Do you remember? (further ramblings)

Today, I was reminded of some really important things:

1) In order to get something, you must (a) claim it, or (b) ask for it. If you do neither (i.e. do nothing but sit on your ass), you have no grounds to complain that you didn’t get something. It is the claiming and the asking that makes us who we are and the aforementioned mentioned ass-sitting will make you into nothing and a nobody.

2) When you want something, there is a REASON why you want something. One does not want something JUST BECAUSE. This brings to mind a quotation from Rilke, to wit:

There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse.

I’ve read that quote so many times before. But it is is easy read. It is a far, far different thing to imbibe it and make it a part of you.

3) You will never get anything done unless you want to do it. (duh! stupid Keisie!)

4) Loving something (or someone) is not about being loved in return. It is about giving that love. Love is not contingent on being loved back. It would be nice to be loved back, but that is not the sole reason to love.

5) At twenty-five, one shouldn’t expect to know oneself well (twenty-five after all is a pretty young age). However, one should make an effort to get to know oneself. It is also pretty important that others know you. And not just the “you” you want to project. The REAL you. You mustn’t keep hiding who you are forever.

6) It is okay to be vulnerable. To be invulnerable means no one can touch you, no one can help you and nothing can move you.

7) Writing is a form of catharsis and one cheap (and expedient!!) way of relieving stress and unnecessarily deep thoughts.

8) Law school does crazy things to your speech patterns, like using the words “aforementioned” and “to wit” in ordinary sentences.

Coffee house ramblings

Things are just things. Circumstances are circumstances and facts are facts. They are merely what they are. It is the way we feel about them that colors what they are to us.

Should we begrudge the help that is proffered to us if it is not in the form that we wanted it to be? Is help (or love for that matter) any less what it is when it is not what we expected or wanted.

A helping hand or love is still what it is.

It's like that line in murakami's Sputnik sweetheart, we are all satellites--our orbits meet for a while only to diverge in space again. Perhaps that is the one truth about humans--we speak the same language but we are doomed not to understand each other completely because language is flawed and we always have schemas in our head of how things should be instead of merely taking things for what they are.Maybe it's time to stop concentrating on how we want things to be and instead concentrate on how to handle the circumstances or the facts.