- Anyone else planning on doing The Murph on Memorial Day? I am, though it may very well kill me…
- Writing Wednesdays – A Prayer to the Muse
- Who decides what words get into the dictionary?
- The Power of Connectedness
- 15 writing lessons from successful authors (and how to apply them)
Blog
The Power of Connectedness
I’ve watched this video of 1,000 musicians performing “Learn to Fly” countless times. I’ve even used it to open presentations and professional learning sessions to convey the power of being connected to a group.
While that video is almost six years old, the lessons are still relevant to our time (also, it’s just a great video that will have you rocking along with the group and yes, the Foo Fighters totally responded).
The Rockin’ 100 has gone on to create several other videos that are well worth the watch. Again, these videos are important not because of the musicianship displayed (pretty great) nor the songs chosen (also pretty great) but for the sheet demonstration of a group of people saying, “we can do this if we do it together.”
Since March 2020, we’ve all had some things that we weren’t able to do together. Actually, unless you just wanted to throw caution to the wind, there wasn’t much we could do together as a large group.
My hope is that in the coming months, we all have a better appreciation for the experience of gathering together in all its varied forms. Whether it’s a concert, a play, a graduation ceremony, or just a big family reunion, there is power in connecting with others in person.
Of course, I’m a big fan of connecting remotely but that’s because I’m an introvert and in-person = fear and doom. But I’m slowly getting over that mostly due to the forced isolationism of the past 15 months.
We’re all in this together. We’ve always been part of a connected world, long before the Internet became a part of our daily lives and we had phones attached at our hips everywhere we went. Connectedness is a part of the human experience. It’s what makes us better.
When we all look out for each other, we make the world a better place, even if it’s just our own small part of the world. Our families, our friends, our acquaintances, they all make up our part of the larger world and they all have influence over our decisions.
Marcus Aurelius said, “What is not good for the beehive, cannot be good for the bees,” and we can draw the conclusion that what is good for the beehive is good for the bees. We do not exist in a bubble that has no effect on others, contrary to what many conspiracy theorists and random jackasses might have you believe.
We’re all in this together. This is our world. Our one home. This “pale blue dot” is the only home we’ll ever know.
Take care of yourselves, and each other.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Assorted Links for Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow.
Dylan Thomas
- My Favourite Dylan Song (thoughts from some pretty famous people)
- Are You Putting Learners First? Here are 8 Ways to Check Yourself
- COMIC: 1st-Year Teacher Hurdles Compounded During Pandemic
- The unseen covid-19 risk for unvaccinated people
Photo by Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash
Journaling During a Pandemic (or How to Stay Sane When Surrounded by Insanity)
Let me begin with this: my journaling has little rhyme or reason to it, so please don’t expect to come away from this post with an epic plan for writing the Journal of all Journals.
My journal is a mess because I’m still trying to figure out how to journal (if there is such a thing) as well as what I should put in my journal.
I’ve seen (and tried) many of the different journaling methods out there (five-minute, bullet, gratitude, reading, etc.) and have settled on the one that works for me.
And, for those of you seeking my ultimate secret to journaling success, here it is:
I sit down, open my journal to the next blank page, and I write.
Whatever comes to mind. Problems, worries, wins, special moments, whatever.
I’m just caging my monkey mind on paper so I can get on with my fucking day.
That’s the point for me. My journal is my chance to clear my head of all the cobwebs, crazy thoughts, and random nonsense that invades the recesses of my mind.
And there has never been a greater time to cage that mind than the time we’re beginning to come out of: the COVID-19 pandemic.
This morning, I finished filling the journal I began in February 2020, about one month before schools in the United States shut down and many of us began working from home and figuring out the pandemic life.
My journal was my hideaway. My secret cave. My Sanctum Sanctorum.
It was just for me. Just my way of processing all the thoughts and fears that ran through my head.
- How to keep it together
- How to help my daughter
- What’s really going to happen
- Will we get through this
- Will someone I know live or die
All these thoughts and more occupied my mind over the past 14 months.
I’ll be open and transparent here: if I hadn’t processed it all through my journal, I’m quite certain I would not have come out on the other side of this thing in any shape whatsoever.
Instead, I’m happy, healthy, and whole. I started working out regularly. I cleaned up my diet.
I spent more time with my family. And, I wrote.
I wrote a lot.
It helped me get through a very strange year.
If you’re not already, I highly recommend you begin a journal. Don’t feel like you have to find the right way to do it, just do it.
It’s worth it. Trust me.
Featured image credit: Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Why Star Wars?
I get it. Star Wars isn’t for everyone. At least, that’s what some would have you believe.
Some will say that it’s science fiction mumbo jumbo and doesn’t add anything to our society and is pure drivel.
And, from a certain point of view, they’re right.
But…
What if they’re not?
As I’ve said many times before, Star Wars isn’t science fiction.
Not even close. Nor does it try to be.
It isn’t Star Trek.
It isn’t Asimov. Or Clarke. Or Heinlein.
It’s Tolkien. It’s Jordan. Brooks and Goodkind.
Le Guin. Sanderson. Salvatore.
It’s Beowulf. The Iliad. The Odyssey.
It’s the 300 Spartans at The Battle of Thermopylae standing against the worst odds in the history of ever.
It’s Perseus. It’s Heracles.
It is high fantasy. It is myth.
It is legend.
Most importantly, it’s the Hero’s Journey.
The adventure of the hero is the adventure of being alive. It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
Joseph Campbell
The journey of our lives is to find our place in this life. To divine our purpose.
And it’s a journey we all must take. Without the journey, we can never fulfill all that was meant for us.
In 1977, George Lucas unleashed the power of imagination on untold millions.
Our imagination is what makes us human. We were created to create.
It is in our becoming, in our finding of purpose, that we discover all that is possible and all that we can create.
Life gives dimension to time.
Star Wars is hope for a brighter future. That we can all live and fulfill our purpose, whatever that may be.
Star Wars is hope.
Rebellions are built on hope.
Jyn Erso, Rogue One
Today, someone is seeing one version or another of Star Wars for the first time. Whether on a screen, in music, or in a book.
Today, that light of hope is kindled for the first time in someone’s soul.
Today, someone is becoming the hero they were born to be.
That’s why Star Wars.
I’m one with the Force. The Force is with me.
Chirrut Îmwe
May the Force be with you. Always.
