Grow always. Spread goodness. Be remarkable.
Kick, push, kick, push, coast. Kick, push, kick, push, coast.
I reach the crest of a hill on my longboard and pause. The wind is a gentle hand at my back, an encouraging friend. The sun gleams in the sky, imbuing my spring-green surroundings with a delicate sparkle. I breathe deeply through my nose and smile.
I’m not thinking about anything, but if I were to translate my mental state into words, it would be something like, “Here I am. I’m really here. All of this is mine. Thank you.”
David Foster Wallace is one of my personal heroes.
Maybe you’ve never heard of him. Wallace (or DFW) was a novelist, essayist, short story writer, and arguably one of the most notable geniuses of the past few decades.
Time magazine cited his novel, “Infinite Jest”, as one of the top 100 novels from 1923 – 2005. Sadly, Wallace committed suicide in 2008, due to the terrible depression that had plagued him throughout his life.
With brilliance oozing from his every pore and critics swooning over his work, one might imagine that Wallace was an egotistic, pretentious intellectual. From what I can gather, though, he was nothing of the sort.
Think back with me for a moment.
Remember when you were child, playing outdoors? Remember how you would run, jump, and gallivant around without a care in the world?
You might have to strain your memory to think back to those days, but most of us spent a good deal of time outside as youngsters.
The world seemed magical then. Everything was big, bright, expansive, colorful. The world was your jungle, and every day could be a safari.
At some point, everything changed. You barely noticed it, but suddenly, outside was just outside. Eventually, the scenery that was once captivating and wondrous became drab and commonplace.
But, it wasn’t the world that changed. It was your perspective.
A few weeks ago, my sixteen year-old cousin asked her Confirmation advisor whether people who don’t believe in Catholicism go to Heaven.
“No,” he replied. “They go to Hell.”
My cousin was deeply troubled. She went home and told my aunt, “I don’t know if I can believe in a God who would send friends of mine to Hell for not believing what I believe.”
Her reaction makes me happy. Who would want to believe in such a God?
Who would celebrate a supposedly all-knowing, infinitely benevolent Creator who casts the majority of His beloved children into an abyss of eternal fire and brimstone?
I would hope that no one would, but it seems that this isn’t the case. It seems that a man who purports to be a mentor for my impressionable cousin is happy to do so.
And there’s something very wrong with this.
Meditation is like a radiant, technicolor, winged steed soaring gloriously through the cosmos.
Basically, it’s awesome-miraculous.
Although my opening metaphor may be a bit grandiose, I used it to emphasize the most important point in this article: Meditation is a practice of extraordinary value that is literally accessible to everyone on the planet.
Most people don’t meditate, though. Some try it once or twice and throw in the towel. What a shame. The majority of people don’t understand the many benefits of a meditation practice.
In our chaotic, fast-paced world, meditation and mindfulness are more useful and necessary than ever before.
Most people drift through days robotically, feeling vaguely lost and dissatisfied.
They filter through the system, doing what they’ve been told to do, living out cookie-cutter lives, and distracting themselves whenever possible.
This may sound like a cynical viewpoint, but I’m afraid it isn’t.
I’ve definitely been one of those people for periods of time. Some days, I still feel like a confused automaton trapped in a cold and unforgiving matrix.
I ask myself, “What am I doing here? What makes this life worth it?”
Studying abroad was the greatest experience of my life.
Last summer, I hopped on a plane and flew to Europe, where I lived with a host family for a month and studied at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Toledo, Spain.
I was nervous about leaving my beloved American comfort zone, but I was also extraordinarily excited to discover the people and memories that were waiting for me on the other side of the world.
When I arrived, it was a bit overwhelming. The language was different. The food seemed unusual. The social norms were foreign.
Being a rather open-minded and adventurous person, I dove headfirst into all of it.
Happiness. What a slippery concept.
It’s what we’re all after, right? (At least that’s what I’m told.) But what is it? What do you imagine when you think of happiness?
Perhaps you conjure up notions of a distant beach-side setting, endless relaxation, a gourmet meal, and fine wine flowing like the Thames.
At the very least, if you are invested in traditional notions of happiness, some form of leisure probably comes to mind — some comfortable scenario devoid of all bad feeling.
In this post, I’m going to propose that we must disband ourselves from this ideal of happiness. We must recognize it as a lackluster, mind-dulling destination that cannot truly exist.
We want everyone to like us, but we shouldn’t.
As social creatures, we are concerned, often to a fault, with whether or not we are enjoyed, appreciated, and respected by those around us. We pander to the whims of others, hoping to please everyone (or at least find few enemies).
We try to behave affably, make the correct remark, and laugh at the appropriate times, all for the sake of winning the fancy of our company. The approval of others becomes a top social priority and dictates many of our actions.
At some point or another, most of us succumb to this tendency to butter the rest of mankind’s bread, which is fine. It’s natural to do so. But, we must exercise caution.
You see, investing ourselves too fully into how others perceive us can have terrible consequences.
I don’t know about you, but I love reading quotations. I recognize that often times quotes can become over-used and platitudinous, but that’s why I’m constantly looking for fresh ones.
A great quotation, for me, can be a bite-size chunk of wisdom, the breeze of an unknown wind, a glimpse into a mind of genius, or an idea-seed that will prompt me to grow and re-invent myself and my view of the world.
Sometimes, reading quotations becomes almost therapeutic for me. I can lose myself in them — each one a miniature story — and alleviate the worries and stress that tend to accumulate in my mind.
And that’s why I want to share a few quotations with you. Here are 35 quotes that really speak to me in one way or another. Maybe they’ll speak to you as well.
I'm Jordan, the writer around here.
I'm an easy-going guy who feels strongly about learning regularly, loving generously, and living conscientiously. Read my story...
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