LRL Concepts

This is the first time I write a blog, or an article. And I wanted to write something that spoke about me; about who I am. But you can clearly see that in my work. Then I thought, I want to write the best article in the world; win a Pulitzer or a Noble prize. Then I realized: it may be a bit too much to ask from a blog -especially a first time blogger. This is all to say that I want to be successful. I want to feel the happiness and fulfillment of success; everyone does, I suppose, but in what terms do I define success? I have a steady job, true, but I wouldn't exactly count that alone as success. I have a dog that I adore, but that isn't it either. I can walk, I can think, I can dance (sometimes fairly well), I have my health, if I don't count that tetanus shot that had my head swimming and my muscles sore for a week not so long ago. So what is success? How do I define it? Truly and honestly, what does that mean to me? What does it mean to anyone, for that matter? Success is just such a personal feeling.

I guess the question is, what comes easiest to me. What is that thing that I would do, if I could do it for free.

Art is one. God knows I'm not getting paid for it at the moment, yet I come home and I still do it. Art in all its forms. Well, maybe not all of them. I like to paint, and work with my hands (get your minds out of the gutter). I like expressing my thoughts with my body, my movement. I love being able to observe and understand and learn. The question is, what drives me to do these things: is it a narcissistic feeling about the world? Is it narcissistic or vain to want to express ones feelings? My aunt would say, if you have nothing nice to say about something, don't say it. But sometimes I must say them. Sometimes I must take the burden off of my chest. It brings me closer to the world and everyone in it, because I think we all feel the same way, but are afraid to say it out loud.

So, what comes next... that's always the real question, isn't it. To be honest, there is no real answer to that question. Probably there will never be. You may think you know, but let's be honest, how many times have you made plans only to see them vanish in front of your very eyes. It's certainly happened to me. I plan, and plan, and plan, but the truth is I don't know really know what will happen next. I'm told that's what it should always be. That's how life shows itself and its better face. That is perhaps the meaning of success, being able to give up our need for planning and controlling, and accept that we don't really know what's next in our path, and we probably never will. Oogway said in Kung Fu Panda (and excuse the lameness of my allegory): Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why it's called the present. Someone more important and far more enlightened may have said these words in history, but I remember them from him: a cartoon. Let's just not hold that against him (or me).

*Sigh*

Now I've reached the end of what I wanted to say. This doesn’t make for a great article. Not even a great blog, if truth be told. But I'm sure someone out there understands exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe more people than I care to admit. Probably. Because let's face it, there’s nothing original about being human.

LRL