Articles

Secrets From the Vault

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by Jonathan Hilton

There are a lot of people who look at a book and make a judgement based on the cover and fail to even open the pages and read even a little of the story that is contained inside. That is something that I try to avoid doing all the time and I appreciate it when it is done for me.

The insight about me that is offered here is to let you know what my guilty pleasures in life are. These are defined as interests and likes that you have that may be embarrassing for others to know about because of their low brow or uncultured appeal.  Everyone has these interests, here are my top guilty pleasures in life.

The Big Bang Theory

sheldon
There is a little Sheldon in all of us!

This is a show that I just recently became infatuated with. It is the tale of four nerds and their good-looking female neighbor.  Pretty basic plot lines, but I seem to enjoy watching Sheldon Cooper struggle through life.  From his fear of birds to being unable to understand sarcasm.  If this is on and I have a moment I will watch it. I can’t stop myself.

The Music of Taylor Swift

taylorI would not mention this anywhere else, but for some reason the music of Taylor Swift that is about nothing I can relate to, I really like. It has been going on for years and I have secretly liked songs as old as Tim McGraw and as new as We’re Never Ever Getting Back Together.  Her act of continually getting dumped is going to have to end eventually. If it never does, that will be fine with me.

Red Sox Baseball

red sox fightThis is not a shock to anyone who knows me but I love the Red Sox. I watch a part of most games and follow the side stories that the team provides.  Even though I have never played Major League Baseball I am like many people I think that I know what is best for the team.  I have always been infatuated with the statistics of certain players and am not ashamed to say there were a few tears when they won it all in 2004.

Duck Dynasty

Duck
“Everybody, happy, happy.”

Another show that I happened to accidentally see and now I watch them quite often. There is something interesting about watching Grandpa Phil try to kill beavers and talk about the old times being , “Everybody, happy, happy!”  I was born and raised in Maine so there is a bit of red neck in me that I can’t escape from. This show touches this. A lot of the situations are clearly created just for television but that is OK, it entertains anyway.

  Country Music

country MusicUp until I turned 39 I believed that all country music was really a joke. I was one of those that laughed about playing a country song backward, you get your wife, your dog and your truck back.  Then it all suddenly changed as I was listening to a song once and thinking, “Wow, that makes a lot of sense.”

From that day on I was hooked, and even though I enjoy all types of music, country music is high on my list.  Kenny Chesney, Dirks Bentley, Tim McGraw,  you name it and if they have a good song I probably like it.  I think my rural heritage has a lot to do with this, but there is something about a country girl that is indescribably beautiful!

Romantic Comedies

shaI hate to admit this but the more of them I see the more I think I am a hopeless romantic. Recently a fellow blogger had been reviewing her favorite romantic comedies which got me to watch a few. The more I watched the more I liked them. Not all of them but most of them.  I did have someone in my past who liked those types of movies and I would watch them with her.  If I am by myself and Sweet Home Alabama is on I can’t help but watch it.  There are a thousand others but lets suffice it to say this is a guilty pleasure of mine. Don’t tell anyone!!

Learning Stuff

Learning stuffThis is one thing that makes me kind of a super nerd because I find learning new things fascinating.  Especially in the realm of psychology, human behavior, quantum physics, string theory or any science what so ever.  This is not only in substance but I like learning how to do new things as well, particularly in the field of technology.

I am old enough to remember life before there was an internet and having access for the first time and asking,”What do you do with it.”  Even though no one gave a satisfactory answer back in 1996, we figured it out.  I am not one of those who sees technology as something you fear but I see it as something new to master.  I enjoy learning how to do things from working on new platforms to building websites. Learning stuff is fun!

Reading and Writing are a Good Time

reading and writingAlong with the learning new stuff revelation is my love of reading and writing. It probably wouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who reads this blog, but to people who just know me from any endeavor in my life, it would be a shock.  Reading to me is not done to read a story or something like that, it is done to teach me something. Expose me to a new idea. I can’t remember that last book I read for “fun”, it seems I just don’t have time.

Writing is an ongoing process for me, as I expand my comfort with words and let the emotions and thoughts I have in me, flow freely without a filter.  That has been the biggest challenge of writing for me.  The fact that I have a biggest challenge of writing would surprise many of my “friends” from the past.

I am sure that I can come up with about fifty-five more but I am out of time for this writing experience.  So  that will have to do.  I am sure that I am not the only one who has embarrassing interests.

What are your Guilty Pleasures?

 

 

Articles

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

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Love this Card featured on the Simpson's
Love this Card featured on the Simpson’s

So here it is Valentine’s Day.  I initially was going to rant about how this day is not about love and only about how much money a person has to spend to adequately show their love to another.  That this isn’t actually a holiday at all, but a manufactured event of greeting card companies to sell more greeting cards between Christmas and Easter.  But that is just being miserable for the sake of being miserable so I decided to focus on what the focus should be on this day, LOVE.

Love Has Everything to Do With It

When I heard the word love, for much of my life I thought about the romantic emotion of love. However love is more than just an emotion that you feel when you are around someone you care about, it is a force that can help make your life and those of others better each and every day.  Love is the fertile soil from which kindness, charity, acceptance, understand all grow out of.

Kindness Counts Today

Good enough for Superman, Good enough for me
Best Valentine EVER!

Kindness seems to me to be one of the things that we should be focusing on every Valentine’s Day. There are opportunities in each of our lives to just show a little kindness to another person.  It doesn’t cost a dime to be kind to anyone. So the next time you interact with someone, be it, someone, you have known your whole life or a complete stranger, just approach them with kindness and not only will they feel better about the world and themselves but you will too.

Patience is definitely a Virtue

Another branch of the plant of love is patience.  When you get frustrated it is usually because you are not focused on the here strongmanand now but because you are thinking about what might not happen in the future if something goes wrong.  Being patient is simply recognizing any moment for what it is.  A line is long because it is long, not for the sole purpose of messing up your day.  A person who makes a mistake that you think could have been avoided is more than likely doing their best, and a little guidance from someone else might be all they need to be more productive and to have a better day.  The point is that it doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with a teller at a bank, your kids or your spouse, practice patience and understanding over being impatient and mean and you and those around you will see the world in a much brighter light.

It’s What You Give That You Get

The rules of life are mysterious and nobody knows them for sure, we take guesses based on experience but there is no rule book to guide you.  One thing that I have found to be true is that what you give in life, most often you get back.  If your focus is on solely meeting your needs, then you are probably going to be surrounded by people who are solely focused on their needs.  The same is true for love if you are focused on making sure those you care about are having their needs met, then you are going to find that others are looking out for yours.  It is what you give that you get, for the most part in my experience.

Love Stinks When You Lose Your Focus

Valentines

If you have ever been in love, you know that it is the greatest feeling in all of the world. To care about someone so much and know they care about you.  It is so great that often times we lose our focus on the love and focus on the fear of losing it.

This is what happens when jealousy enters the picture.  Jealousy is a powerful manifestation of fear and can work to not only destroy a loving relationship but rob you of any enjoyment that relationship might bring you.  Fear of losing the love that means so much to you is a recipe to lose everything you have.  That is my experience that fear is the destroyer of relationships and needs to be discarded on a regular basis. Focus on the things that you love and they will be accentuated.

So I hope that all of you people who love this day have a great time today. Those of you who dislike this day because of the fact that it is over commercialized foolishness, trying to make money off of the purest emotion in the world, I wish you the biggest and best Valentine’s Day you have ever had.  You deserve it.

Articles

Snow Day!

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2013-02-07_1708by Jonathan Hilton

It is difficult to explain to someone who lives in a warm climate the power and majesty of a snow day.  Sometimes they are a surprise, and sometimes they are expected, but they are always awesome. It is like having extra holidays in your life and you never really know when they are going to hit.

Definition of a Snow Day

blizzard of 1978What is a snow day? I guess that some explanation is needed. When mother nature decides to pour down many inches of the white stuff, the entire area that is covered generally shuts down and there is no work, no school, no NOTHING!! All there is to do is hope the power doesn’t go out, watch the snow fall or play in it.  I personally can drive well in the snow, but it is the other people who can’t I fear. I would just as soon wait.

Being a Kid Praying for Snow

kids snow dayThere were many nights when I was growing up that I would gamble that the snow would come and I would not have to have my homework done. In the town I grew up in they had a fire whistle that you could hear everywhere. (very small rural town in Maine) They would blare out a special signal, three short blasts for no school.  As I got older and moved, I relied on the radio for this vital information. (no internet then).

It was so comforting to be able to fall back asleep, somehow the blankets were warmer, and the pillow more comforting.   Finally you would inevitably get up, dressing in 42 layers of clothing and going outside to play until you got frostbite or hungry which ever came first.  I was fortunate enough to have two brothers and about 40 neighbors to throw snowballs at and go sliding with .Then finally after a long day of play with your friends, you had to do the homework you put off. Snow days were a free day, probably the best thing about dealing with winter.

A Snow Day for Adults

adult snow dayFor much of my adult life I was a teacher, and the snow day magic persisted. It was even more intense and fun. I would wait to get the call, school was cancelled. Then happily sleep until I felt like getting up. A lot of days, I would go meet some fellow teachers for breakfast, because it is never too snowy for that.  The great thing was, no work, no rules, nothing to do but have fun. Snow days as a teacher were 100 times better than snow days as a kid.

For other “normal” people, it takes a lot but they occasionally get a snow day too. When there is just too much snow, then everything closes. The mood is usually set by the state government, if they call off work, most everyone else does as well. Businesses might as well close, because nobody is coming to buy anything. Snow day is here.

The Hype of the Snow Storm

empty shelves
This picture is from the blizzard of 1978.

Now with the news and social media there are no shortage of the impending storm.  What will happen is that it will snow like crazy tomorrow, Friday February 8, everyone will stay home, on Saturday the roads will be clear and it will be business as usual.

People are strange because they will stock up like there will never be another trip to the store, in the near future. The stores run low on food.  The warning of a snow storm is great for business. Everywhere you go, people talk about the storm. Strangers conversing about the impending doom that is on its way. This is the biggest storm since 1978.  I heard the following nonfactual statements this morning:

*This is the biggest storm since 1978

*It is going to snow for two days. (That never happens)

*The world is most likely going to end anyway, so let it snow.

People get all hyped up about the storm, probably from latent feelings of loving snow days in their youths, and then the event is usually quite a let down. It only snows 18 inches instead of 24.  If you live in a snowy area then you know what I mean.

Reality of A Snow Day

no school tomorrowTomorrow has already been cancelled in Maine. Schools are going to be closed, stores are going to be closed, roads are going to be slippery, the state is going to shut down and it is going to snow a lot.  I am not going to have to go to work. I will get to sleep in until 6:30, the latest I am capable of sleeping.  I will be able to spend the day doing stuff like reading, writing, and learning. It is going to be awesome.

So if you live in a warm climate, enjoy the heat and enjoy your normal day at work. I will be busy doing whatever I want and can do with snow up to my rump.

 

Personal Projects

Are You Truly Living

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What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

truly living
Are you truly living?

by Jonathan Hilton

All people are going to answer this question differently depending on where they are in their life.  To me being alive is a fact of nature, and enjoying life and living for a purpose is truly living.  But how do you enjoy life?

Other people will answer this very differently.    It only takes a few visits to any number of blogs to experience the wide variety of philosophies and beliefs that exist.

Young people are struggling to master life, yet so hopeful about living it is encouraging   While older people are resigned to the fact that you may never figure it out everything there is to know about life, but they share their thoughts and experiences.

One of the things I like about reading so many different people’s opinions is to be exposed to ideas that are different from mine. Valid yet different and I think that is a powerful force of growth.  These are my thoughts on truly living.

The problem with Life

For me there is a question that came to me as I got older and thought that I was on the

questions about living
We all have questions, I know I did.

path I should be on. After carefully contemplating the experiences I have been fortunate enough to have in life I came to the conclusion that being alive was not enough and that I needed to start truly living and for me that meant I had to make a lot of changes in my perceptions of people, life, God and everything that at one time I was sure of.

I wasn’t sure what was “right”, but I knew there was more to life than a conditioned accumulation of material goods to supply comfort to life.

What comfort did I ever give to others? What did I contribute? Even as an educator, I was contributing stories about living which happened long ago, espousing the morals and actions that young people should aspire to follow, with the awareness of the world around me the size of the head of a pin.

I don’t think I  consistently enjoyed what life gave me. There are easy things to enjoy and appreciate, like those we love, and those that love us, a sunny, beautiful day, a large sum of money, all of these can be easily enjoyed, but how many people pass through a day without having gratitude for anything in their life, because they are too busy looking at what they don’t have.

I was one of these, searching for the right amount of stuff that would bring happiness with it. I never found that.

 The Past

Future past and present sign in the sky
Which direction do you follow?

One of the biggest problems people face,when trying to truly live is that they always seem to distract themselves from the moment they are currently experiencing.

Perhaps spending time with someone you love, reading a book, exercising, or doing whatever it is you do, because you allow yourself to be distracted by things that make you feel the moment you are in is not a good enough thing.

One distraction is the past, which often allows you to reminisce about the past and feel that things were so much better back then, when you were happy.

Often the past is not quite what we remember it to be and it really doesn’t matter in the scope of today.  It is over and gone, good or bad and to short change today for yesterday is selling something tangible and of extreme value for  nothing but a fantasy.

Often I had looked to the past to the good old days, which were nice memories, but other than lending experience to today, couldn’t help make me very happy or allow me to truly live.

 The Future

Others choose to focus on the future, planning and scheming the best way to route their lives to get to the point where finally they will be happy.  They think that if they  do this particular thing, at this particular time then I will be happy, satisfied, successful, or whatever.

The problem with this is that when you put all of your focus onto tomorrow you miss the great things that are happening today.  You can prepare for the future with the actions of today and enjoy today at the same time, the difference is that you don’t put anything off, like being happy and satisfied with life or anything else. Tomorrow may never come and rarely does it happen as you plan, so putting happiness off is a bad gamble that will most likely never pay off.

I’ll Be Happy When I am Rich

Materialism is another distraction that keeps people from enjoying the moment, often it goes hand in hand with waiting for the future, but tying your happiness into the acquisition of some material thing is going to stop you from appreciating today, because you are going to be thinking that happiness is going to come when you get that house, or car, or Ipad or whatever.

The satisfaction of that acquisition will be short-lived and soon you will be looking for the next thing that should bring happiness and satisfaction to your life, as you ignore the opportunity for happiness that you have in your experience today. Being grateful for what you have will allow you to enjoy the day. If you don’t believe me, then try it.  Be truly grateful for what you have.

Your Choice

choice for life
You can choose if you are alive or truly living

So truly living to me is the appreciation of what life is giving you right now in this moment.

That doesn’t mean that it will always be perfect. Sometimes there are painful things in life, and we have to deal with feelings that are not so nice, people get sick, accidents happen, people die, life is not perfect and there is no guarantee that everything is going to go your way.

However, there is a choice that comes pinned to each of those experiences to make it a positive or a negative factor in your life.  Only you can decide for yourself the difference between being alive and truly living.

What does truly living mean to you?

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Poetry

I Remember You

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Poetry is not something that I have never written much of. One of the great blogs I read, shared a sonnet on Thursday. I am taking the opportunity to write one myself, because I never have and it should be a unique experience. It was an interesting : first I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed rhyming. Secondly I apparently have some unresolved issues inside. I think they are resolving.

dusty room (2)

I Remember You

by Jonathan Hilton

Oh, yes I remember you,

As a deep dark mystery I sought to reveal.

I never found or discovered, what was due,

The truth about you, hurts too much to feel.

We used to talk and be together every day,

Laughing and sharing each special time. 

Now you have left, and moved along your way, 

The emptiness inside alone is mine

Where is the justice? Where is the Peace?   

I destroy all the selfish evidence of us.

There is a thought that this will bring a release,

Nothing worked, nothings fixed, It wasn’t worth the fuss. 

The dusty, empty room is inside of me,

It is as vast and as deep as the mightiest Sea.

 

So what did you think of my first poem? I know, but it is the first try.

Here are a couple I remember you songs to help set the mood.

Skid Row: I Remember You

Someone Like You

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Interests

Let’s All Go To The Movies

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This will admit you!
This will admit you!

I had recently challenged the always wonderful, beautiful, kind, considerate and very funny Purnimodo to come up with her top five American movies.  Purnimodo decided to call them movies to watch when you are stranded, but many of them I would watch any time.  She came up with a pretty potent list, but I have a few years on the fair blogger from Holland, and that means a little more movie expertise.

This is a rundown of my top movies with an explanation of why each one is so very awesome. I am not putting them in any particular order and I don’t think I will be able to keep it to five, because movies are awesome. (So are you, if you are still reading.)  My criteria are pretty simple, I have to have seen it at least five times and still want to watch it right now. In most cases I even know the dialogue, but I’ll be quiet if we watch it together.

Good Will Hunting

good will hunting
Watch this

This movie has it all.  Robin Williams playing the sensitive shrink, who works with the tough kid from Southie, Matt Damon, and gets him to use his talents wisely.  It involves friendship, romance and fulfilling your potential.  Great movie any way you look at it.  Best line in the movie: “Tell him I’ve gone to see about a girl.”  You must have a very little heart if you don’t like this one.

Do you like apples?    National Security Agency   Not Your Fault 

Gone to see about a girl

The Shawshank Redemption

shawshankThere are not many films that take place inside a prison like this.  Andy Dufrane falsely accused of murdering his wife spends twenty years in prison, launders money for the warden, breaks out, takes all of the money for himself.  Best line in the movie, “Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’. That’s goddamn right.”  You will feel like going to live on a beach in Mexico after this one.

Opera Scene 

Tar the roof

The Legend of Bagger Vance

Bagger VanceThis is a movie that many people have never seen, but it is worth the time.  On the surface it is about a golf match, but underneath it is so much more. It is about finding your own unique talent and doing the best you can with it. Letting go of the past, and living in the present moment.  Starring Matt Damon, Will Smith, Charlize Theron and directed by Robert Redford, it should have been a hit, but it was a flop at the box office. Still a great movie that you should see. This movies has so many good lines it is hard to choose just one but I will choose this one: ” You got a choice… You can stop… Or you can start…” Bagger Vance says as he is guiding Rannolph Junah back into the light.

See it, you will love it.  Movie

Just a moment ago         The Field    Your Authentic Swing

The Princess Bride

princess brideOK, this one is kind of a kid’s movie, but I still watch it every time I am feeling under the weather and need some extra rest.  Who can argue it has everything, fencing, boxing, giants, revenge and true love.  What can top all of that?  This is a classic, with many lines and I recently threw a few around it made me realize that I haven’t watched it for so long that I might be feeling a bit under the weather, ahem today!  Great lines, a million of them, “inconceivable!” , “As you wish”, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” I can’t believe you are still reading this and not watching this movie!

Hello!            Sword Fight      Battle of Wits  

Rocky and Rocky III

RockyI put these two together because they are the best of the franchise. If you have never seen Rocky then you need to quickly, it is a classic about how anyone on any given day can be a champion and give a championship effort.  Rocky III has Mr. T in it and is great because it came out while I was in junior high.  I skipped Rocky II because it was too long and drawn out, and anything after III was either over patriotic or didn’t make sense.  Although, Rocky Balboa, the last Rocky movie gave one of the best speeches ever, so I included that one here.   Enjoy the fight. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows………..

Rocky Balboa Speech         Training with Rocky           Rocky Wins     YO, Adrian

A Few Good Men

few good menA great story that I now know pretty much word for word.  Jack Nicholson is great in this one and Tom Cruise was ok too.  Star studded cast with Demi Moore, Keifer Sutherland joining Cruise and Nicholson.  Full of good lines, but has the best speech and courtroom confrontation that you can imagine. Between Danial Caffey (Cruise) and Colonel Nathan Jessep (Nicholson).  The moral of the movie is nobody is above the law and we should all do what we can to protect those who need it.  “You don’t need a patch on your arm to live with honor.”

Can you handle the truth?               Introduction 

 

 

Fight Club

Fight Club

Fight Club is an awesome movie about……..Sorry rule number one prevents me from telling you anything further so does rule number 2.  Just watch it if you have never seen it.  Great movie.

Rules of Fight Club       Speech About Fight Club

There it is, my top five movies. Well really it is Seven, but who is counting, well I guess you are if you have read this far then you should definitely leave a comment and let me know how you think I did.  What makes your list my friends?

What I Know

Books Are Beacons of Possibility

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Reading books
If you read, you make yourself better!

This is the second article about the things that I know for certain after a few years of trying to answer the questions of life.  The access to and the willingness to read and learn is the great equalizer of all people.  

Books and Reading Changed My Life

I have always been a reader, but not a learner.  The books that I read for much of my life were designed to entertain and tell a story but not to teach me anything in particular.  I am almost ashamed to say that I lived more than forty years before I truly discovered the power of books.  This is what I have learned to be true.  Not everyone is born with great athletic ability, or supportive parents, or money, but once you learn the skill of reading you able to build your intellect to any level that you desire.

You Can Do Anything

If you have access to books, you have the ability to learn from the greatest thinkers that mankind has ever produced.  What you want to learn, you can learn all you want to about. This means that all of the world, science, math, literature, or physics are all there for you to

Reading allows you to do anything
Reading Provides Magic

delve into as deeply as you could possibly want to.

This is what happened to me, once I started to realize that books possess a whole lot of power, I had trouble reading anything for fun.  I didn’t want to waste any of my reading time with something that didn’t make me think or to gain a better understanding of the world around me.  I am certainly no intellectual giant, but I do realize the miles that I have crossed, and the distance I still need to navigate.  What a trip.

Once You Start…….

 

Much like a rock rolling down a hill, once knowledge is gained, and you feel like true understanding has started to peek through the haze of your mind, you want to learn more and more as fast as you can.  The great part about this is that once you stretch your brain out,  to accept these new ways of thinking, and thoughts that you have aquired, it will never shrink back again.  There is no turning the light of knowledge off.

This power of gaining knowledge and understanding is the factor that levels the playing field for all people.  you can feel sorry for yourself because of the circumstances that you were born into, or your experiences of life, but there is absolutely nothing stopping you from learning all that you want to from the many books of the world.  All of which can be accessed free of charge at your local library.

You Can Do Anything By Reading

You have the opportunity to learn about business from Andrew Carnegie, or philosophy from Nietzsche. There are no limits to what level of expertise you want to acquire.  The only limit is in the amount of time and thought that you want to invest in a particular project.

If you can read, you can do anything at all and that is a fact that I know to be true.

 

 

 

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Motivation, People

The Stories You Provide!

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Inspiration
Inspiration comes from who we see and what we experience every day.

by Jonathan Hilton

The more I look for topics to write about and expound upon, the more my writing process comes clearly into my mind.  I write best when I have someone specifically in mind to write about, because it is like I am explaining my thoughts or emotions to them, or that I am giving them advice.  Often I know the advice would never be received directly, so I just give it on the pages of my writing.

Since these people of inspiration are all around me, they may not even know that I have been inspired by them.  I can look at almost every one of the approximately 200 articles I have written on this website and remember clearly the lesson or situation that prompted the thoughts or feelings that caused me to put it to paper.  This clearly  shows me that people do not recognize the impact that they have on others just by  living life as an example.

As we approach the new year of 2013 I am endeavoring to dig deeper into those relationships that I have had in the past to wring out the valuable experiences that I have been fortunate to experience in my lifetime.  That means that if you have ever met me than you will probably be the motivation for some piece of writing that I have done in the past or I will do over the next year or two.

writing inspirations
All things create stories in your mind, all you have to do is tell them.

I have never mentioned a name or directed a thought directly at someone because my intention is not to publicize anyone’s short comings or problems.  I simply have had experiences with people in my life that have taught me lessons from their positive actions or from their negative behavior.  Each situation has value, it is just much more fun to remember the positive, and often more valuable to recall the negative behavior some have displayed.

What this means as we head into a new year is that I am going to be writing and publishing a lot of material over the next year and when you read it, you just might see something of yourself in that writing.  I am grateful in advance for all of the experiences and looking forward to sharing them in the future.  It is definitely true that there is inspiration all around us and all we have to do is look for it, to find it.

I am planning on continually publishing articles about inspiration, but I am also going to be sharing short stories from all aspects of my youth, because they were great and they helped make me what I am today.  I can not wait to get started.

 

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Poetry

Hole in the Soul

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looking for you
I Have Been Looking For You!

By Jonathan Hilton

My Soul Stretches toward you. Still you are silent.

Are you afraid? Why can’t I see you? Are you hiding?

The realization that I have been searching for you, envelops me.

There is a missing piece of me out there, I have never had.
I have never had it, I don’t know what it feels like, I need it now.

The empty space in my center, that you alone can fill and complete.

I am now calling loudly to you, in a controlled desperation.

hole in the soul
The hole in my SOUL.`

Much like a person under water, knows oxygen can save him,

you are the life essence that I know I need, and you are not here.

I am not whole, you are the missing part of my soul.

Now my soul screams to you, in a panic.

Time is running out, time is not on my side, you are not here.

Either this will end in complete happiness, or unfulfilled hope.

I yell loudly to attract your attention, to let you know,

Clearly and soundly I am as I have always been, searching for you!

Do not hesitate anymore, complete this puzzle,

Run as fast as you possibly can, hurry, quick,

I am waiting as I always hae been.

False starts, roadblocks, obstacles, are gone for my soul,

NEEDS YOU!

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Finding your Inspiration

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Look for your sources of inspiration

There are days when things to write about come to you very easily and others where you have to seek an idea like Gollum looking for the ring.  The great thing is that there are thousands of idea makers out there, friends, random people, and even writers you have never met providing thoughts for  finding your inspiration.  This is extremely helpful because there is no limit on the number of helpful ideas others produce that you can expound upon to achieve creative synergy.

Old Friends Know Best

Yesterday a great topic came up, on Facebook I read the following quote on the wall of my friend Art O’Conner, in regards to the media coverage of the Connecticut shootings, and the media’s role in these tragedies as a whole.

Art O'Conner
Art O’Conner, mystic sage, adventurer, news critic

– “There is one thing you can do today that will change your life and it doesn’t cost a thing. Stop watching the news, all of it. The only agenda they have is to sell you fear and sensationalize violence and psychopaths. TV news is poison for your brain and make you a reactionary herd following pawn. Eating nothing but McDonald’s every day will make you a fat, tired and lazy. TV news is McDonald’s for your brain. If you watch and digest that long enough your brain is the equivalent of a 500lb man on oxygen sitting in line at McDonald’s on his Jazzy scooter. Take control of what you feed your brain. Especially your kids, don’t let them watch that crap. No kid should have to see that, ever.”

In the aftermath of the tragic shootings, in Connecticut, it is comforting to see that the first reaction isn’t to yell for gun control, or to blame the fraying fabric of our society, but to look at the real culprit here, the mainstream media.  This also produced the most memorable quote of the year.  “TV news is McDonald’s for your brain.”   Any organization that would sensationalize this type of tragedy, needs to seriously evaluate their role in what exactly makes news.  I have known Art for many years, since we were kids, there is something cathartic about hearing these words come from someone you went to elementary school with yourself.  Art is the man.

I was instantly inspired to not eat at McDonald’s, continue to boycott the television news, and to write this post.  Pretty good for a paragraph on Facebook.

Interact with People You will Learn

art-best-best-friends-friends-inspiration-Favim.com-344257Other unexpected places I have found extreme inspiration and motivation is through interactions with others, through connecting with people I have found a wealth of knowledge, ideas, motivation and inspiration.

It is amazing how a post will almost write itself when you have an idea discussed with a friend.  It flows, and my own inner thoughts can be poured out onto the page. This list of motivators is ever-growing, fortunately for me, allowing me to expand my thoughts and grow as a writer and as a person.  If you don’t have these people, then develop them, it is worth the time.

Thank You Fellow Bloggers

A more expected avenue for motivation is in the blogosphere.  If such a place really exists.  There are so many wonderful, thought-provoking websites out there which deal with ideas I want to express, or branches of thought I was thinking about, or new thoughts I have never thought but am now glad that I did.

It is amazing that there are such great talents out there providing inspiration all the time.  It was my own ignorance that until very recently I didn’t know all of these great writers and their blogs were out there.  Some of my favorites are listed at the very bottom of this page.  I add a few everyday, the only requirement for me is that I get some motivation from them.  These authors are all motivational so that is easy.

Something Great?

The final thought on finding inspiration is that it comes from your interactions with other human beings, who have creative minds, and open hearts.  People who are awake to the fact that life is not a set path, it has a lot of confusing road signs along the way.

The more people you allow to participate in  your journey, the easier it is to read these signs and navigate the twists and turns you come across.  Reach out to everyone that you know and listen, because you never know, you just may find the inspiration for something great.

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Personal Growth, Self Improvement, Positive Thinking