My Magic Potion for Success

 

**Used under provisions:
"Fair Dealing" Canada and
"Fair Use" United States.

 

It has taken a long time for me to realize that I have a "magic potion for success". What follows is a list of ingredients:

⭐Act on the idea in some way immediately. This can be jotting down the concept or making a quick recording, but to make a permanent record of your inspiration. In enough detail so that you can fully remember the train of thought leader. This does not mean you have to write the entire book now but so many great ideas get lost in our busy world.

⭐Recognize that this will take time to fully evolve and make plans for ways to get back on track should life throw you a curve ball. The best ideas can take a long time to fully flush out. So be realistic and be prepared to reevaluate things as you go along. Very often an idea can evolve to include many more aspects. If necessary rather than trying to create an all-encompassing project, limit it to an achievable outcome. It may be the first of many versions and that's fine.

⭐Sometimes along the way of your journey you find that the idea has completely changed. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. Take a look at your expectations and if the new version fits within those boundaries, continue the project.

⭐If it is a long undertaking deliberately insert appropriate breaks. Even with the best big ideas it is healthy to step away for a while. Nothing hampers creativity like burnout. Burnout can best be avoided by diversifying the activities you undertake. It doesn't matter how much you like your project, if it becomes all-consuming for too long the quality will suffer and probably so will you. Everybody has an activity they become very enthusiastic about and spend many hours at it but please watch out for burnout and take appropriate action. Usually your friends or loved ones will start sending you signals ahead of time that you need to come out for a breath of fresh air. So keep your options open.

⭐⭐Bonus point: Expect to change. All major events change you. One of the things people forget when we are planning for success is that, they will fundamentally be different if they succeed. Perhaps and only a small way but you will have changed. So plan for it. It's analogous to going from childhood, to adolescence and then finally to adulthood. At each step of the way you were different. Success in your endeavour will change you.

There you have it. My short recipe for success in almost any undertaking. Like all good ideas it need not be long or complex to express.

As usual leave comments and take care.
Patrick

NOTE:
**Source of image at the top of this article. This image has been very stylized by myself using Corel Paint Shop Pro. I was browsing through Google image search when this photo from an eBay auction appeared. I remembered almost the exact model sitting in my grandmother's kitchen. When the idea for this short article occurred to me this seemed like a perfect image. No copyright or rights infringement is intended.

Do you notice the times when you're happy?

Some of my father's wood carvings.
Circa 1995.

My father would often cloister himself away, to work on his many art projects, be it carving, drawing, painting, creating figurines of the Plaster of Paris etc.… He definitely knew when he was happy.

We often go through out our day noticing when things are not going right and usually are very aware of the impact it has. How often are you aware when you're happy throughout the day? Do you actually noticed the moments when you are happy as much as those times when you are negatively impacted? If the world is so busy counting the negatives, perhaps it is time to take pause and count the positives.

I am guilty of this as well. Although I do my darndest to catch these darker moments and events and balance them out with a clear perspective. Here's an example:

When I bought a bottle of wine, even if it's a screwtop, I am very aware that usually getting it open takes a little bit of planning. This is due to a disability I have, Cerebral Palsy, usually I put on rubber gloves to increase my grip and give the bottle a few tries before the lead cracks open. But occasionally the bottle opens without effort and I am instantaneously very pleased. But how long do I hold onto that memory?-This is the question. So today I'm going to make a conscious effort to notice the things that go right. At the end of the day I will look back and see what I feel about things. It is also very appropriate that it's Friday. That in itself always brings a smile to my face. This particular file goes way back to when I was a child and it meant the end of the school week was near. Even though I liked school, the weekend was always much better. Full of adventure 😌.

So, that's it then, let's all take some time to notice when we are happy and then reflect on that at the end of the day and see how we feel. The video with this incredibly short article goes into more detail and I can tell you that by the end of it I was feeling pretty darn good 😁!

There may be a follow-up video because I intend to keep this positive idea of being aware of my own positive events going for at least a week and then I will report back. So this article will get longer.

For now take care and enjoy the video. May it bring something nice to your day.
Patrick Clark

The Art of Being Happy.

There are of course many articles written on the art of being happy. This text however will be different it is a much more personal journey as I attempt to look at what happiness is for me and perhaps for you. There will of course be a video at some point. (It'll probably be just below this paragraph as Google loves videos to peer near the beginning of a piece so that users don't have to scroll very far😁

Step 1: Get Real, Stop the Mental Autopilot

I did an article and video almost exactly a year ago dealing with just this.-The article is called "Presence of Mind". To summarize the article you have to pay attention to what you are doing mentally. When everything is done by routine we almost immediately stop listening to the internal dialogue but we don't stop listening to the overall message. If that messages negative or in other ways untrue we still accepted as fact on an emotional level and that of course impacts everything.

Step 2: Stop Saying "Yes." To Every Task; Pair down Your To Do List.

I have a tendency to say "Certainly, I can do that.", because I like to accomplish things and help people in the process, or at least that's what I like to tell myself. But I think the truth is closer to something like this is how we validate ourselves or temporarily make ourselves happy. Well, the second step is to stop doing just that. A single person can only do so much and even though you and I may love to be involved in everything. In order to accomplish anything the tasks must be manageable. They must allow you to have breathing room. So since the goal is to be happy, let's say for today you must have the room and time to do it. If you look at very creative people they guarded their time jealously. (See the article "Intuition and the Curious Mind" )

 Step 3: Happiness Is Not External, it's internal And You Have To Own It.

This one a big one, which must be clearly understood. Happiness does not come to you. It is something you'll create by being involved and taking responsibility for how you feel. Yep, you have to work at it and it is only temporary. Which means you have to keep working at it and be willing to put in the effort. The details of this sobering paragraph are that you have to figure out your own personal mechanism to find happiness. Start with identifying why you may be unhappy. Separate the things you cannot change from the things you can. It may be necessary to change your self. Many people think they can attain something without changing themselves. Humanity was literally built on the idea of constant change. If you are unhappy at this very moment and then you manage to make your self happy you will not be the same person.

Click picture to view/download full
resolution printable copy.

This artwork is hereby placed in the
public domain and is based upon material
in the public domain. Patrick Clark

So happiness is really a voyage of discovery and effort. It has very little to do with external things. You definitely cannot buy happiness; you could only buy distraction at the end of the day you must deal with your self. Therefore embrace change and effort.

Step 4: The Discovery

So happiness is really a voyage of discovery and effort. It has very little to do with external things. You definitely cannot buy happiness; you could only buy distraction, and  at the end of the day you must deal with your self. Therefore embrace change and effort.

Very often as you get closer to feeling happier, and you find with some astonishment that there is resistance. Human beings don't fundamentally like to change regardless of how miserable or positive there are normal is. The key thing to remember is that you are not trying to win an achievement. There is no plateau. More accurately, what you are doing is making minor alterations to your outlook one step at a time. Be prepared to practice and be very honest with yourself during this ongoing journey. At some point you will be astonished how happy you are.

Step 4.5: Keep Track of Your Discoveries

Most often a "lack of happiness" can be defined as a lack of knowing one's self. The more you understand about the person you are, the more you can address and make changes. Following the above steps will literally make you a happier person. Because you understand more about your self and it is an ongoing journey. It is not a simple task to be happy it is much easier for some people to be miserable because all they have to do is ignore the things that would make them happy. Which is to change what they are doing in some way.

So start digging around and considering the particular situation you find yourself in. You may not feel the change a lot of things but at the very least you can change how you interpret and react to any given event.

Take care have a great day Patrick

Mindfulness of the Self.

 

The  Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines Mindfulness as follows:
 

"A mental state achieved by concentrating on the present moment, while calmly accepting the feelings and thoughts that come to you, used as a technique to help you relax."

This is a good starting point. After one does this on a regular basis for a while you may begin to notice patterns in your thoughts that you did not expect and these can tell you a great deal about the more subtle aspects to your self and personality."Take mindfulness to the next step." Is how I stated in the short video on this page.

Everyone as a public persona and everyone also has a private persona where they might tell themselves, "This is who I really am." Surprise, with regular mindfulness training you might discover that there is another layer which may be in contrast to who you think you really are. Most of the time it's much more subtle, but no less tremendously important to pay attention to, providing insights most often to feelings and states of mind you tend to automatically accept throughout the day.

It is a good idea to keep a journal of some kind listing these insights and other related thoughts. You will discover that you don't know yourself is much as you think you do. Then armed with this information you can form a plan on what you would like to change or just accept. 

This is very important in today's ultra distracted and fast-paced world. You will begin to be able to choose when you are letting things in which have an emotional impact on you. This knowledge will also provide one the ability to separate out the stuff that is unwanted before it really gets integrated into emotional or mental routines.

Years ago I read an article which stated that the average person is exposed to more information in one day then someone born in the late 1800s would receive in the one year. At first this sounded ludicrous, but then I began to think about it. Just look at the number of notifications you probably received in an hour on your phone. Then you can add in the number of interruptions and diversions etc. (If you're one of those lucky individuals who been able to will the door shut to give yourself some breathing room, congratulations. You will probably like another short article I wrote Intuition and the Curious Mind. )

The best part I have found is that it is never too late to have an insight and act on it. You may find that you have done something for years… Well now that you know about it you can modify your reaction moving forward and that is always a good thing.

 It is possible to even incorporate a response to what you discover in your mindfulness journey. Let's say during sessions you find yourself having a reaction to a recurring thought and although you've accepted it there's nothing stopping you from adding in a response to that thought. You can literally adjust the brains "volume knobs" if you'll pardon the really bad analogy, to whatever it is. There is no appropriate way to do it and there's no inappropriate way to do it. Whatever works for you. If during our journeys you discover you need some outside assistance seek out a good friend or professional. That's part of life and I am myself talk to a psychologist on a regular basis just to get an alternate viewpoint.

The mind is a great flexible tool at your disposal, go ahead and polish it up :-)

Today, the plan is to get out and enjoy a life!

You could call this "article" a live post. Over the last few weeks I have had challenges in keeping the blog as up-to-date as I've wanted to do. Time has not been a friend of late with so much to do. So today's post is literally going to be done on the run. Not on any particular topic but compiled from my adventures as I zip around in my electric wheelchair from one part of the lower mainland of British Columbia to the other. I'm referring to the greater Vancouver area. 

 Yesterday we  accidentally made it all the way to downtown Vancouver and around the Stanley Park seawall and back to Surrey. I say accidentally because I had planned any of it.

I am also compiling a short about 10 minutes video a montage of sorts containing some of the scenes and places I arrived back. Today it's up to the Oakridge Park area. A section of the city that I hear is going through a great change and from the developers website it sounds like they want to be a new city centre. We shall see...

 It's now almost a week later, but I finally compiled a short three minute video containing springtime/summertime photos and video clips. This is only a little over three minutes long but I think captures the real spirit of the season and truly becoming aware of the awesomeness around us. I know that sounds trite, but it really is true. So without further ado, here is "Springtime Swing": (If it is not available yet come back in about an hour, I just uploaded it and it is in 4K.)

I do plan to go out again tomorrow, Saturday, May 27, and it looks like the weather is going to be beautiful. So I'll be posting an article or adding to this one hopefully sometime over the weekend. Take care

Patrick

Appreciating accomplishments.

Very often, when I speak the people who are going through a negative period In their life, one of the things that started the downward trip was that they stopped acknowledging their daily accomplishments.

Every single one of us accomplishes something every day. We often miss acknowledging this because in the modern fast-paced world achievements must be big and profound. Popular culture would have us all believe that we must launch a rocket to Mars, or something effectively preposterous every day, otherwise somehow it is not worth acknowledging. I had a personal example of this just the other day.

I had just uploaded my very first long format video (Article and Video Windows 10 basics part one) to YouTube and I instantly began to judge it against out plethora of professional and pseudo-professional offerings. For a while I felt like I had wasted almost 2 weeks worth of free time on this first project. Then I thought: "Wait a Minute!… I am learning as I go and in making pretty darn good use of the resources I have. It's not meant to be perfect… It was more important to get this first instalment posted." Indeed I am lucky because I realized to appreciate my achievement.

We are all learning as we go along in life and it is so critical for one's self-esteem to see and appreciate that in various forms. I watch a video the other day of a professor describing how to make the substance Graphene and was really struck by the time and patience he took in testing the substance he made. In doing so he got the maximum enjoyment out of the experience, not to mention the tremendous insights. Someone else might watch part of this video and get bored because at the point where he is verifying the results it's by slow repetitive measurements. But I think that's where he had the most fun, truly demonstrating that he created the substance and that it was tremendously strong. So by acknowledging the small achievements in this hour-long video he gained a tremendous boost emotionally and intellectually. All because what is important is acknowledging the small steps.

When you think about it we are all "Getting There" one step at a time. Take a moment to acknowledge those achievements.

Take care Patrick

One day closer to Friday!

 

"One day closer to Friday!"

It used to be when I was a child and in my early teens, that statement was my mantra. I liked school, and I still do if only I could find the time to take all those wonderful courses. I have yet to invent the Time Machine.

Now days that statement means I get to shift from volunteer and work mode to a more relaxed mode where I still get involved in a ton of things. I always seem to be able to find some new avenues to go down. Coming up with ideas and alternate angles of approaching things it's easy for me. As a matter of fact, I'm a little dumbfounded by people that don't do this. Frequently when I respond to someone with an answer like "You Can Do Whatever You Want." They come back with "Like What?" and they truly don't know what they would like to do. The human inbuilt idea factory was never turned on for them. I just can't wrap my head around this concept of no ideas or no inquisitiveness. But trust me there are a great number of people who are like this. They don't celebrate the fact that it's one day closer to Friday because for them every day is pretty similar to the previous one. They grumble about boredom but don't do anything to change their situation. Heck as I've said here before on the blog, I usually have too much to do and I really would like to be able to do it all. Not only do I have to get a Time Machine put together I guess I better start cloning myself :-).

Isn't that the whole point of life, to discover things?! When you can't discover things you can consider the things you already know from a variety of angles. I was once in a local hospital waiting to get transferred in my current residence, and rather than getting bored to death I fixed the local floors Internet. The problem was with the local cable provider and I just phoned up and started to explore the issue. At first they wouldn't tell me anything but as the staff got involved I slowly but surely opened up a discussion and it turned out that they had a flaky wireless access point in the ceiling. During this adventure I learned a little bit more about how large-scale networks work. Although I wasn't up to doing this every single day it did pass the time in a constructive way. The best part is of course also the weekend means a lot more to you. Not quite as much is Friday but it stops life from sliding into oblivion. I am so aware now days of how unique the experience of being alive is. I also know that it is a short event. Something which is not be taken for granted. I don't believe in the existence of life after death in any form so while I'm "here" I really want to make the most of it.

So if you enjoy your Fridays and indulge in your weekends, good for you! If you don't, it is time to get off your butt in a positive way and shake things up a bit.

Take care Patrick

To truly experience something, you must change.

 If the goal is to really understand another person or condition or even a perspective, you cannot remain the person you are right now. This is particularly important if the experience involves being overwhelmed or another extreme situation. In order to truly understand it you must become overwhelmed your self.

Many people when they are trying to grapple with a new situation especially if it's profound, don't understand that the business of living is to change and sometimes by holding on doggedly to who you are will only increase the distress. Mother nature does not believe in the concept of "noninvolvement". Changing and adapting are really one of the few things we all share in common. Think about it, are you today, the person you were 30 years ago? If all is gone right then the answer is "no". On the other hand if you're absolutely certain that you are the same person you were then I suggest evaluating whether that's working for you. I am quite certain you will find that it is not.

There are tons of positives you can experience when you understand that change on a fundamental level is necessary. It is the very heart of exploration and growth. It forces you to live in the world, not just alongside it. It is been my experience from dealing with many people in my volunteer work over the years that those who refused to change their perceptions often become frustrated and angry. Because they are putting all their energy into staying the same. This is not to say that you should always change, but what I am saying is that you need to be aware and accept decisions that you need to make. Then you are truly the master of your destiny. At least as much as is humanly possible.

So get out there and truly change!. Have a great day.
Patrick

Seize the moment! Act on the idea.

So many great ideas are lost forever because people don't take action on them immediately. I don't mean that you can go out and rule the world right now or that you even have to, but it is so critical to make some movement toward the goal. Even if that's only writing down a few notes because of the way we move now days literally billions of thoughts are lost to the ether if you don't take some precautionary measures.

Indeed this happened with this very blog post  you're reading. Often times I've been zipping around Vancouver or Surrey and something that has inspired me, one of those "Great Thoughts" or at least the beginning idea of something very cool. Now days I almost automatically recorded in my phone.

It's such a simple thing to do that is why a moment ago I stop work for a few minutes because that's how this very article occurred. It just popped into my head while I was doing something else completely unrelated. So instead of a coffee break I'm having a "Quick write that down now moment." So this article won't be very long and as a matter of fact we might've reached the end for, now anyway . But before I go  and return to the real world. Please remember to take action and next time something inspirational occurs to you.

I promise not only will you be surprised you may be astounded where the idea takes you.

Continue to have a great day!

 Patrick

A Life after Gathering Stuff

 

As I've mentioned in other articles on this blog, I live in an assisted living building which means that we have staff available to us 24 hours a day. The building is 14 years old now and so they've decided to replace the carpet with vinyl flooring. This is good, the original carpet was beginning to look a little frayed. This has meant that a lot of material items, which we will henceforth call "Stuff", in honour of the late comedian George Carlin, has been pulled out and rearranged to make room for the work crew. It is amazing how much stuff there is. It seems to have come out of nowhere and yet I know that it is been there all along. 

George Carlin's classic standup routine "Your Stuff"

Of that huge mountain of stuff how much do we really need? Why are we so attached to gathering as many belongings as possible around us? I mean when you think about it only a small fraction of that stuff adds to your life in the long run. Works of art are marvellous items of stuff and that lends them some merit in hanging around for a long time. But we all have that dear friend who's apartment or house it's just overflowing with stuff which we all know they don't need. Yet they cannot seem to get rid of it. What in human nature is being met here? What is the urge that is being satisfied or is it an insecurity.

When I looked into this building I made a conscious choice to minimize the gathering of stuff because I just moved out of the apartment building where it spent 34 years gathering stuff and most of it was utterly useless and just the pain to get rid of. But some people in my building and friends I know can't get enough stuff. They are constantly on Amazon or Best Buy or Walmart paying good money for more, and more stuff. I have seen suites that are crammed full of it. Bringing me to my ultimate conclusion of the assuming that they must get an adrenaline hit when they gather or pay for stuff.

When I saw the number chairs downstairs I thought "My God! We must have a billion seats." The human race just keeps cranking more stuff out.

For me when I finally did move and got rid of 90% of my stuff. After the shock wore off I found it quite liberating. Yes, there can be "A Life after Gathering Stuff ".

Have a great day. This is been a random thought which just evolved into a short blurb.
Patrick

What are the boundaries of awareness?

More specifically what are the boundaries of your awareness? You may think "That's rather obvious, it is whatever I am aware of."-Which is true. But if you ever considered adjusting those boundaries, playing with them?… Not put drugs, but by asking simple, straightforward questions. To see where your limits are and perhaps expand the horizons.

Take a moment right now to consider where your boundaries are as far as your sense of reality goes. If you are living in an apartment, can you hear the sounds in the hallway? What parts of our daily lives to be habitually blank out. They could be most interesting and informative if we didn't use the autopilot of routines which so many of us have during the weekdays or weekends.

Here's a challenge: Go through today and deliberately find the boundaries to your awareness and if possible push them a little. Just knowing that you have that extra flexibility might open up quite a bit of insight to deal with different things.

People that undertake meditation are familiar with this technique. However if you're just meditating casually it may not have occurred to you just how powerful adjusting your awareness can be. One of the things I've discovered personally is that I am fully in control of every second of the day and can interpret each moment individually. If I don't like something and I cannot change it physically I always can change my relationship psychologically.

The other night at dinner, one of the tenants in my building (I live in an assisted living environment and all the tenants eat together in the dining room) became very angry because someone was singing. This person just could not let go of their anger. I wondered "Why? Didn't they alter their interpretation of the environment. "It dawned on me that they were not "aware" of their own awareness, they were just reacting, presumably to what they considered to be a fixed perception. They could not be unaware of the singing. I found and still find the whole event mind-boggling to some extent. I began to wonder is there a way to teach them about awareness and sensitivity such that they see that both things are flexible and under their control. This may be a project in the making.

Part of the issue might be that society doesn't pay attention in the same way that it used to. With everything being so automatic and relatively quick to obtain. People are getting a little rusty when it comes to looking below the surface. Consider this little article then a polishing up for your awareness. A little bit of exercise, which I hope will brighten your day. Make your world a little bigger and increased your joy level considerably.

Take care Patrick