I Can Relate

New Post at AnotherJoy Writes

anotherjoy — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:02:52 +0000

Check out my new post at AnotherJoy Writes!

The Things We Do For Love

anotherjoy — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Is it really love if it has to be acknowledged?

I love to do things for people, spend time with people, encourage people, and generally just be with people. Those people are usually called my friends. But sometimes something in me tries to tout this idea that if these people don’t want to reciprocate my desire for their time and relationship, then maybe we’re not the friends I think we are.

Why in the world would I think that? Why would I want to poison my own mind against the relationships I hold so dear? Maybe we truly are the friends I think we are; maybe we’re much better than I give us credit for. That’s the sickness of perfection — it pretends that if people don’t react the same I would react, then I haven’t done enough. You know that saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” I bet the person who coined that phrase understood the trap of trying to tinker with people to get an expected result.

Maybe you’re emotionally balanced and mentally adjusted. You would never think of expecting the people in your life to give and receive love in the same way that you do. Or maybe you’re a little like me; you know good and well that you’re friends are different from you, and love them for it. But occasionally you wish that they would respond when and how you’d like them to, just so you know you’re both on the same page.

To those of you who get where I’m coming from, no worries; we’re all human. And those of you who boost a relationship viewpoint that is more grounded in reality, kudos. Please pray for the rest of us.

What Does Your Fear Look Like?

anotherjoy — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:00:39 +0000

So today is October 31. It’s Halloween. It’s a day filled with costumes, candy… and fear. Commercialized fear of course — society has made an entertainment industry out of our fight-or-flight response. It seems like we’ve conditioned ourselves to be so used to fear that many times we don’t even recognize it in our lives anymore. For instance, I’ve noticed that sometimes my fear disguises itself as organization and planning. Both good qualities, but not when I’m just using them to avoid something new or uncomfortable.

What about you? Is there an activity you use to hide from the scary stuff in life? Do you have a society-accepted disguise for your fear? What does your fear look like? Let me know in the Comments section below.

The Resistance

anotherjoy — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0000

I’m starting a new book in the next few days: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I’m being told that this is a great book for anyone who wants to create things in life, whether it’s art, music, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, crafts, etc. The big topic in this book apparantly is on fighting The Resistance that blocks you from creating.

I think The Resistance affects more than just creativity; I think it affects life in general. Which, if you think about the fact that we were created as naturally creative people, makes perfect sense. And at the moment I stuggle with pushing past that in every area of life, not just the “creative” ones.

So I’m about to read about Steven Pressfield’s solution to the thing that stops us from branching out creatively, but first I’m curious what you might already be doing to branch out yourselves. What are you already doing to get past The Resistance? Shout it out in the comments below.

If I Had A Whole Day to Myself, I Would…

anotherjoy — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:00:32 +0000

Here’s a Dreamer question for you this Monday morning: if you had one whole day — a solid twenty-four hours — to do whatever you wanted, what would you choose to do with it? Throw out your dreams and fanciful ideas in the comments below.