I’ve decided to alternate between writing and video so we’ll see how this goes for creative content purposes.
Not much to report. Fed some cows. Fed some monkeys. Got fussed at by a lady for feeding said monkeys. When I asked why, she just kept repeating “don’t feed the monkeys” as she closed the pink iron gate to the driveway she was standing in.
Meh. Whatever.
Monkeys need food too. Even the jerky, aggressive ones that pull at my pant leg and try to tear the plastic bag from my hands.
I made some headway on finding an organization to donate funds to for feeding. I should have more to report tomorrow on that which will, according to my schedule, be in video format. I plan to limit my videos to 5 minutes going forward. We’ll see how well I follow that guideline as I’m a talker. Shocker, I know.
The power has gone out twice today, which has been a bit frustrating. I try to use it as a catalyst to shift what I’m doing to something offline such as reading or writing or meditating. But I definitely have my moments when my current circumstances get to me and I just want to be able to go out, order some food or have consistent internet service.
I will say that the time does seem to be passing by rather quickly now. I’m one week out from the May 3rd lockdown deadline, though I’m not holding my breath that it will be lifted until word comes down from up high.
I still get asked what my plans are after this and my answer is always the same. It depends on 1) what countries have open borders and 2) when India lifts the lockdown. As of now there are no flights available that aren’t government approved with a price tag of $3000 USD.
Thanks, but no thanks.
So it’s all up in the air.
I’m just taking it day by day, moment to moment, breath by breath.
WRITING REFLECTIONS
…but first a story I like.
There was a little boy and on his fourteenth birthday he is given a horse.
Everyone in the village exclaims, “Oh, how wonderful! He got a horse.”
“We’ll see,” said the Zen Master.
Two years later the boy falls off the horse and breaks his leg and everybody in the village laments, “How terrible.”
“We’ll see,” said the Zen Master.
Then a war breaks out. All the young men are drafted to fight except the boy with the broken leg.
Everyone in the village rejoices, “How fortunate!”
“We’ll see,” said the Zen Master.
** * * * * * * **
I’m working on a project involving the concept of the creative process. And so it has me thinking about processes in general — how we get from one point to another further in the future, the steps along the way, the trial and error, the growth required to be able to reach that next rung on the ladder.
Talking to a friend last night about this, I was reminded of a quote by Terry Pratchett that’s used in writing:
“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”
Pair that with Hemingway’s attributed quote that the first draft of anything is shit, and it definitely removes the ego from the initial step of the process, which I think is necessary to getting started.
I wrote an excerpt about this in dialogue form to explain why the process of anything is important to understand — basically because it’s the part that can be taught so others can learn versus just admiring the end result from a distance.
The example I use is when someone is interviewed how they became successful. Many answer with a laundry list of items such as hard work, discipline, commitment, not taking shit from anyone, etc.
But that type of response lacks substance.
They are surface answers.
Easy answers.
They don’t teach you anything or tell you how it’s done. They don’t give you the process of becoming disciplined or instilling hard work in your daily life. Because I highly doubt in most cases that any of it was an instantaneous, night-and-day switch from one moment to the next. Yes, sure there are instances when that can and does happen, but by and large most of these things take time through that aforementioned trial and error within their own microcosm of success and failure.
I’ve been guilty of this myself in giving advice to others when asked and not doing the due diligence of digging deeper to offer something of value and worth. Of merit and substance.
Perhaps that will change going forward.
Perhaps I have learned more about this as I’ve examined the essence of process though my project.
Perhaps everything before was just me telling myself the story and now I’m ready to put it into action.
“We’ll see,” said the Zen Master.