Invocation for Beginnings...

Many of you know that this isn't my first blog. It is, however, my first major attempt at putting myself out into the world in a way meant to help improve things.

I don't mean that I am out to fix the world. The world is far more fucked up and broken than I have it in me to fight against. Well, right now anyway. It is always possible that if I get pissed off enough I will decide to rail in some other fashion.

Anyway, that isn't what this is about. This is about affirmation and taking the time to put something into the Universe that is worth putting out there. Making a mark, no matter how small, on the world I inhabit through the eyes of every person I can reach.

That is where you all come in.

I want my friends to know and understand what it is I have been working to become. I want everybody to live in a world that is improved for having had me in it. Most importantly, I want to have a positive impact on the thoughts and feelings of those I care about and those I hope care about me.

This video is something that was brought to my attention a while back by my roommate. Don't worry, it is not near as long as the last one but it is every bit as powerful and important.

The author (?) of this video is a gentleman by the name of Ze Frank. I first became aware of Ze a couple years ago when he gave a TED Talk introducing himself and what he hoped to do using today's media. I remember at the time thinking that it would be a pretty neat undertaking and making a mental note to follow up on the project. Needless to say, I promptly forgot all about it until this video made it's way to my eyes.

I choose to adopt the name of this video as the title of this blog. Every one of us goes through each of our days accompanied by beginnings and most of us are blissfully unaware. Imagine the differences in our lives if we remembered and considered the impact of each of our beginnings in the depth offered here.

I just want to point out what I consider to be a few key phrases I hope everyone can take away from this for how they apply to both ourselves and the people we care about. I choose these five phrases to illustrate what I think are imperatives that everyone should hold onto. For my part, I know that I have struggled to become someone who even has an awareness of these points but I work every day on trying to become better at embodying them.

Let me realize that my past failures and follow through are no indication of my future performance.
We must not become victims of our past.


Let me think about the people who I care about the most and how when they fail, or disappoint me I still love them, I still give them chances, and I still see the best in them. Let me extend that generosity to myself.
We must continue to hold dear those we choose to keep in our lives and we must accept ourselves as the people they also choose to hold dear.


Let me not be so vain to think I am the sole author of my victories and a victim of my defeats.
We are not alone in anything. (Except me. I am an island made of rock. Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about me. /nodnodnod)


Let me not think of my work only as a stepping stone to something else. And if it is, let me become fascinated with the shape of the stone.
What we do matters and every action or inaction has meaning and purpose in itself.

And most importantly...

Let me enjoy this. Life isn't just a sequence of waiting for things to be done. 
Seriously. Otherwise what's the fucking point.


Anyway, with that having been said, I hope everyone can take something good away from this post and more importantly from their relationship and interactions with me.

Maybe next time I will have a decent rant and take a break from all of this pushing positivity business.
:P