I can definitely see the sun today.
What on earth am I talking about, you ask (if, indeed, there is anyone reading this to ask)? Simply this: my life right now feels like a clear day, in which I can see far ahead down the road.
And the future looks bright. Now beginning my second year of grad school, I will be applying for jobs in mere months. It occurred to me today that in less than a year I will likely know where my first full-time job will be. In other words, I will soon be approaching one of the biggest milestones I've ever reached. Best of all, I am confident that however it ends up, the outcome will be favorable and graced.
Like I said, it's a sunny day right now.
But not everyone can feel the sun's rays. We've all had times in our lives when things don't seem so clear, so happily secure. Negativity and bad breaks sometimes add up to the point that we doubt ourselves, our authenticity, and our purpose. These blue-grey days are tough to endure, because they sap us of our energy. Bereft of a dynamic spirit, we are tempted to despair. The human machine, being imperfect, sometimes weighs our spirit down in this way. But our spirit was meant to fly, and to take this mortal coil along for the trip. So when we get down, we need to turn to God to lift us up again. And He will, because He's always there--even when we aren't aware of Him.
Anyone who feels like their life lacks
direction or purpose, take heart. You're in the middle of a cloudy day,
that's all. Once the weather clears up, you'll see that the sun was up
there the whole time. God's watching over you, even though you can't
always feel His presence. Just keep doing your best, and things are
going to clear up! How do I know? Because I've seen the sun. And once
you've seen the sun, you can't get fooled by cloudy days.
Warmly,
Joezilla
20120826
20120819
Simply Entertaining
The Avengers would seem the epitome of such excessive filmmaking, but it manages to dodge this bullet (so to speak) with an ensemble of likable characters, the wittiest script since True Grit, and, amidst its super-sized muscles and explosions, a clear purpose and objective in every scene. The viewer’s questions are rarely left unanswered, and every piece of action serves some purpose in telling the story. You can call The Avengers excessive, if you want. But it’s excessive like a good buffet, which is to say extremely satisfying and quite fulfilling every now and then.But not every movie can be The Avengers. And as Dark Knight Rises demonstrated, in the arena of summer blockbusters, there’s only room for one impending nuclear threat. If audiences are routinely presented with nuclear bombs aimed at Manhattan, the whole prospect will just become sort of blasé. And that, we can agree, is a bad thing—both for movies and national security.
But the fact is, not every action movie can top its predecessors. When makers of such films attempt to “keep up with the Joneses,” the result is a very stale crop of movies. And is there anything worse than being bored by an action movie?
The story of Bourne Legacy is very simple: the government is trying to track Renner down, so he has to escape. Along for the ride is the beautiful and apparently ageless Rachel Weisz, who spends 90% of the film gaping like a deer in headlights—but in a very appealing way.
The plot also seems less serious, less seething with anti-waterboarding rage, than its predecessors. Of course, the sinister government officials (a trademark of the Bourne series) are still there, gravely staring at giant video-walls as they always do. But the whole affair seems less like it’s trying to tell us something serious, and more like it’s just trying to give us a fun time. And generally, that’s what we want in a movie.
The scale of Bourne Legacy is simple, as well. Going against the globe-trotting grain of recent films (such as Mission: Impossible 4, another excellent action film co-starring Renner…hmm, noticing a pattern here?), Legacy features only one plane ride. The bulk of the action takes place in Manila, a suitably dusty urban setting for the rooftop gymnastics, fast-paced car-chases, and perfectly-calculated arrivals that are another trademark of the Bourne movies. But the setting is relatively understated.
Most important of all, though, the action is simple. Basically, this movie is the anti-Pirates 3. Its climax is a motorcycle chase. No nukes aimed at the Big Apple. No world-devouring alien approaching from a black hole. Just a bad guy, a good guy, and a pretty woman, weaving through crowded traffic on cycles. It’s a scene that could have appeared on the big screen fifty years ago, and it’s just as effective now as it was then.
It’s nice to see that we haven’t completely lost our ability to enjoy the simple things in life.
Happily,
Joezilla
P.S.: How wonderful it is to see a chaste romance in a Hollywood movie! Once again, Bourne Legacy manages to deliver the goods without overdoing it. Let’s hope this is a trend that catches on. Keep praying, though… ;)
Why We Fear Habits
Dedicated to the memory of Stephen R. Covey.
It all started with a toothache. Enjoying a lavish all-you-can-eat dinner in the middle of a vacation with my family, I happily chomped into some peel-and-eat shrimp—and discovered I had not peeled as thoroughly as I should have. The result was a sharp pain in one of my molars, that sudden and unexpected kind of pain that scares as much as it hurts, thanks to its uncertain origin.
But in this case, I knew the feeling all too well. This strange toothache likely meant the beginnings of a chipped tooth, a minor dental malady I’d experienced the year before.
My Mom suggested I see the dentist ASAP upon arriving home. I resignedly agreed, reflecting on my decided lack of flossing since my last visit. I have an excellent dentist, and I have made it a sort of personal tradition to try to buoy his faith in mankind by showing for appointments with impeccable flossing habits—the Holy Grail of dentistry. Having kept a dreadful routine of biweekly or—I shudder to admit it—monthly flossing, I felt in no condition to visit the dentist any time soon.
But my Mom replied—and note this well, dear reader, because it is the core of what I have to say here—“Don’t worry. You can accomplish a lot in a little time.” I resolved then and there to floss that very night—which I just did before writing this. I may wake up tomorrow with slightly sore and swollen gums. It will be up to me to work through the initial phase of discomfort and ready myself for my impending dental visit. And if I stick to it, I will be fine. My Mom was right—a lot can be accomplished in just a little time.
We are afraid to revive neglected habits. Why? Because we fear that we will not be able to surpass or even reach our prior achievements. Can the former runner still run that 6-minute mile? Can the high school clarinetist still hit those high notes? Has the history buff forgotten who the 18th President was? It would take a long time to remaster these skills or relearn these fields of information, and always with the looming uncertainty in the background, the question of creeping Doubt: “Could you still be any good?”
The question, though, is irrelevant. People pursue passions because they love them, not just because they are proficient at them. Generally the two go together anyway, but even a rank amateur is still, as G.K. Chesterton pointed out, a “lover” of the thing pursued, because the word “amateur” literally means “lover.”
So if this is your fear, cast it out for the irrelevancy that it is. Perhaps you will only run an 8-minute mile now—but the point is, you’ll be running a mile again! And the same could be said for any revived skill or hobby.
The other fear we often face in reviving an old ability is more absurd, but perhaps even more common: we avoid reviving a habit simply because we fear we might not keep up the habit. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there. We start a habit, it goes well for three days, or maybe a week—and then it all goes down the drain. Something comes up; life gets in the way, as it is wont to do. How is the busy working man or woman supposed to find time to pursue passions?
Hmm. This is a tough conundrum, isn’t it? Well, actually, no. It’s not. There’s a simple solution, and here it is.
Set aside a small amount of time each day (between 5 and 15 minutes) to devote to practicing/building/enhancing/expanding/exercising/refining/reviewing whatever it is that you want to improve. It’s not rocket science, but the two ingredients essential:
1. Small amount of time (5-15 minutes). Less than 5 minutes is so inconsequential as to be nearly pointless, and is easily overlooked or forgotten in a busy schedule. More than 15 minutes begins to be a serious problem for those same busy people. But 15 minutes or less is impossible to refuse. If someone can’t set aside 5 special minutes out of their day, they need to fix their schedule so that they can.
2. Everyday. Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who died seriously ripped at the age of 96, always insisted that a healthy person work out every day—never miss a workout, even if it has to be a small one. Now for Jack LaLanne, this meant several hours of swimming and weightlifting. For us, it might be a 5 minute jump-rope session, 10 minutes of studying Spanish, or 15 minutes of noodling around on the piano. But the consistency is the point. In his excellent book The Rhythm of Life, Catholic author Matthew Kelly points out that coastlines are changed by daily, repetitive crashings of water against rock. One splash of water, no matter how large, will not reshape an entire coast. Only the reliable, regular waves, rolling in from the deep blue day after day, year after year, century after century, can change the shape of a continent. The force of habit, says Kelly, repeated day after day in a disciplined routine, can have the same effect by reshaping one’s life.
So why worry about dropping a newly-acquired habit? Set a modest goal, and go for it. If you don’t succeed with that, figure out why. If it was a problem of willpower, gather your spirit and try again. If it was a problem of circumstance, address the circumstance or alter the goal.
I believe that the world would be a much greater place if everyone was actively involved in some passionate pursuit of a hobby, skill, sport, art, craft, or otherwise that adds to the world in some way, even if it is just their own world or those the ones closest to them. The human being is a wondrous creation capable of many wondrous things.
So what are you going to start going today? Start a new hobby, or dust off an old one. Give yourself the opportunity you need to, in Stephen Covey’s memorable words, “sharpen the saw.”
Good luck, and God bless you!
Determinedly,
Joezilla
It all started with a toothache. Enjoying a lavish all-you-can-eat dinner in the middle of a vacation with my family, I happily chomped into some peel-and-eat shrimp—and discovered I had not peeled as thoroughly as I should have. The result was a sharp pain in one of my molars, that sudden and unexpected kind of pain that scares as much as it hurts, thanks to its uncertain origin.
But in this case, I knew the feeling all too well. This strange toothache likely meant the beginnings of a chipped tooth, a minor dental malady I’d experienced the year before.
My Mom suggested I see the dentist ASAP upon arriving home. I resignedly agreed, reflecting on my decided lack of flossing since my last visit. I have an excellent dentist, and I have made it a sort of personal tradition to try to buoy his faith in mankind by showing for appointments with impeccable flossing habits—the Holy Grail of dentistry. Having kept a dreadful routine of biweekly or—I shudder to admit it—monthly flossing, I felt in no condition to visit the dentist any time soon.
But my Mom replied—and note this well, dear reader, because it is the core of what I have to say here—“Don’t worry. You can accomplish a lot in a little time.” I resolved then and there to floss that very night—which I just did before writing this. I may wake up tomorrow with slightly sore and swollen gums. It will be up to me to work through the initial phase of discomfort and ready myself for my impending dental visit. And if I stick to it, I will be fine. My Mom was right—a lot can be accomplished in just a little time.
We are afraid to revive neglected habits. Why? Because we fear that we will not be able to surpass or even reach our prior achievements. Can the former runner still run that 6-minute mile? Can the high school clarinetist still hit those high notes? Has the history buff forgotten who the 18th President was? It would take a long time to remaster these skills or relearn these fields of information, and always with the looming uncertainty in the background, the question of creeping Doubt: “Could you still be any good?”
The question, though, is irrelevant. People pursue passions because they love them, not just because they are proficient at them. Generally the two go together anyway, but even a rank amateur is still, as G.K. Chesterton pointed out, a “lover” of the thing pursued, because the word “amateur” literally means “lover.”
So if this is your fear, cast it out for the irrelevancy that it is. Perhaps you will only run an 8-minute mile now—but the point is, you’ll be running a mile again! And the same could be said for any revived skill or hobby.
The other fear we often face in reviving an old ability is more absurd, but perhaps even more common: we avoid reviving a habit simply because we fear we might not keep up the habit. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there. We start a habit, it goes well for three days, or maybe a week—and then it all goes down the drain. Something comes up; life gets in the way, as it is wont to do. How is the busy working man or woman supposed to find time to pursue passions?
Hmm. This is a tough conundrum, isn’t it? Well, actually, no. It’s not. There’s a simple solution, and here it is.
Set aside a small amount of time each day (between 5 and 15 minutes) to devote to practicing/building/enhancing/expanding/exercising/refining/reviewing whatever it is that you want to improve. It’s not rocket science, but the two ingredients essential:
1. Small amount of time (5-15 minutes). Less than 5 minutes is so inconsequential as to be nearly pointless, and is easily overlooked or forgotten in a busy schedule. More than 15 minutes begins to be a serious problem for those same busy people. But 15 minutes or less is impossible to refuse. If someone can’t set aside 5 special minutes out of their day, they need to fix their schedule so that they can.
2. Everyday. Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who died seriously ripped at the age of 96, always insisted that a healthy person work out every day—never miss a workout, even if it has to be a small one. Now for Jack LaLanne, this meant several hours of swimming and weightlifting. For us, it might be a 5 minute jump-rope session, 10 minutes of studying Spanish, or 15 minutes of noodling around on the piano. But the consistency is the point. In his excellent book The Rhythm of Life, Catholic author Matthew Kelly points out that coastlines are changed by daily, repetitive crashings of water against rock. One splash of water, no matter how large, will not reshape an entire coast. Only the reliable, regular waves, rolling in from the deep blue day after day, year after year, century after century, can change the shape of a continent. The force of habit, says Kelly, repeated day after day in a disciplined routine, can have the same effect by reshaping one’s life.
So why worry about dropping a newly-acquired habit? Set a modest goal, and go for it. If you don’t succeed with that, figure out why. If it was a problem of willpower, gather your spirit and try again. If it was a problem of circumstance, address the circumstance or alter the goal.
I believe that the world would be a much greater place if everyone was actively involved in some passionate pursuit of a hobby, skill, sport, art, craft, or otherwise that adds to the world in some way, even if it is just their own world or those the ones closest to them. The human being is a wondrous creation capable of many wondrous things.
So what are you going to start going today? Start a new hobby, or dust off an old one. Give yourself the opportunity you need to, in Stephen Covey’s memorable words, “sharpen the saw.”
Good luck, and God bless you!
Determinedly,
Joezilla
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