I miss going on train-of-thought excursions through my blog. It's a fun exercise that I don't really do anymore, and it might be because some of the passions I had while at Stonehill aren't with me now. I thought about the most important things I learned in college, and read how into the idea of students leading the learning charge I was, and then thought if I actually felt that passionately anymore.
Spoiler alert - I don't. Which is totally okay with me, because I'm not at Stonehill living this out every day. I'm not talking about these ideas with five different people a week, and I'm not blogging about it. One of the first dogmas of how to read college literature that I learned was to always be cognizant of the position in time/history the author is coming from. Particularly relevant in whatever 14th-century Chaucer I may or may not have read for reasons I cannot recall, but I remember the idea being important.
So I think about this idea a little more, and this is totally a thing. Everything that we encounter in our life has a time chart of what it means to us. Ideals we hold to be true, relationships with people, motivations for us getting out of bed in the morning...all of these change over time. (Aside - do we change over time? I've always thought not, but if everything about us is changing, is it possible for us to remain the same in the midst of it?) People we lose touch with, beliefs we have, there are ideal times for us to have those in our lives, and there are less-than-ideal times. That, I believe, is a driving force of why we fall in and out of relationships and struggle (or find it easy) to believe in God. Or even fail to blog as often as much.
So, just a thought. Being at a great place in your life can have many different meanings. It might be because the universe is throwing a fastball down the middle of the plate. Swing away.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
One thing
Some Wednesday night thoughts after a ride from Watertown to Quincy spent listening to The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place...
Does there exist this idea that people hold one thing in such high a light that no one else can break the connection between any given person and their one thing? I'm trying to think of a better word than 'thing' but it really could be anything.
I don't mean the connection between two people. Such connections can certainly be strong, but also broken. These are also shared among two people. What I'm hoping to find holds true for an individual person, and their relationship with this one thing cannot be altered by another person.
For me, and if you've read any decent number of my blog posts (or know anything about me), it's the connection I have with The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. It's gotten to the point where I'm past thinking I need to link to previous blog posts to show how much that album means to me, and that's saying a lot.
It's more than a musical connection. Sure, I know what notes to expect and I could probably hum my way through the entire album without listening to it. But it's not about that. The 43 minutes I spend listening to that album are 43 minutes where I feel grounded, and feel my place in the universe, however small it may be.
My best guess is that for a majority of people, this 'one thing' is likely their religion. Their belief in a capital-g God (or another religion's applicable equivalent) isn't something that will be changed by another person. This connection is something that you'll always have with you, almost like it's riding shotgun to your entire life - sometimes dormant, other times incredibly prevalent and relevant.
I'm not done with this idea. As an aside, I should really start keeping track of these personal-life principles I seem to be collecting. In fact, I might have already tried that idea...I would say that this blog post is as close as I've come to doing so. (For the record, the second principle in that blog post is now called the Face Value Theory, where after about two years we really see what the true (face) value of someone really is.)
Only because of the song title, here's "One Thing" by Finger Eleven. Thanks for reading.
Does there exist this idea that people hold one thing in such high a light that no one else can break the connection between any given person and their one thing? I'm trying to think of a better word than 'thing' but it really could be anything.
I don't mean the connection between two people. Such connections can certainly be strong, but also broken. These are also shared among two people. What I'm hoping to find holds true for an individual person, and their relationship with this one thing cannot be altered by another person.
For me, and if you've read any decent number of my blog posts (or know anything about me), it's the connection I have with The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. It's gotten to the point where I'm past thinking I need to link to previous blog posts to show how much that album means to me, and that's saying a lot.
It's more than a musical connection. Sure, I know what notes to expect and I could probably hum my way through the entire album without listening to it. But it's not about that. The 43 minutes I spend listening to that album are 43 minutes where I feel grounded, and feel my place in the universe, however small it may be.
My best guess is that for a majority of people, this 'one thing' is likely their religion. Their belief in a capital-g God (or another religion's applicable equivalent) isn't something that will be changed by another person. This connection is something that you'll always have with you, almost like it's riding shotgun to your entire life - sometimes dormant, other times incredibly prevalent and relevant.
I'm not done with this idea. As an aside, I should really start keeping track of these personal-life principles I seem to be collecting. In fact, I might have already tried that idea...I would say that this blog post is as close as I've come to doing so. (For the record, the second principle in that blog post is now called the Face Value Theory, where after about two years we really see what the true (face) value of someone really is.)
Only because of the song title, here's "One Thing" by Finger Eleven. Thanks for reading.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Welcome home, Mr. Cobb
Yeah, Inception is definitely one of my favorite movies. I just finished watching it for maybe the ninth or tenth time, who knows at this point, and every time I watch it, I learn something new.
This time around, it was a number of little things - the attention given to time between dream levels, for example. The turn of the van signifying a change in the gravity of the hotel level, and an intentional amount of attention given to that turn of the van.
As much as reality is taken into question with the spinning of the top, Mal offers an interesting possibility that the police and corporations chasing Cobb around (in the real-life level) are just projections attacking the dreamer.
This is one of those movies where you can't just Google a simple answer - you'll have to make the decision for yourself, which I think is one of the fascinating aspects of this movie.
Speaking of totems, consider Cobb's (which is actually Mal's). A spinning top that does one of two things - continues to spin if Cobb is in a dream, or falls down if he is in his reality. An object representing binary truth, not unlike the coin that Harvey Dent uses in The Dark Knight. The difference here is that Cobb uses the totem to guide his interpretation of his world - Dent uses his coin to continue living in his.
I searched for all the posts I've written about Inception, and a couple have been about the movie directly, and some have simply mentioned the movie. One of those mentions is in a running diary of The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, which I've always seemed to do in the final week of August - previously coinciding with the start of another school year at Stonehill. Interestingly enough, it's almost the last week of August...
This time around, it was a number of little things - the attention given to time between dream levels, for example. The turn of the van signifying a change in the gravity of the hotel level, and an intentional amount of attention given to that turn of the van.
As much as reality is taken into question with the spinning of the top, Mal offers an interesting possibility that the police and corporations chasing Cobb around (in the real-life level) are just projections attacking the dreamer.
This is one of those movies where you can't just Google a simple answer - you'll have to make the decision for yourself, which I think is one of the fascinating aspects of this movie.
Speaking of totems, consider Cobb's (which is actually Mal's). A spinning top that does one of two things - continues to spin if Cobb is in a dream, or falls down if he is in his reality. An object representing binary truth, not unlike the coin that Harvey Dent uses in The Dark Knight. The difference here is that Cobb uses the totem to guide his interpretation of his world - Dent uses his coin to continue living in his.I searched for all the posts I've written about Inception, and a couple have been about the movie directly, and some have simply mentioned the movie. One of those mentions is in a running diary of The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, which I've always seemed to do in the final week of August - previously coinciding with the start of another school year at Stonehill. Interestingly enough, it's almost the last week of August...
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
This is all we get
So I just read an article on Arian Foster, Houston Texans running back, and his lack of faith. It's interesting that in those three words, lack of faith, all of these preconceived notions come into play. And you might have absolutely no idea who Arian Foster is. It's an important article, and one worth reading. Here's a link to it.
I'm a big fan of the idea that this is all we get, this life. To me, the question of anything existing after us, or anything having existed before us, doesn't matter. It's a conversation I'm willing to have with anyone, because I love hearing about others' beliefs on these sorts of things, but to me, that conversation isn't going to change how I live my life, or how you live yours. To pull a line from one of my favorite episodes of House, "Three Stories," "I find it more comforting to believe that this simply isn't a test."
There's a video with some great scenes from House that deals with religion, but it seems to have been deleted since I last watched it. So, here's a consolation video. House is an atheist, if you didn't know, and for the record, I'm listening to a band called This Will Destroy You, the members of which are anti-theist. It's just interesting, all of these facts. This is all we get.
I'm a big fan of the idea that this is all we get, this life. To me, the question of anything existing after us, or anything having existed before us, doesn't matter. It's a conversation I'm willing to have with anyone, because I love hearing about others' beliefs on these sorts of things, but to me, that conversation isn't going to change how I live my life, or how you live yours. To pull a line from one of my favorite episodes of House, "Three Stories," "I find it more comforting to believe that this simply isn't a test."
There's a video with some great scenes from House that deals with religion, but it seems to have been deleted since I last watched it. So, here's a consolation video. House is an atheist, if you didn't know, and for the record, I'm listening to a band called This Will Destroy You, the members of which are anti-theist. It's just interesting, all of these facts. This is all we get.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Space between the spaces
All I found, space between the spaces
Standing in the nothing, and time reclaims you
- Foo Fighters, "Outside"
Okay, so I doubt Dave Grohl was talking about being mindful and having awareness of breath when he was writing the lyrics to "Outside," but that was what I immediately went to after reading about spaces in mindfulness meditation. Really fascinating stuff, for anyone who has been in athletics, or enjoys having total awareness of their surroundings.
There are key spaces in life, these instantaneous moments in which we have a set of possible outcomes. The space between stimulus and response - response being the key word, because if you're not aware of the space, it becomes a reaction. There's an important difference between reacting and responding - the latter makes aware that space and is a thought-out, executed decision, instead of a knee-jerk reaction to a stimulus.
Another cool one is the space between inhaling and exhaling. For me, it's almost like a second inhale or second exhale, as though your true breath is catching up to the involuntary breathing. Again, another fraction of a second.
Think about these spaces - be aware of them, pay attention to them, live into them.
Standing in the nothing, and time reclaims you
- Foo Fighters, "Outside"
Okay, so I doubt Dave Grohl was talking about being mindful and having awareness of breath when he was writing the lyrics to "Outside," but that was what I immediately went to after reading about spaces in mindfulness meditation. Really fascinating stuff, for anyone who has been in athletics, or enjoys having total awareness of their surroundings.
There are key spaces in life, these instantaneous moments in which we have a set of possible outcomes. The space between stimulus and response - response being the key word, because if you're not aware of the space, it becomes a reaction. There's an important difference between reacting and responding - the latter makes aware that space and is a thought-out, executed decision, instead of a knee-jerk reaction to a stimulus.
Another cool one is the space between inhaling and exhaling. For me, it's almost like a second inhale or second exhale, as though your true breath is catching up to the involuntary breathing. Again, another fraction of a second.
Think about these spaces - be aware of them, pay attention to them, live into them.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Flow
Skill meets challenge. Challenge meets skill.
Sure, in [sport] psychology we define flow as the above, but there's a certain spinning-of-the-wheels that goes on for me in certain contexts. Maybe we'll call it 'intellectual flow,' or something hopefully a little catchier. I blog once a month now, if I'm lucky. Which means that each blog post is rarer, holds more value, and is much more of a treat than blog posts of years and months past. When I get a spark to blog, I better, because I know it's something good.
Enter intellectual flow. Three minutes ago, I was reading a book about mindfulness and a section on flow. I wanted to blog. I had no idea what exact words I wanted to use in said blog post, but I know that I wanted to blog. Enter flow. Because it's a challenge to blog now, and I've built up enough of a skill set to be able to do so over the four-and-a-half years I've been doing this. It feels good to have the wheels turning again, to let words pour out onto the page without any hesitation.
Compare flow to being lost in something, and compare being lost in something to when you truly find yourself in it, and that continuous line of cliché. I'm willing to take it as far as being so completely immersed in what you're doing that it's almost as if nothing else is happening. Maybe it's playing your sport. Maybe it's working through a complex homework problem or deciphering a literary study. Maybe it's playing whatever instrument you play to your favorite song. Whatever it is, there's something that allows you to be completely in the zone. Find it.
Sure, in [sport] psychology we define flow as the above, but there's a certain spinning-of-the-wheels that goes on for me in certain contexts. Maybe we'll call it 'intellectual flow,' or something hopefully a little catchier. I blog once a month now, if I'm lucky. Which means that each blog post is rarer, holds more value, and is much more of a treat than blog posts of years and months past. When I get a spark to blog, I better, because I know it's something good.
Enter intellectual flow. Three minutes ago, I was reading a book about mindfulness and a section on flow. I wanted to blog. I had no idea what exact words I wanted to use in said blog post, but I know that I wanted to blog. Enter flow. Because it's a challenge to blog now, and I've built up enough of a skill set to be able to do so over the four-and-a-half years I've been doing this. It feels good to have the wheels turning again, to let words pour out onto the page without any hesitation.
Compare flow to being lost in something, and compare being lost in something to when you truly find yourself in it, and that continuous line of cliché. I'm willing to take it as far as being so completely immersed in what you're doing that it's almost as if nothing else is happening. Maybe it's playing your sport. Maybe it's working through a complex homework problem or deciphering a literary study. Maybe it's playing whatever instrument you play to your favorite song. Whatever it is, there's something that allows you to be completely in the zone. Find it.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Active vs. passive
It's been a while since I blogged anything here, let alone something of the "think about..." nature. In fact, it's been exactly (searches through blog archives) 163 days since I offered up something along those lines. So for today's trick, let's think about the difference between active and passive.
More than 163 days ago, I started keeping track of the highs and lows of each of my days. The best and worst of each collection of 24 hours. While the insight in and of doing so can be discovered over there, there's a second-level insight of whether or not things are great because we did something great, or because something great happened to us. For example, I enjoyed a very relaxing Sunday of watching movies and baseball. That was great because it was something I set out to do (granted, I didn't need much conviction to do so). Many of the days that involved a sports team's victory were great because I got to take part in something bigger than myself. Which is my circumnavigatory way of saying I really didn't do anything to deserve that goodness - it was just kinda there.
I'm not saying that one is absolutely better than the other, but I am saying that it feels like a better day when I go out and actively do something spectacular, instead of something spectacular simply occurring. Feel free to throw in a pithy quote about being something in life and making the most of every sunrise and sunset, whatever helps you sleep at night, but when it comes down to it, maybe there's something there.
More than 163 days ago, I started keeping track of the highs and lows of each of my days. The best and worst of each collection of 24 hours. While the insight in and of doing so can be discovered over there, there's a second-level insight of whether or not things are great because we did something great, or because something great happened to us. For example, I enjoyed a very relaxing Sunday of watching movies and baseball. That was great because it was something I set out to do (granted, I didn't need much conviction to do so). Many of the days that involved a sports team's victory were great because I got to take part in something bigger than myself. Which is my circumnavigatory way of saying I really didn't do anything to deserve that goodness - it was just kinda there.
I'm not saying that one is absolutely better than the other, but I am saying that it feels like a better day when I go out and actively do something spectacular, instead of something spectacular simply occurring. Feel free to throw in a pithy quote about being something in life and making the most of every sunrise and sunset, whatever helps you sleep at night, but when it comes down to it, maybe there's something there.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Wilder Mind: The not-so-much Mumford & Sons album
You might not know it in the first 40 seconds of the album, but all of these songs are indeed by Mumford & Sons. Say goodbye to the banjos, off-beat bass drums, and folk music, because they picked up electric guitars and added an urban feel to their third album, Wilder Mind. I seem to be in the minority in thinking that this is a great change for the band - it's a livelier sound and if anything, accents the harmonies more in each song. Let's get to it.1. Tompkins Square Park. Honestly could be the best song on the album. It's edgy, it's blunt, and it makes me want to drive faster than the speed limit through a city with tall buildings and bright lights. Granted, I may be taking that right from the album cover, but it doesn't make it not true.
Favorite part: The guitars in the chorus. Easy to follow along to, and now with distortion!
2. Believe. If you know Bon Iver well, you may think that this song resembles "Minnesota, WI," and it's because of the bass guitar and atmospheric nature of the song. Even the drums during the bridge seem Justin Vernon-y. I do wish they went with a little more gusto at 3:10, but there's enough in here, I suppose.
Favorite part: The Bon Iver bass guitar at 1:06.
3. The Wolf. SO CATCHY. If this song were on Sigh No More or Babel, people would dance to it like this. Now, the chorus seems closer to a Coldplay concert than a summer festival song. Which is tremendous.
Favorite part: Why wait? Everyone starting at max volume as soon as the song kicks in.
4. Wilder Mind. Can't seem to find a video for this one, so head over to Spotify to check it out. This song seems like the epitome of the let's-stop-the-folk-music thing for M&S, and it's also one of the songs that has the most awesome harmonies in it. Of note - this is the first title track to not lead off the album ("Sigh No More" and "Babel" were each the first song on their respective albums).
Favorite part: The harmonies from 2:29 to 2:48.
5. Just Smoke. There's an interesting phenomenon on YouTube, which I fully support them cracking down on. To avoid copyright infringement, YouTube uploaders will change the speed and pitch of the song. Which sucks, I would much rather go even more out of my way to find the right version of the song. Again, Spotify is great for this one. It has a great flow to it, a hand-outside-the-vehicle sort of feel.
Favorite part: When you realize it's in 3/4 instead of 4/4. Engage hand-flowing.
6. Monster. There's something about this song that makes it very chill. A perfect driving-home-at-the-end-of-the-night song. (Aside - starting to fall in love with the idea that each song has a certain mood associated with it, or perfect time to listen to it. I may have believed this all along, but it seems more pronounced now.) M&S also chose this as the one song on the album to have the f-word as one of the lyrics. They're following PG-13 guidelines it seems, since each album has only one song where they do this. Very interesting.
Favorite part: No part particularly better than any other, I like it all.
7. Snake Eyes. Amazing song. I don't think any M&S song is going to ever touch "Awake My Soul" as the best/my favorite, but this song seems to be the most delicate on the album. Another perfect-harmony song. I can't even imagine how awesome this song is live.
Favorite part: The second chorus, before they get back into it, the drumsticks acting like a ticking clock.
8. Broad-Shouldered Beasts. If I had to pick a song on this album that incites the "chain is as strong as its weakest link" metaphor, it might be this one. There's nothing wrong with that, I said if I had to. Maybe I haven't heard this song enough times yet, but maybe that's exactly the point. I'll concede to the "every M&S song sounds the same" group that this one may sound like some others.
Favorite part: The first lyrics, and the accompanying music.
9. Cold Arms. Now this would be a good live song. My guess is that it's the second song of the encore. Seems like a great, let's-all-stand-on-one-small-stage-and-sing-with-one-guitar song to split up two very upbeat encore songs ("The Cave" and "The Wolf," maybe? I want to write setlists for a living (at least in this moment)).
Favorite part: The half-step increases in the chorus.
10. Ditmas. Not as much of this album is as upbeat as I'd expect with M&S, but this song brings it back to faster times after a few mellow songs. It definitely adds to the urban feel of things, bright lights and city sights and all that jazz.
Favorite part: The crashing cymbals in the chorus.
11. Only Love. Solid penultimate song. I do love the gradual buildup. You can definitely tell something big is going to happen, especially with the guitars in the background sounding like shooting stars midway through, and then BAM it's upbeat and fast and you want to run 100 miles per hour. I have no idea what this song is about, but it sounds like some sort of Benjamin Button reverse-life thing - some slow lament in the beginning, but then a youthful injection to finish it out.
Favorite part: Said buildup and switch from a slow to fast song.
12. Hot Gates. Absolutely love the harmonies in this song. I stand by my statement that the harmonies are what make this album what it is. M&S has always had harmonies, sure, but it's always been in faster times. This album seems more focused, more careful, and the harmonies are what I've been able to tease out the most.
Favorite part: The main harmony during the verses.
I just realized that each of their albums (deluxe editions notwithstanding) have 12 songs. Coincidence? I'm not sure. But Wilder Mind is certainly a different set of 12 songs than anything we've heard from Mumford & Sons in the past. I'm all for the change, and hopefully you are too. Thanks for reading and thanks for listening!
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Instantaneous
A few years ago, I wrote about what breaks you (rather, me), and the fragility and vulnerability of feeling that you (again, I) could be broken. The song I referenced in that blog post is the same song I'm listening to right now, and the same song that I've talked about plenty of times here. One of the beautiful aspects of music is that it can evoke such emotion, or perhaps a particular mindset. Sometimes this phenomenon works in the other direction, where a certain thought or phrase brings to mind a song that perpetuates the cycle. This time around, it's the latter.
The acute awareness of the finality of death.
In said previous blog post, I talked about feeling close to death, perhaps via car crash or falling from a building. It is one thing to know that we are all going to die eventually - I believe that is is another to have, well, an acute awareness of the finality of death.
And sure, call me cute in using those exact words when something more simpler may very well suffice, but that adds to the awareness for me, to have such a clear-cut description of what this is all leading to. Maybe I'll want to change it to the acute awareness of the finality of life, because it seems to be just as true as the finality of death - that is, at least for now. No saying what is going to happen to us at the end of this life, which is exactly my point. I've said it plenty of times before - this is all we get. You can believe there's more, you can believe this is meaningless, but whatever you fall asleep at night telling yourself, you just don't know. There's only right now. There is only the acute awareness of the finality of the instantaneous.
The acute awareness of the finality of death.
In said previous blog post, I talked about feeling close to death, perhaps via car crash or falling from a building. It is one thing to know that we are all going to die eventually - I believe that is is another to have, well, an acute awareness of the finality of death.
And sure, call me cute in using those exact words when something more simpler may very well suffice, but that adds to the awareness for me, to have such a clear-cut description of what this is all leading to. Maybe I'll want to change it to the acute awareness of the finality of life, because it seems to be just as true as the finality of death - that is, at least for now. No saying what is going to happen to us at the end of this life, which is exactly my point. I've said it plenty of times before - this is all we get. You can believe there's more, you can believe this is meaningless, but whatever you fall asleep at night telling yourself, you just don't know. There's only right now. There is only the acute awareness of the finality of the instantaneous.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
For when I'm much older and look back on what I learned in life
Something I've discussed in the past is the idea that people fall into one of two groups - those who gravitate towards the familiar, and those who gravitate towards the unfamiliar. Three examples of this: whether you choose to re-read a book to learn more about it, or to read a book for the first time; if you're placed in a city that you partially know your way around, if you walk to a place you've already visited, or never been to before; and what you choose to follow on StumbleUpon. No, seriously - I'm much more likely to follow music, psychology, and sports than I am to follow business, history, and politics.
There is some point in the timeline of learning about a person that makes everything that person does fall into the schema we have for them. For example, if you know someone who is a joker and doesn't take anything seriously, if they start trolling a group text, you won't be surprised, since you have a set of parameters in which this person is likely to operate. Once you pass that point, there's no going back. This also ties into my theory that people don't change, and instead who they are just becomes more clear the more data you have on them.
A third and final principle - certain people will be your go-to for certain things. There's a person you go to to talk about sports, there's a person you go to when you think of a song that they'd like (which ties into the previous paragraph), there's a person you go to when you need to vent, etc. It doesn't seem to be a surprise that the more things one person is your go-to for, the closer you are with that person.
That's all I have for right now. Thanks for keeping tabs on the blog after a two-month, unintentional hiatus. It's been a good-busy time, although that doesn't excuse me from blogging. Hopefully you'll see post #463 soon.
There is some point in the timeline of learning about a person that makes everything that person does fall into the schema we have for them. For example, if you know someone who is a joker and doesn't take anything seriously, if they start trolling a group text, you won't be surprised, since you have a set of parameters in which this person is likely to operate. Once you pass that point, there's no going back. This also ties into my theory that people don't change, and instead who they are just becomes more clear the more data you have on them.
A third and final principle - certain people will be your go-to for certain things. There's a person you go to to talk about sports, there's a person you go to when you think of a song that they'd like (which ties into the previous paragraph), there's a person you go to when you need to vent, etc. It doesn't seem to be a surprise that the more things one person is your go-to for, the closer you are with that person.
That's all I have for right now. Thanks for keeping tabs on the blog after a two-month, unintentional hiatus. It's been a good-busy time, although that doesn't excuse me from blogging. Hopefully you'll see post #463 soon.
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