Month: July 2012

Everyone

Garth Beyer
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Everyone has their problems, their battles, their emotions, their wars, and their own issues. Realizing this, knowing this, understanding this does not mean to put you to inaction. It does not mean to hold back, to deal, to settle, to not complain, to not feel.

Humans need to be better and if there is one way that is more available to us than not doing anything, it is doing something. It is taking action, reacting more passionately, releasing our empathy, our sympathy, our hopes that others can win their battles.

It is to encourage your neighbor, your tribe member, a stranger, that you not only acknowledged that they are having their problems, but that you have their back, support them and encourage them.

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. – Robert H. Schuller

If there is one thing humans have the biggest habit of, it’s creating a mess of our lives, of making more problems and provoking difficult situations to arise. We’re not stupid, we just kind-of suck but we are aware that we can do better. We just have to act on it.

Everyone has their problems. It’s up to you to offer solutions because doing so starts an endless cycle of understanding, encouragement, togetherness and above all, -not less problems, life would be boring without them- but more solutions. And that gets us somewhere.

 

Stay Positive & I Feel Good For You Son

Garth E. Beyer

My Ishmael

Garth Beyer

I know that a couple book regurgitations ago I said that I really disliked reading books a second or third time. Not so ironically, this regurgitation of the book My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is the result of a second reading. I knew it was an extremely powerful book and since I did not write a regurgitation last time, I wanted to write it before I gave it away for someone else to use as a tool to change the world.

The more books I read, especially ones by people like Daniel Quinn, the more I feel absolutely guilty of holding back the world when I put the book back on the shelf instead of giving it to someone else to read. Whether the person I give the book does the same or ends up sticking it on their shelf after reading it, at least I can say I gave a motivational tool to someone. I didn’t make it a keepsake. I helped the world become one person better than what it was by giving a good book to them. A good book can work wonders.

You will notice just how strong My Ishmael is as I write this regurgitation. Enjoy.

“Adults get real cranky if you quiz them about the scams they’re running on you.” (Pg 23) Real cranky, I might add.

 

If food became free, no more lock and no more key, what would become of thee.

You are food. You are who tradition feeds on endlessly.

But tradition holds the lock and you the key.- My own little jingle I came up with.

 

 

“Another rule of thumb you can use to identify the people of your culture is this: They perceive themselves to be members of a race that is fundamentally flawed and inherently doomed to suffering and misery. Because they’re fundamentally flawed, they expect wisdom to be a rare commodity, difficult to acquire. Because theyre inherently doomed, they’re not surprised to be living in the midst of poverty, injustice and crime, not surprised that their rulers are self-serving and corrupt, not surprised to be rendering the world uninhabitable for themselves. They may be indignant about these things, but they’re not surprised by them, because this is how they expect things to be.” (Pg 40)

I recently wrote a regurgitation on a book of history that persuaded me to comment about how history must to be taught in a way that teaches us “how” and “why”, not “what” happened. My Ishmael does part of it in the sense that he knows the future depends on understanding how we came to be the way we are.

I have always said that people want you to succeed, they really do. After reading My Ishmael, I realized why they do. People are meant to live successful lives. If we can just get enough people to ask themselves (ask yourself now), “Am I successful?” If the answer is no, then the way you’re living isn’t right and that effects everyone. You can’t not share success, so you must define what successful is and then try to live it that way for all of humanity to become wealthy. -And not the type of wealth that involves money, I’m speaking about the intangible kind of wealth-

 

Quinn notes how we perceive ourselves as being deprived of essential knowledge so special we can only access it through supernatural means. When really, essential knowledge comes from understanding and you don’t need superpowers to understand anything, just some time and a desire to actually understand it.Until that desire is declared, we will continue thinking of ourselves as wisdomonically impoverished. (Yes I made that word up)

Wisdom plays a huge role in Quinn’s reality that no invention ever comes into being fully developed in a single step from nothing. Wisdom is having an understanding of everything that has lead you to your current thought. It may take a billion ideas and theories before you become wise on a single subject just as it may take a billion projects and prototypes before an invention is fully developed. Most importantly, give it another year and the wise will become wiser and the inventor more inventive.

 

“Whatever grows without limit must inevitably end by overwhelming the universe” (Pg 62)

Quinn was sure to note that nothing comes into existence from failing and I had to add, ‘but anything can fail and become nonexistent.’

On the note of failure I must proclaim that anything that makes failure hurt will help you succeed.

“We know how to cope with everything that has already happened but we dont know how to cope with what has never happened before” – Daniel Quinn

Humans are passionate but inconsistent. [I’d like to quote myself on this…]

“I sense that more and more of you are becoming alarmed about your headlong plunge toward catastrophe. I sense that more and more of you are casting about for new ideas” (pg 127)

Quinn on school: “Do you know why students ask so many questions about their (the teachers) hobbies?” Because the teacher expresses real passion about it and even if the students don’t have any interest in their hobby, they are sung into listening from the teachers passion in telling.

School produces no value or skills because if they did, you would enter the job market competing with siblings for the same jobs that they worked to get by doing the menial jobs, the grunt work. That may be unfair to you, but I feel that the fact that it comes down to this is unfair.

“Imagine what a twelve-year-old with a musical bent could learn at a recording studio. Imagine what  twelve-year-old with an interest in animals could learn at a zoo. Imagine what a twelve-year-old with an interest in painting could learn in an artist’s studio. Imagine what a twelve-year-old with an interest in performing could learn in a circus.” (Pg 164)

I have to agree with Quinn that if people were free to follow their passions, there would not be a single occupation that someone wouldn’t pursue.

Note: One of Quinn’s golden nuggets is definitely his explanation of the ‘make products to get products’, ‘give support to get support’ charts. Highly worth reading just for that.

“A problem shared wildly is no problem at all” (Pg 183)

Quinn’s 7 point plan — One: the revolution won’t take place all at once. Two: it will be achieved incrementally, by people working off each other’s ideas. Three: it will be led by no one. Four: it will not be the initiative of any political, governmental, or religious body. Five: it has no target end point. Six: it will proceed according to no plan. Seven: it will reward those who further the revolution with the coin of the revolution.

 

A positive revolution can only occur when you give something better than what a person already has. By giving something better, they lose interest in what they we’re just doing. I suppose that is a background theme to why I write; I just want you to know of all the possibilities and options that are open to you in hopes that you will let go of the destructive habits well all indulge ourselves in. I give you my total support. No reservations.

Humans are taught to expect little from life. Can we change that?

 

Stay Positive & An Experienced Intriguer And Confidence Trickster

Garth E. Beyer

Turning Beauty Into Art

Garth Beyer
Credit and Source: Giuseppe Arcimboldo

“To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition.” – Albert Einstein

Anything can be art: a simple doodle, a crumpled paper or one huge collage of junk. The best art though is intentional art, no matter the depth of beauty.

Intentional art is art that originates from a beautiful source, it is not something the is created and then made beautiful. Knowing me, I have to say that everything is beautiful, but what you already believe is beautiful is the best source of art.

What are 5 things you think are beautiful? Now, how can you turn them into art?

It’s a simple process to becoming an artist. After knowing the answers to those two questions, all that is required is action, a bit of your imagination and a touch of insanity.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere” – Albert Einstein

Stay Positive & Youthful

Garth E. Beyer

Start Schooling Dreams: Chapter Preview

Garth Beyer

107. Idol study

A common question that is asked in elementary school is “who is your hero?” It makes you think about who you look up to, who you admire, who you take after. They have children already thinking about how to emulate the successful but then middle school, high school, and higher education never asks it again, never follows up, and never checks in to see who students are paying more attention to than the teachers.

Could you see anything wrong with a class that is centered on emulating the previously successful? As the saying goes, you can’t do the same thing and expect different results. But why would it matter when the results of legendary people are already that, legendary. See, these heroes, these role models, these idols we look up to and attach ourselves to, they produce more inspiration than all the teachers combined.

The worst that could happen in a class focused on emulating these inspirational idols is that the student falls short. Fortunately, falling short of being legendary is still better than the breadth of success students are attaining now.

Want to know more about the release of Start Schooling Dreams? Keep stopping by, email me, or tweet me @TheGarthBox

 

Stay Positive & Anticipated

Garth E. Beyer

A Writer Needs To Be Wrong

Garth Beyer

I want to be wrong.

 

So often writers and people in general second guess everything, especially what they write. They then cross it out, erase it, work around it or completely rewrite it. After you do this for so long, you eventually just handle the process in your head without realizing it. You begin to think of every word, sentence, and part of grammar before you write it.

–R.I.P Paragraph that I wrote and erased–

Now it may be safe, but it’s not healthy for a writer to do so. It disconnects you from a flow of writing which is much more important than the flow of thinking. – In which case that would make you a philosopher, not a writer –

Moreover, you would surely agree that writers learn from their mistakes and though they may still make them in their minds, they are not acknowledging them, learning from them or are able to look back at them and see where the mind strayed off track.

The ability to not only learn from mistakes, but actually play with them, develop with them and write with them allows the writer to explore purity. I say purity because everything that you have ignored, every angle you avoided writing from, every idea that you felt went off the story line has never been touched or tampered with and so it remains pure.

After you write for some time, you will learn that what most people want to read is pure writing and to find pure writing, you have to do the manual labor of writing on ideas that you would normally and subconsciously cross out or erase.

I always say, if hair on your chest makes you a man, scribbles and crossed out words makes you a writer.

 

Stay Positive & Purity In Writing Is Unlimited

Garth E. Beyer

Strategize: Working Backwards To Reach Your Goals

Garth Beyer

I’ve eaten a lot of organic apples but it wasn’t until I pulled the label off and stuck it to a notepad at work (for no reason) where I kept looking at it that I realized something. This apple came from New Zealand! That is on an island over 8,000 miles away from where I purchased it. It got me thinking…

We are all really ignorant of how far items and ideas travel before they reach us. Sure we’re curious where the hundred-dollar bill we have has been, but it stays a funny thought and is never looked into. While that specifically may be irrelevant, the concept is not.

Every goal has an origin. This apple states that it began in New Zealand and its goal was clearly to be bought in Madison, WI. The question I was asking myself was how did it get from New Zealand to here, but the growers of the apple were thinking ‘how do we get these apples to Madison, WI from here?’ not ‘where do these apples go from here?’

Notice the difference is that a destination was chosen for the apples to arrive and the method of transportation to get them there was worked out beginning in Madison, WI, not New Zealand. They marked their origin (New Zealand), set their goal (Madison, WI) and worked out everything backwards.

If they had worked it all out going forwards they may think that putting them on the first shipment to America will get them to Madison the quickest when really, first looking at where which flights are going into Madison the soonest and having them sent there.

One thought is that the quicker they get shipped, the quicker they reach their destination when in reality when the transportation strategies begin getting worked out from the destination, the product reaches it much quicker.

Spreading ideas or products isn’t about sending them into a thousand different directions hoping they eventually land at your goal. It is about knowing your goal, what people are in closest and most constant contact with your goal and which mode of transportation best reaches them directly.

The real question arises then, is it more efficient to figure out where a product needs to go to reach its destination or how quickly will it land at its destination if it is just sent off on any number of planes.

 

Stay Positive & Strategize

Garth E. Beyer