Why are we alive?

Do you ever feel like you're in that awkward limbo state where you constantly alternate between tolerating most aspects of your life and believing you're a hopeless piece of crap? 

(I know I know I just started a blog post with a bold question so sue me)

Yeah me too. On that cheery note, welcome back to the blog, folks! :) I haven't posted in a while, but we're snowed in (Georgia and ice do not mix. Actually most roads in the world and ice do not mix), and I feel like I've been living in these self-imposed doldrums since 2013 ended. But there have been little moments of realization, and I really want to share these with you all in the hopes that someone else in the same tire swing of dissatisfaction may find the strength to stop the downward flush. (It's all a vicious cycle, everything is a vicious cycle, you all know this by now.)

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Always swinging , always too hypnotizing to stop, always slightly uncomfortable.

Figuring out how to enjoy life properly sometimes can take a conscious effort (it did for me, anyway). Our lives are programmed to be incredibly myopic:

wake up, hit snooze, wake up, hit snooze, actually wake up, insert caffeine into body, read about things that happened in the past 24 hours, commute somewhere while thinking about something that you will likely forget within the next month, do some work that needs to be completed within 24 hours, worry about the next 24 hours, go home, do more work that you will likely forget within a month, go on the internet to distract from the burden of work due in like 5 hours (bc it's 4am HAHA but really)

I mean, I don't know how well the above schedule applies to everyone, but the point is the same. So much of our lives is focused on results; we work to produce measurable output, concrete evidence of our success. It's so so easy to lose sight of your life and what you ultimately want it to mean. We lose track of not just our lives, but humanity as a whole; I find myself a bit startled when I come across timelines of earth's history and see the literal blip that is human life.We are very transient things; a human life is just some tens of years, maybe a hundred if you're lucky. What's that? Just a breath, an inhale on the geological time scale. 

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But we are all a part of this incredible human experience and we are all alive (I mean if you're reading this right now them I assume so) and a few decades is enough to do practically anything that Earth will allow. So,while I rode my snowed-in tire swing of self-doubt, I kept asking: What do I want my life to give to humanity? What, besides insurance money and crappy yearbook photos, do I want to leave behind after I die?

Steve Roggenbuck (internet poet and slammin' human being if you haven't heard of him) gave a really good answer with his video. 

(The video is focused on the role of poetry, but I think his message makes sense to everyone.)

It can be anything for anyone; do you want to make life better for people who don't have the resources to do so themselves? Do you want to teach? Do you want to inspire people, give them confidence? Do you want to make words and art that last longer than you do?

I agree with Steve; I think we are here to change each other's lives. If I can change someone's mind about something forever with my words, then I've lived. And that makes the assignments due tomorrow a little easier to handle. 

Enjoy loveliness
and always always remember to muse. <3

4 Ways to Start Fresh

Happy new year, interneters! 

http://notunderwater.tumblr.com/


It's that time of year again; the time with the most pressure to create new beginnings (other than that moment when you go from being a fetus to being no longer a fetus).

You may have heard this before, but the new year is not so different from the other 364 days except that the date happens to look the skinniest when written down. It's just another day.

I don't know about you, but the firecrackle and who-rah of the new year is equal parts inspiring and stress-inducing; the thought that I have to make use of this day and this week and this month because it's the freshest I'm going to be for the next whole year is a little bit paralyzing. And paralysis can seriously limit your productivity. 


http://nerios.tumblr.com/post/71808559311

Just remember that it has been and will always be true that every moment is an equally perfect time for a new beginning. It's just a matter of you deciding to give yourself the mental exfoliation necessary to begin.
When you think about, the fact that most people choose New Year's day as their new beginning is due in large part to the number of people participating; we call January 1st new because everyone else around us is starting over, which makes it easier for ourselves. 

But isn't it a little liberating to think that tomorrow could be the beginning of a new you? Or the next day? Or a day in the middle of June? Or the beginning of a new project or a new idea or a new way of thinking; there's definitely not always a need to be recreating our selves. 


With that said, it's nice to take to momentum of another January to sort of start fresh, try to let go of any failures that 2013 brought, and focus on your goals in the year to come. Here are some fun ways to try to feel like you're turning a blank page.

4 Ways to Start Fresh in 2014

Change your wallpaper. It may be a little difficult to do it literally, but freshening up the vista on your technology never hurts. Replace those autumn leaves with a patch of 4-leaf clovers. Change your lock screen to an inspiring quote.

 
http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2013/09/iphone_5c_green_ios_7_hero.jpg?itok=XLpqzWJ9

Don't break the chain. This productivity method, developed by Jerry Seinfeld, it a way to motivate yourself to do something every day and mark it off on a calendar; after you develop a running streak, you won't want to break the chain. Here's a nice printable calendar and more info.

Use technology. The best goals, or new years resolutions, are those that are measureable. With things like productivity on the computer and exercise, it can be hard to track exact amounts. Use apps like Nike Training Club (perfect for busy folks) to keep track of workouts down to the minute, and download free software like RescueTime that tracks how much time you spend on productive websites while online.


http://adorninc.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/nike-training-club-app.jpg
http://rescuetime.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/least-productive1.jpg

Start something new. The start of a new year is a great time to begin something that you always planned to do but never had the time, or courage, to pursue. Try writing a novel. Start a garden. Re-start correspondence with a childhood friend through snail mail.

http://o5.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/DeskPapers.jpg

I hope these ideas inspired you to go into the new year with enthusiasm and new goals. May 2014 bring you you the best of all things. :)

Enjoy loveliness and, as always, remember to muse. 

Productivity

Hi interneters, it's been a while.

Let's talk today about something I feel is almost central to my, and many many others', existence. Productivity. 

In a world where being able to run more than seven tabs at the same time merits bragging rights (maybe? for some people?) we're constantly pushed to DO things, to PRODUCE things. And when we can't, when we procrastinate and waste time that was probably carefully saved up by some other means, we feel like dismal failures that don't deserve to exist.


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If that's NOT true for you, please realize that your levels of satisfaction with life (and mental health) are most likely more stable than the rest of us. :)

For everyone left: welcome to productivity therapy, where I constantly second-guess myself as I give advice on something I struggle with all too often.

The nasty thing about trying to get work done when you just can't is that the more you pressure yourself to be "productive," the less likely you are to actually do anything. Procrastination is a scrape in the soil that has the danger of becoming a mine shaft in a second. Once you start scrolling through your news feed or catching up on Daily Grace, it's easy for your internal what-I-want-to-be-doing bar to shift from neutral towards lack of work. Sometimes the feeling of regret after YouTube binging leads to to whole "Oh, tonight I'll just not do anything and tomorrow I'll work really hard." You know.
It's not that bad until it becomes a nightly routine.


Or, you know, after you do something fun. 
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The hardest part is, surprisingly, forgiving yourself after that first video or episode or nap. The "once-I-start-I've-already-broken-the-seal" attitude leads to many wasted hours. Honestly, the nights I've gotten the most things done have been the nights when I was happy, energized enough from >4 hours of sleep the night before to actually relax while I worked. When you relax, you end up doing things because you want to, and more gets done in the end. 

Also.
Do. Things. You. Want. To. When. You. Want. To. Do. Them.
If you get an urge to dance to the song playing on Pandora or write a poem about your own legs or make a house out of paper, do it. These urges, once they pass, tend not to come back. And things like this are nurturing; they're like Vaseline on a chapped conscience. (That was gross, I know, just let it pass.) Doing the things you love and acting on whims, which may sometimes be productive themselves, give you energy and satisfaction, two key ingredients to conquering your to-do list and your bad habits.



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Example: I have eight tests and project next week and an awards submission essay to write (one that determines whether or not an entire TEAM of student will win an award they deserve). Yet here I am, blogging, and happier than I would be if I were weeping over my textboks right now. I can almost guarantee you that later, once I do turn to those pages of death, it'll be with fingers warm from typing, at the least, if not from contentment.  

So go ahead and watch that video. Then stop. Because you've filled that void, satiated that craving, and now just let yourself do the rest of the things you want (and need) to do.

You have the capacity to be productive in your own sense as much as you do to procrastinate. There are two toilets, and you don't need to spend all night in the one that flushes down.

(yeah so the visual you should have in your head right now is of an upside down toilet floating in mid air which is where you want to go because hey productivity right?)

Enjoy loveliness (actually enjoy it please)
and remember to muse. :)

Eye Candy for the Writer-blocked

Hi interneters!

Last year I made my first attempt at writing a novel in a month, taking part in the well-known (depending on who you ask) NaNoWriMo. 

[If you're not familiar with it, here's a run-down: during the month of November, aspiring novelists who want to take on the challenge can make a free account that lets them track their progress on their novel. The goal is to finish 50,000 words in 30 days. Hit up nanowrimo.org if it sounds like your kind of thing.
The purpose is sheer creative output, absolutely subject to extensive revision later. It's a let-me-prove-to-myself-that-I-can-do-this-thing.]

Now, with November approaching, I'm frantically scrambling for novel ideas and feeling sort of writer-blocked before I even begin. Sort of like every little piece of the story has to be perfect before I'm allowed to begin, you know? Which is totally not true.
Some photos I came across really inspired my, and maybe they'll do the same for you. 

Visual inspiration is a lot of fun and often very effective, even if you're not doing NaNoWriMo this year (or ever). Keep reading. These photos don't discriminate.

Take a look, and hopefully these artfully arranged pixels will help you increase your output of words, novelist or not. :)

Do me a favor, though. Scroll s l o w l y.



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Artist:  Noell S. Oszvald



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Artist:  Noell S. Oszvald



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Artist: Laura Williams



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Artist:  Noell S. Oszvald



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Artist: Murad Osmann



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Artist: Katerina Plotnikova

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Artist: Katerina Plotnikova

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Artist: Brian Yen

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Artist: Brian Yen

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Artist: Martin Parr

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Artist: Uda Dennie

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Artist: Katerina Plotnikova


Let me know if you guys are into this kind of thing; if it helped even the smallest bit with your creative struggles, I can make more of this sort of post. It was really fun to do!

Enjoy loveliness

and
remember to
m
u
s
e

Thought Provoker #7: Truth (and the lack thereof)

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As we age, we're exposed to more things, and we learn a lot of things about the world that we failed to notice as young whippersnappers.
I'm really impressed that whippersnapper is not underlined in red.

Anyway, one of these things that I'm becoming more aware of lately is the fact that many of my less desirable personality traits come from my upbringing. Which seems natural (or entirely unnatural, I'm not sure which), but it's still strange to realize the deep affect that parental biases (about races, genders, certain activities, the like) can have on your own opinion.

At a certain age, you may start to realize that some things your parents taught you to accept as fact are not necessarily true. 


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And then I go into this whole spiral of what-is-truth, and the reality is that it's almost impossible to deliver a perfect truth. Everyone, every author of every book and every webpage, is a human, and will therefore be (cue the awful word) BIASED. People have genders. Ages. Ethnicity. Lack of gender. The like.

And no matter how hard we try, at some points it's hard to deliver truth to other people. Sure, certain things like "Google was founded in 1998" are sort of indisputable, but life isn't full of such things. The facts that matter are the ones that aren't facts, and there will never be a source of these that doesn't have a slant of some sort. No one can present to you a totally clear view of the things that matter most.

Keep this in mind as you continue to age and absorbs things. You get to decide what your truth will be.

Okay, so clearly this isn't a let's-write-a-poem-now sort of thought provoker. This is a let's-think-about-these-things-because-questioning-the-world-we're-in-is-one-of-the-most-important-parts-of-being-in-it sort of thought provoker.

Oh, and a PSA: Thought Provokers will be changing their name soon. We'll keep numbering as we've been doing, starting with 8 on the next post, but just stay tuned. :)

Enjoy loveliness and remember to muse.

Absorb those truths.

Absorb them.

Then squeeze out your own. 

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GIF Party #3: TBBT 2

GIFs are like Harry Potter pictures blah blah blah.

Oh btw we're doing a theme today just to be cute.
Here's to the seventh season. :)

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When you don't want to hang out with someone, but you have no excuse:



Trying to be funny around strangers:



Certain celebrity crushes:



"You should go outside"



Realizing you're still on the internet when there's something important you really should be doing right now



That's it for now you internet kiddos.
Enjoy loveliness and remember to muuuuse! :)

Poetry Parenting: Day 5

And here we find ourselves again.

Poetry Parenting
Helping your babies grow up
A blog series by Stephanie 


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If you've been following along our wacky, month-long "5-day" journey, you know now that this is the fifth and final post about how to help your poetry grow up.

And if you actually have read every one of these posts, thank you. Thank you for sticking with me in this journey that is as much self-discovery as it is instruction. And thank you for not barfing when I act all dramatic about 5 posts that just happened to fit together as if I actually just wrote a novel or something.

In the last five posts, we've talked about learning from others, telling a story, finding inspiration, and trusting your words. Today we're sort of scattering that to the wind. Sort of. Like a kid who's about to flush a bug down the toilet but hesitates because he's still emotionally attached to it.

Tip #5: Do what you want.

Because you're all grown up now. 

Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement: end of journey. Your poetry no longer poops in its own diapers or requires bottle feeding, and even if you're still taking baby steps, you're hopefully still better off than where you started.

The truth is, there is no easy formula for good poetry. If there was one, it would probably be something along the lines of " there is no easy formula for good poetry". Creativity demands novelty, and that is where you, my dear reader, come in. 

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There are so many ways to seed your thoughts and nurture faster, better growths of ideas, but those ideas are ultimately going to come from your own cerebral soil. Don't let yourself be limited by what you think 

should be right.

Write without capitalizing. Space your lines oddly. Use a disgusting font. Change tenses. 

The first four days were designed to enhance what you already have. They're suggestions. Now, use what you know, cultivate your verbal brain fields, and don't stop anything from growing. 

And always, always do the thing that makes you uncomfortable. 

With that, I leave you with my final Poetry Parenting tool. 

http://www.pw.org/literary_magazines?&perpage=*

Notice how I didn't even bother changing the link into a permalink. It's too beautiful in its original form.

This, my friends, is the largest bank of online publications that accept (and pay for) literary submission that I know of to date. Use wisely and often.

Go forth, dear interneters, and let your children roam free. 

Enjoy loveliness

and remember to muse.

:)