Personal Meditation No. 166

“If there is no joy, then what is the point?”

Embrace the Within.

I am still living the fucking dream. I have loved that saying ever since it originated in the halls of Great Mills High School with Steve Wolfe and Chris Davies. LTFD was the slogan, the motto, the way forward. Sometimes it was said ironically, sometimes it was said sarcastically, BUT most often it was said with sincerity because we were truly living, what to us, seemed like a dream. It is abbreviated around polite company to just living the dream or LTFD at times BUT that idea of living the dream every day is something that I embraced then and still embrace now. The dream might change, it might morph, it might become clearer BUT the joy it encomapsses is not far from my heart.

Happiness, joy, fun,comedy are extremely important motives for my life. I do not want to do something I do not enjoy. I just do not want that life for myself, my family, my friends, my students, my enemies, anyone . . . Life is too short to be filled with unhappiness or anger or rage or bitterness. I really had to work on giving up a lot of things that chipped away at my joy. And eliminating each one of those things that used to burden me with negative thoughts and feelings has led to a happier and abundant life aligned with what I truly value.

The first casualty was sports because it made me hurt physically to be so involved in the actions of others. I would craft my life around watching sports so I could talk about them with other guys. It is a truly pointless endeavor that I missed during my adolescence. I was too involved with comic books, video games, and wrasslin which are still my joys in life. And most folks do not want to talk wrasslin. So, I sacrificed football, baseball, hockey, and college basketball because they weren’t essential to my joy.

Next came politics and this one took a longer time. After being a Republican in my salad days and then adopting a more liberal approach to life, I ended my stint in politics with a membership in the Libertarian party. This is where I truly confirmed what I had probably known all along, all political parties are the same. And they are not essential to my joy. They actually brought me a lot more hatred and anger than anything else. So, politics and changing the system and converting the masses had to be sacrificed for joy.

Along the way and during that time came examining my curriculum and what I was teaching. And after changing buildings and changing times, I am finally focused on teaching things that are truly essential. I spend a lot of time focused on bias and fallacies, debatable claims, forming arguments, telling stories, examining our journey, and choices. I am huge on choices. Choosing to teach what brings me joy helps me align the reason I walk out of the house every day to bring me joy. I do not want to ever return to hating what I am doing. I may hate the environment inside a building BUT I will never be teaching things that do not bring me joy.

Finally came the routine change during the fourteen days. I started focusing on what was important, the things that would help me be happy. I was not happy with the idea that supply chains could affect my ability to eat. So, I started focusing on fixing my supply chain. Shortening it as much as I can. It is a process that led to adding and changing my backyard, my routine, my life. And it wasn’t a quick process. I did things slow and methodically with a plan that is still evolving. After the greenhouse incident earlier on this month, I am now moving to building my own frames and using the lessons of the past to make a better next step forward. BUT, nothing brings me more joy than a spring, summer, and fall of gardening and growing. And that growing has now moved into the winter with my greenhouse supplying kale and arugula currently and the expansion that will inevitably occur in the years to come.

And there have been other things that have made minor impacts in their disappearance as well. Some are things, some are people, BUT their passing from my life has not created a void. Nature abhors a vacuum and those spaces get quickly filled with joy and abundance. Because, living the fucking dream is the way forward and the journey of my life. I may have things that I would handle differently now than I did in my past BUT each step has helped my growth into who I am today. And I will embrace that dream the rest of my life.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain