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What Matters Most

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When you are 80 years old, what will matter to you the most?

4058994722_600px_Elongated_circle_80svg_xlargeLife once looked  like a straight road. A path to a predetermined end that was so simple to follow that it would be like playing a board game.

Put your marker at the start, take your turn, roll the dice and see if you can get to the finish before anybody else with more stuff than you need.  Life is not playing out that way for me, does it for anybody?

I know enough to know, that I do not know that I don’t know anything about what life might be like in a year from now, let alone in thirty-one years from now.

 I can only take a blind guess at what I hope will matter to me if I am fortunate enough to join the ranks of the octogenarians.

I Will Have to Move It, Move It

I am going to be happy that I have my physical freedom. At 80, the machinery will be a bit worn out but it will all still work to propel me to whatever task I set before me.

Even though it takes a bit longer to get where I am going, I will still get there.  There will be peoplemattermostsome aches and pains, even the best antique vehicle needs a bit of tender loving care, but that will not stop me.

 It will matter to me that I am still an  active participant in life, meeting with people and sharing stories, and still contributing to the lives of others around the world.

 Being active is not the most important thing in life, but I think it is one of the things that allows me to be a participant rather than just an observer of life.

Still Writing after all These Years

Writing will still matter and still be a significant part of my life. I imagine there will be a bit more of an urgency to get all of my thoughts collected for posterity’s sake before the clock runs out.  I am not sure what I will be writing about then because really I am not

Who knows what types of machines the writing will be done but I will be doing it!
Who knows what types of machines the writing will be done but I will be doing it!

sure what I will write about today until I do it, yet it does get done.  There are an infinite number of thoughts, topics and interesting tidbits that need to be explored, discussed and thought about.  Do my thoughts really matter?

 They do to me and that is all that really counts.  By the time I am 80 there will be so many different thoughts that I have recorded that I may have forgotten all of them.

 I know this will happen because it already does.  Writing will definitely still be important to me.

Sit a Spell, Tell Me About It

The way that we interact with each other is going to be more important to me when I am 80 than it is today. I know it will matter to me because so many people have already made stupid thingsan impact on my life, some will never know the permanent marks they left on my heart, mind, and soul.

 Yet those marks will be there none the less and I do not think that the next thirty years are going to be filled with any less interaction, in fact, I am seeking much, much more.  Relationships of a personal nature are the way that we connect directly with other people and share our thoughts and accept the thoughts of others.

It may be the most important thing or just one of several, but to share what you know, think and feel with others and to be well received is a great gift.  It may even fool you into thinking that you know something about life.  I am sure that life will still have a twisted sense of humor when I am 80 as it did when I was 40 or 30 or 10.

The World Will Matter Then As It Does Now

Even if I make it to the ripe old age of 80, I think the thing that will matter to me most is what I can contribute to the happiness of others.

(A little poem I like, What Will Matter by Micheal Josephson)

2ea0ede2a7590ee8776ea194730f0783Can I help someone through a difficult moment by letting them know that no matter how dark the sky is and how the storm howls there will be an ending to the storm and the sun will come out again?

No bad time lasts forever, although that is little consolation for the people going through them.  Eventually, circumstances change as they must and all things even tough times come to their inevitable conclusion. Leaving behind a greater inner strength, a stronger character and a human being with more depth and understanding.

 The hope that all pain and despair can have an ending eventually is a message that I not only want to share but feel compelled to print.  Almost everything that I write is around this message, mostly subconsciously, but I have seen the dark, dark night and had no light to mark the dawn. It will mean the most to me to mark the dawn for all those who are looking for a sign of hope. You matter now and you will matter then. We are all connected after all and you are only as alone and isolated as you choose to be.

There is an understanding that we see in aging for many people that there is a gentle failing of the power of youth, that fades over time, and the physical promise of a young person is slowly but inevitably replaced with a spiritual understanding about life and its fragility.

When I am 80 I imagine I will understand this dance, look back and see the errors of my ways and see the foolishness involved in getting upset about it all when all things were working as they should or could.

When you are 80-years-old, what will matter to you the most?

I’m not tryin’ to cause no big sensation, just talkin’ bout my generation!! Even at 80!!

https://youtu.be/nAD1xFaRhm0

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Inspiration

My Deep Thought Notebook

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by Jonathan Hilton

My current colorful, deep thought notebook!
My current colorful, deep thought notebook!

I am not sure what other people do with their thoughts. I mean the one’s that make you adjust in your seat and know that there is power boiling there.

The potential seed that could grow into some potentially awesome writing, or a gadget the world has never seen before and may never experience if I don’t record it quickly and accurately.  I often get hit with ideas from sources I experience every day and spend my time trying to record them in my almost magical, brightly colored, deep thought notebook.

Why I carry My Notebook

I have been carrying around a notebook for most of the past two years to catch these wonderful thoughts before they can escape me.  I call it my notebook of deep thoughts and ideas. More of a hopeful title than descriptive because it captures all ideas both good and bad.

As a learner throughout life, writing things down allowed me to internalize them, ingest them and work them around inside which allows me to decide if the idea is a good one or if it needs a bit more work. My notebook allows me to place an idea off to the side, safe and sound. Then return to it in the future and find my subconscious has found the value of that writing.

Looking for a "great Idea" in my notebook. Find them all the time
Looking for a “great Idea” in my notebook. Find them all the time

Some are from reading I do, and note taking of unique points and thought provoking phrases that highlight a feeling or spark a unique thought.  Some come from the great blogs I read online. I fill my notebook with quotes and descriptions that are just inspiring.  Like a blog I read yesterday for the first time. There were so many great writings, I filled up many pages, with quotes like:“In your shadow, I became a child.  In your light, I became a bird, and learned how to fly.” – Purnimodo

This quote and many others,  I place into the book and refer back to as often as I have to, in order to let it spawn a great expression of my own.  These are easy to do, because the words speak a story.  In a few short words, a story is spawned in my mind.  It is then just a matter of letting it flow out through my fingers onto the keyboard.

Some times during meditation, I think of those words and they allow me to encompass and cover the entire world.

Get Yourself a Thought Book

I highly suggest that you have a thought collection process for all great ideas that come your way, be they deal with spiritual things, action plans or just great information about life.  I am sure that people look at my colorful notebook and have pangs of jealousy, but they are going to have to find their own.

The great thing is that the actual book, means nothing without some substantial substance located on the pages inside. Any old notebook can provide any person with a vehicle to catch their ideas and manufacture them into greatness.  Mine cost a dollar but I have made it priceless.

 

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Personal Projects

30 Questions that Changed the Way I Think About the World

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30 day challenges
The First of Many I Hope

by Jonathan Hilton

Have you ever seen the focus of your life change in thirty days? This is the experience that I have had over the last month as I have looked to improve my writing skill and myself, as a person as well.

This is an evaluation of my project to answer one question each day for thirty days, and to work on putting more of myself into my writing for the purpose of being more honest and open about the things I write about.

The beginning of this project

It began with a conversation with a collaborator who is a great writer and I was wishing that I was more honest in my writing; it was the conversation that led me to see this video on YouTube about this guy who undertook thirty day challenges to work on things he needs to work on.  Almost immediately I came across a list of “30 Questions That Will Change the Way you think about the world.”  The fact that there weren’t 35, 25 or 50

30 day challenges the beginning
The beginning of any journey starts with one small step.

questions, led me to believe that this was the project for me.

The rules I developed on the fly, but stuck to them until the end of the project, because I need rules apparently.

Rule #1 – had to answer a question each day and it had to be at least 300 words.  Many I could have answered in a sentence, but that wouldn’t have helped develop my thoughts.

Rule #2- I had to share my answers on Facebook, so that someone could read them if they wanted to. This really kept me more diligent and serious; I avoided some wise ass answers, because someone might read it.

Rule # 3- Much like fight club, I couldn’t talk about what I was doing.  I posted each question on FB every day, mostly to get some ideas for the days when I was low on creativity.  I was interested by the responses, and the different people they came from. I really appreciated the responses from everyone even if there was only one time; I read them all and appreciated it greatly.

I also published my answers on my website www.jonathanhilton.com and they are all there if you check the categories, Thirty Questions will bring them all up.

What Was the Goal of this project?

growth from contemplation
Answering from the heart was key

The goal of the project was more honesty and putting more of myself into my writing, which I thought was a weakness in my overall writing, it is difficult to put personal things out there, what you believe, what you think, but I think that if you never overcome this, you will be untrue to yourself the rest of your life, so that was the motivation. Most importantly I wanted to be able to write from a place that I didn’t care if someone liked it or not. That it was my answer and that would have to be good enough.

When someone asked me what the questions were about, I told them, if they wanted to know my answer, I directed them to my website.  Other than that I simply posted a question in the morning and then answered it on my website.  I never looked at the next question until the current question was answered.

What Did I Learn?

new person
we are all trying to remember who we are.

The first thing I learned was that my philosophy is developing and that I have a lot of consistency in what I believe in. What I have been working on personally has pervaded my thought and I believe that I have a great start.

Secondly when you ask one question and find an answer to that question, there are always going to be more questions that result from thought and that is ok.  The questions were answered and there were always a bunch more that cropped up.

Third, that there are different answers to questions, everyone has a different perspective and opinion and that is ok. All you can do is be open minded, yet faithful to what has been proven to you.

There are a lot of good people in the world and many have been asking themselves questions as well. Others are going to look for their answers in other places and find different behaviors satisfy them and they will find what they need to find in their answers, they may not have the same answers as you.

What Surprised Me?

There have been several neat relationships that have developed through the process of asking questions. Some people that I hadn’t heard from in years were prompted to contact me and see what the heck I was doing.  Even with people I see every day it gave me a chance to not only have an opinion but support it and fight for it.  My understanding of people is definitely higher, and my understanding of myself really was a surprise.

The many responses I got from such a wide range of people, some serious and some extremely funny, some sad, some just plain old sincere.

personal growth
Success, Success, Success

The most surprising thing was the freedom that came from just practicing the power of action into this thought process.  Creating and producing something that was completely of my own, based on what I believe is liberating. Many people have opinions on everything, but never publish them or have to stand by them which allows for a waffling on the beliefs. I believe that through answering these questions, my thoughts are there to be agreed with disagreed with defended or adjusted as they should be.  The biggest surprise was the power of the simple action on my own creativity and understanding of myself and others.

Was it a success?

I think by any measure the process was a success, the questions did actually change the way I looked at the world, and understood other people, so that awareness led to growth, and growing is a good thing.  I encourage anyone who has something that they want to work on to adopt a thirty day challenge of your own.  You will be surprised how it changes the way you look at the world, it definitely changed my perception of the world and those in it.

I definitely have written from the place inside me that does not care what anyone thinks about what I think or write, which is a major victory for my own self development. I think that if I can do that then everything else will be easy.

What is Next?

Well it is inevitable that one action is going to lead to another, so there are bound to be more of these 30 day challenges, in all areas of my life, in places that I feel I need personal work on.  So branching this type of growth out into other aspects of my life is definitely going to be a goal for me.  Taking more action to find what I am looking for.

 Here is a complete list of the questions with links to my answers. 

 

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Personal Projects

Thirty Questions to Understanding

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by Jonathan Hilton

It all started so innocently. I was looking for a way to improve my writing and to increase the original content on my website.  I was also looking for a way to write more about what I feel without a filter and to express what is going on in my mind.  A friend motivated me to do this, and that led me to watch this video about how this guy had done a string of personal thirty-day challenges to improve his life in some way.

This challenge resonated with me, and I started to think about what kind of project I could work on and improve my writing and expressing myself in thirty days.  That was the day I saw it, thirty questions that will change your life. I didn’t check them out or read over them in advance, the whole project clicked in my mind, and I was committed.  I would answer one question honestly for the next thirty days and publish them on my blog.

I have been right about only reading one question at a time, so I only deal with one a day.  It has been a revelation personally.  Many people say what they would do in a particular situation or are quick to share their opinion, but it takes quite a bit more to put it into writing and to place it out there for anyone to read.  The key for me has been to write honestly from a place that is honest and true, that doesn’t care for approval or worry about disapproval because it is right exactly how it was answered.

Also, I posted only the question on Facebook to get some ideas, and have found some interesting things by doing this.  I have gained some insights from some, and if they ever wonder why I am writing all of these questions, then they can read my answers and see what I am all about in life.  If they aren’t interested, that is ok too.

Here is a list of the questions, you can click on the questions and read my answer if you would like.

  1.  How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

2.  –  Which is worse, failing or never trying?

3. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

4. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?

  1. –Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

6. To what degree have you controlled the course your life has taken?

7. -Are you more worried about doing things right or doing the right things?

  1. –If you could offer a newborn child, only one piece of advice, what would it be?
  2. –Would you break the law to save a loved one?
  3. –Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
  4. -What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
  5. –How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
    • What one thing have you not done that you want to do? What’s holding you back?

14. -Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you believe it makes the elevator faster?

  1. –Why are you, you?

16. -Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?

  1. –Would you rather lose all of your old memories or never be able to make new ones?

18. Is it possible to know the truth without challenging it first? 

19.  Has your greatest fear ever come true?

20. At what time in your recent past, have you felt most passionate and alive?

21. If not now, then when?

22.  If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?

  1. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?

24. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?

25. If you knew the world was ending tomorrow, who would you make sure you visited today?

26. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by ten years to become extremely attractive or famous?

27. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

28. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

29. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your breathing?

30. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?