Archive for the ‘Clearing The Cobwebbs’ Category

Victim of Fate or Master of Destiny?

January 1st, 2010, posted in Clearing The Cobwebbs

I was thinking about how soo many people I encounter run around complaining about their circumstances when in actuality they’ve created many of their own problems yet blame an intangible faceless ‘other’ for their strife. Some even go as far as to admit that they are tangled in a web they’ve weaved, but choose to change nothing and act as though they want something better for themselves. I’m at a loss for what to say or do when I’m confronted with this mindset.

On one hand, I’m deeply sympathetic to the amount of hurt someone suffer when they’re in over their heads and see no way out. I want to help. Offer some kind of solace, or better yet, some nugget of information that has helped me when I’ve backed myself into a corner. However, more often than not, nothing I say or do helps the situation. I’ve resigned myself to standing back for a while to try to better understand why people do this.

While back here in the corner contemplating my navel I’ve come to a 2 types of people kind of idea. Please don’t hold much stock in it, I certainly don’t, but give it a whirl if you want – it’s a fun thing that gives me a bit of perspective.

The next time you feel like life is shitting all over you, take a quick step back and ask yourself if you are in a Victim of Fate or Master of Destiny state of mind. If you’re feeling like a Victim of Fate, and the government hasn’t inexplicably marked you as a fall guy for a grand conspiracy, or aliens aren’t examining your entrails before your very eyes, chances are you got yourself into this mess. And I’ll admit, it’s a damn shame that you got yourself here, but if you got yourself in, you can get yourself out. If you’re fairly certain that you will wake up the next time you’re able to sleep… you’re pretty sure that the sun will rise again tomorrow… then all will be right in the world again. That is, if you’re willing to fully own up to the responsibility of making, and sticking with, the hard decisions that lead to real change. If you do that, make a commitment, resolve yourself, then you’ve entered into a Master of Destiny mindset and will be able to turn life on its head in very short order. All you have to do is act on a plan of simple action steps. If the action step is to big, break it into smaller chunks, and get started. All will get better, if you choose to do what it takes to make it better. If not… well… get a pet that likes your voice.

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A new year

January 1st, 2010, posted in Clearing The Cobwebbs

I’m a goal setter by nature. So naturally, this time of year I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what I’ve been able to accomplish in the previous 12 months and what I’m going to strive to achieve in the coming 12 months.

Call them resolutions if you want, but I actually go through this process of assessment often. It’s a necessity for me to feel grounded – a source of happiness.

I’m a type of person that has to see forward movement, real results, or I’ll change directions on a dime or abandon an effort all together. I’m not talking about quitting. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not keen on quitting anything I deem worthwhile, but I have no problem walking away from something if it’s not getting me where I need to be.

I have a few HUGE projects that started and continued through 2009 – BHAGs, if you will. (BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal – the type of goals that seem nearly impossible, but leave you a different person upon completion.) This year will see each of those come to a successful conclusion – at least to a point that they will transform into new projects all together.

I currently have two feature length documentary films in the works, writing an episodic fiction TV series, continuing to lose weight – 50lbs so far! – and running my small media company. I just recently completed my two year journey of paying of all of my financial debt, and have an emergency fund securely in place for the first time in my life.

I’ve noticed myself setting goals over the past two years that take a much higher level of commitment, skill, talent, and persistence to complete. Maybe this is what it means to be an adult, or maybe I grew tired of playing games that could be conquered in a single sitting. At any rate, I like the direction in which I’m moving and generally the speed at which things are happening.

Okay, maybe I’m not truly satisfied with the speed at which I’m accomplishing things, but patience is a virtue I’m learning to possess and wield. However, patience doesn’t develop quickly. ;) How unfortunate!

I feel I need to apologize for not staying on top of keeping the site as current as you might expect, but I’m working on it. I’ll keep you posted as often as I can on the many developments in the different arenas of my life.

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An Evening in Hiroshima

October 20th, 2009, posted in Clearing The Cobwebbs, Filmmaking, Travel

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This is probably one of the more sobering moments in my life. I’m writing this from the Mrs Snyder’s living room in Hiroshima, Japan. We just finished our interview with Mrs. Snyder about her life in Japan during the war, and her marriage to an American serviceman during the occupation.

Mrs. Snyder is a surviver of the events of August 6th, 1945. That’s the day the bomb was dropped. The Atomic Bomb. She was 19 years old, and went to the beauty shop that morning. The air raid sirens had sounded, but they were given the all clear shortly after. She, like everyone else, went about their day as usual. Hiroshima was not a city that had seen a lot of bombing like the incendiary raids Tokyo was subjected to. Mrs. Snyder was talking to her friends at the beauty shop when the Atomic bomb exploded.

She said that she had no idea what was happening. She and her friends ran out and there was nothing around. The town was gone. A horse that had been across the street was twice its normal size – radiation swelling I assume. She immediately ran out to find her family. During the war, her family stayed as close as possible to one another in case anything happened. That day, that had split apart to do daily chores and work. It took her a long time, but she eventually found her family – most of them anyway. Mrs. Snyder was 1.6 kilometers from the epicenter of the bomb. I know this because of her survivor health care booklet that was supplied by the Japanese government to A-bomb survivors to ensure that they had proper healthcare, and to track the effects of the radiation.

The week before the bomb, her father had moved offices from across town to a nice new office complex along the river. Her father was very happy about the move because of the new view of the river, the young people jogging along the river, and the nearby baseball field that would come to life with school children in the late afternoons. The name of the new office building location was and is “The Dome.”

If you know anything about that area of Hiroshima, The Dome is one of the only buildings with a super structure that survived the blast. It was the epicenter of the bomb, and no one near it survived. Mrs. Snyder’s uncle found her father’s remains at The Dome. His watch had stopped on the exact time the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. His watch is still at The Dome, which is now a museum. We will be going to visit the museum in the morning. I’ll let you know what that is like soon.

As for now, it’s been a long day, and I’m going to bed. Tonight we’re sleeping in Mrs. Snyder’s home on traditional Japanese Futon mats on the floor. The flooring in private homes here are made of tatami mats – a woven material of rice stalks. It’s because of these mats that you must remove your shoes before entering contemporary Japanese homes. Shoes will completely destroy tatami mats, and I assume that they’re not the most inexpensive things to replace.

Goodnight.

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