Sunday, June 11, 2006

So Many Things

So many things in the world look so exciting and interesting. So many things incite my curiosity. Rock bands and symphonies and movies and plays that I’d like to see. Forests and canyons and mountains that call to me. Airplanes I want to ride. Friends that I long to be with. I almost freeze when I think of all of the choice. I cannot for the life of me choose which I should do first. So most times I don’t do any.

I have to do something to undo this not doing so that I can start doing these things.
−me strauss Letting me be

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm like that about things too, sometimes. It seems to me that it's not really about which thing to do first. I don't think the order really matters. It's more fundamental than that. It's a decision to take action. It's about survival and growth and risk.

This quotation from Anais Nin has helped me:
"And the day came when
the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk
it took to blossom."

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Dawn,
What a lovely quote you bring today! So it's time for spring . . . spring into action. :)

These days I have the excuse of the need for productivity. I'll let the others lead and I'll where they go for a little while longer.

Anonymous said...

It seems but a human trait to put off until tomorrow. I always choose to think about today. Somehow tomorrow always takes care of itself.
Without our dreams and hopes, what reason do we have to get up in the morning? Alright, a hot cup of coffee but what else?

~m

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Michael,
Pick a place and I'll meet you there. I'm just no good at picking the fun things to do. There are just so many. All I care about is the company. :)

Anonymous said...

I wonder why it is human nature as it seems to be. We all do it in one way or another. For instance, I've been wanting to start a new hobby ... scrapbooking because I have so MANY photos pouring out of boxes ... and so many memories I want to document. Yet I can't begin because there are too many choices in the stores, in the layouts, and in the photos and memories themselves to pick a starting point.

So I sit here inert ... while the years move on and the memories and photos fade with age and are at risk of being forever lost ...

Inertia is a disease, and perhaps it should be one of the Seven Cardinal Sins ... it stagnates the soul. The Anais Nin quote is fabulous!

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Maybe inertia is one of the reasons we have each other. To keep us from turning into mushrooms.

Anonymous said...

I like indecision - that's my best moments of contemplation. Usually this pre-cursor to doing something ends up topping the actual doing in the end. Dreaming of the picture I'll paint, the thing I'll write, mapping out the journey in my mind and tracking with that dream all the great highs of anticipation. It's something you might not want to totally undo.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Ah yeah, Ms. Roberta,
Usually this pre-cursor to doing something ends up topping the actual doing in the end.

You have something there. The anticipation is too often better than the reality.

Anonymous said...

The problem with anticipation and the fulfillment of it is that once fulfilled you are left with only memories. Small anticpations are good I think, but big ones set you up for a feeling of abandoment ... and then wondering if you will have anything to anticpate again that is as wonderful.

I dreamed of going to England for over 35 years ... and I finally got there. Now I am left with a wonderful memory ... but also am left with knowing I will probably never anticipate anything quite so much for the rest of my life.

I think spending so much time 'anticipating' and figuring out what you should do, stifles the creation of multitudes of memories. Doing things on the spur of the moment would be, for me, a wonderful way of spending my time. Less thinking about 'what' ... and more action is what I need.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

I know what you mean, Mama, Maybe that's what keeps me around all of my friends who make plans for me. I care so much more for who I'm with than investing and choosing. I don't go on vacations because they are so fleeting. I vacation in my mind instead.

The least expectation can bring the biggest opening for a memory to walk in.

Anonymous said...

mama mouse > "I wonder why it is human nature as it seems to be." "Inertia is a disease, and perhaps it should be one of the Seven Cardinal Sins ... it stagnates the soul."

I don't know... Isn't it true that if such behavior is/has become 'human nature' then, over time, it must be of great value?

E

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Oh E.
That would mean that it is a valuable thing to do all of the bad things that are human nature?
It is human nature to fill in missing information with a negative. It is human nature to sell out a friend to protect onself.

Anonymous said...

Oh ME,

Why focus on the negative?

I'm not trying to rationalize 'bad' behavior, just pointing out that traits which we consider to be 'human nature' don't just appear out of the blue. We may not completely understand their value, but such traits are there for a reason.

A more postive, obvious & easily understood example - it seems to be "human nature" to be altruistic towards one's children (Consider a mother's unselfish regard and devotion to her children.) The trait is there, has become 'human nature', because it is of value.

It does not follow that by this observation we can explain all the behaviors of mothers toward their children - it's just a generalization, a tendency that seems to be true.

E

Anonymous said...

Lust, gluttony, greed/avarice, sloth/laziness, wrath/ire, envy, pride .... those are seven cardinal (or aka deadly sins). They have existed since man was created. Adam and Eve for example became greedy, lusted and envied knowledge. They were the first humans (if you are to believe the Bible) and human nature had not yet formed.

I believe that man has these ingrained upon their being. It is then up to man to substitute the opposing seven holy virtues to counteract them ... thus saving his soul and becoming pleasing to the Lord.

But no matter if a person is Christian or otherwise, most people would agree that the first seven ARE facets of the human psyche since time began (they are nothing new) and that the goal to be civilized is to adopt their opposing graces or GOOD facets.

Behaviour learned by humans over centuries and centuries can, I would venture to say, fit into one of those categories, either the virtues or the sins. Inertia could fall into the sloth/laziness category for example.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

E.
I see where you are going. I react to your generalization that something that is human nature must have a good, lasting postive reason. That was what my response was about.

I know there are good parts of human nature. Giving and caring for others is lovely part of humans that cherish.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

yeah,Mama,
When it all comes down to it, you gotta take the good with the bad. Hopefully, there is more good in the pudding to make it sweeter. :)