Create The Noise. Change Your World.

“No man was ever great without divine inspiration.”  Cicero

Have you ever bought some over-marketed product and wondered why the hell did I buy this stupid thing?

 The answer is that you probably were inspired and sold into the product. You bought into the notion that the product was going to dramatically improve your world.

Personal Change Begins With Inspiration

This is how personal change works. We are inspired to change. Every transformation that we make is the result of some personal inspiration we have experienced in our lives. There are a few times, where this inspiration was born from a moment of enlightenment. We discovered something through our own rationality that gave us the inspiration.

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” Henri Louis Bergeson

Are you comfortable living in the moment.. or are you obsessed about having a plan?

Me? I must have a planned strategy for the order that I put my clothes on in the morning. I am not good with spontaneity. There was a time in my life where I welcomed the unpredictable, but that was before college. Now I must know everything.

I believe that a large majority of people are this way. They might not be as extreme as I, but we all want to believe that we have a larger purpose for our lives. We all start with a general trail that we have carved out for life. We then set up to define our success by following this trail.

“Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.” -U2 (Grace)

I believe we are at our most basic selves when we are driving. We don’t know anyone that we’re driving next to, nor do we even see them for a prolonged period of time. This lack of social accountability allows us to throw our higher human virtues out of the window. We don’t have to fold under the pressure of the virtuous crowd. We create a false sense of safety within our car that tells us it is the perfect opportunity to let go.

We can become the part of ourselves that we feel guilty for in every other situation.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with some friends. We were discussing what we were doing that day which would have an impact on our lives down the road. I couldn’t think of much. My day consisted of going to work and then going home. The only other thing I had to get done was on the drive home, I had to return some keys to an apartment complex.

I couldn’t think of anything that was going to make a lasting impact on my agenda for the day.

My friends disagreed.

There is a corrupt file in our society. It has affected nearly every modern individual. We all know about it and we even try to talk about it. We label it as a natural part of life. We theorize that it is an effect of capitalism. Many call it consumerism and fight against it, but most do not understand what it truly is.

My Guilty Pleasures

I am not much of a video game junky.. except when it comes to two genres. Sports titles (Madden) and MMORPG’s are my vices. I was an original Evergeek in High School (97-01) and played some of Everquest 2. I havent committed myself to any video game in more than 3 years and its eating me up inside. I had and have too many responsibilites. Yet, I sit here with a trial version of World of Warcraft beside me. Evercrack has led me to a tougher addiction.

If you desire to try and make the world a better place, you will be left heartbroken.

I don’t know why I persistently preach that we can become a world of compassion and selfless sacrifice. It could never be true. It is a fight that one cannot win. There will always be someone taking advantage of us. There will always be someone that is out to hurt us…  There will always be that time when we are in it for ourselves.

Note: This is an entry into a blog competition hosted by three very well respected bloggers: Urban Monk, The Middle Way, and Zen-Inspired Self Development.

I knew she was hurting. You could see it in her face as the tears trickled down her bruised cheeks, but she had done it to herself.  Instead of looking for a normal guy, she sought after the dangerous ones.  If it was her first time getting into trouble then I could be a little more compassionate. This wasn’t even her fourth. Its a routine with her. I love hanging out with her because she is an excellent listener and has the most intriguing green eyes, but I’m near the breaking point in our friendship. I don’t understand her.

Do you see yourself as a misfit? Are you cool with the fact that everyone gives you a funny look. Are you ok that nobody ever gives you a second look?

We naturally want everyone to like us. They don’t need to be in awe of us, but we do like to be accepted as part of the group. It is not being self-serving. It is just life.

We want to be liked.

My Story

I’ve always thought I was liked by everyone. I prided myself in my ability to share and befriend people from various demographics. It was just a gift that I had. I could ask the right questions and give a caring smile. I never thought twice that people might not like me.

Last week, I was traveling in a large 15 passenger van packed with college students. We were driving back home to Orlando from a convention in Atlanta.

It was a long drive.

We talked about everything from the genius in ‘classic’ Will Farrell movies and albums like Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory to the problems with the labels of modern and postmodern culture. They reminded me of how obnoxious naive I was at 19-20. They reminded me of how classic I had gotten as I remember Zoolander being an above average film not a great one.

It was a long drive.

What should we do with our lives?

Welcome to the first edition of tales of everyday inspiration.

I have been inserting my articles into several blog carnivals and thought it would be good for me to add one to Altnoise.

Many of you might want to ask, “What is a blog carnival?” In simple terms, it is a collection of articles from several different blogs that all have the same theme. They are arranged together so that it is easier for a reader to find similar blogs.

an online magazine of sorts.

 This carnival is about personal stories of inspiration - hence the title, “Tales of Everyday Inspiration”. There were dozens of submissions and many of them very excellent articles. A few of them I had a hard time weeding out, but they didn’t fit the theme.