV shows. The possibility of us all going “Hey, I haven’t heard that in a long time!” in the future is a small possibility.

Yet, in the middle of this rapid digital distribution, TV can be good for you. The uncontrollable aspect of major broadcasting can sometimes lead to serendipitious discoveries. The things you discover while watching uncurated programs or mindless browsing through the channels just might inspire you with something new.

Here are 3 ways that we can all do to make watching TV in an internet era be good for us:

1. Keep an open mind

The basis of this is for us to be open to new possibilities. TV programs are less specific than niche websites, but they are diverse enough to display several topics within one hour of programming. Simply tuning into several different channels for 30 minutes or 1 hour and interpreting it with our own minds can lead to some interesting discoveries of our own.

2. Don’t watch the news

The programs produced on TV can open our eyes towards new things and new information we might else not discover in our curated internet world. Yet, the danger of uncurated information is that it can be negative and affect how we feel throughout the day. Therefore, it’s better to avoid definite sources of negative information, such as news channels, and spend time on the positive information channels, such as:

3. Watch community programs

This is the most important aspect of watching TV: if you have a local channel, or at least one that is broadcasted by your city for your city, community programs are an excellent way to learn about what’s happening in your neighborhood. You can learn much about your environment, what is the primary concern of the moment, what kind of hobby groups and activities are going on at the moment, and whether you are interested enough to join in the activity or not. Also, plenty of entrepreneurs can make a comfortable living establishing a community based business: a small business that caters to the need of a limited community. Therefore, knowing about the needs of a community is important if you are interested in developing a business.

Serendipity is the name of the game. You can do this also with magazines and radio. Just because the internet is there, doesn’t mean we should abandon all other media channels, even though we could. The curated nature of broadcast programming subjects us to the personal flavor of the program producer, music director, and magazine editor and can expose us to new information that can be good for us.

So, start exploring today: watch a little more TV, buy one or two local magazines, and listen to the radio on your mobile – you’ll never know what you’ll discover.

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How many times have you been worried about being ill?

Having a health condition can be nasty because it interferes with your productivity. You spend time and probably money in order to gain your health back. Not only that, you also need extra time to regain the balance you had prior to falling ill. Falling ill is not a good business.

Sunrise on the Boardwalk by Arturo Donate

Or is it? There’s a lesson behind every disaster we experience as human beings. There’s a benefit to every adversity we endure in the journey of our lives. Humans grow from these difficult times, although we would mostly rather avoid them.

During the recovery process after falling ill, you develop a more delicate sensitivity and objectivity towards what you see and hear with your senses. You are more open and appreciative of the small details in life, and you can absorb the moment with greater proficiency than when you are in full health. In fact, sometimes being in full health can make you drown in your business and take the finer details for granted.

There is a TED talk but I fail to remember the title or the speaker. In it, she mentions the importance of disease. Would she rather have people stay healthy and disease free all the time? Not necessarily. She says that it is because of these diseases, these life changing maladies, that occur in the first place, that have made most of the greatest people in our society become great people: after their heart attacks or cancer diagnoses or other life threatening illness, their priorities were shocked into place and they pulled their act together. Lawyers become social workers, engineers become designers, accountants become community managers, and other more fundamental changes of characters.

This story shows, that although we might prefer to have a smooth and happy life all the way, it is the tough times that make it all worth while. No life was ever worth living if it never was worth fighting for: the struggles, the (non-personally invited) drama, and the battles that need be fought are the ones that make us change to be a better person. It is during hindsight, that we gain the clearest perspective and know then which step to take next.

Therefore, there is a benefit to falling ill: you stop being busy, you stop being part of the beehive, you stop being distracted by the hustle bustle and noise of city life. You start to notice the stillness of the clouds, you start to see the light of the sun, and you start to stand still be one with nature as you ask yourself, “Where have I been all this time? What have I been doing? It feels like I’ve done a lot but accomplished little in reality.”

Enjoy the process, absorb the experience. Before you lose grip of it and fall into the vortex of superficial living again.

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[1] Photograph by Arturo Donate