monday morning motivator! 3, the failure edition

they tempt me with violence
they punish me with ideals
and they crush me with an image of my life that’s nothing but unreal
except on the goddamned slave ship of failure
—m.gira

everything is a circle

way back in november of 2008 (am i the only one who feels like a month is a year anymore?), i was posting on the necessity of keeping your troubles between yourself and your maker, for a variety of reasons including those are the only entities that will offer you valuable advice anyway. so of course i’ve been tested on that. and of course signals from the void keep reminding me to remember what i wrote. to remember what i’ve learned. to have faith in my path.

and so here we are at crunch time. waiting for the miracle. and keeping on following that damned path. waking up in the morning and writing three pages longhand. then sitting with my hand on my heart for 15 more minutes appealing to ram the sustainer to nourish my inner hanuman. i’m in good company with that, it seems.

and then starting each week in public, and evaluating each week in public. and listening to the messages of Universe as the whole goddamn thing starts all over again. (please forgive my whole goddamn sense of humor!)

failure and faith

no matter. try again. fail again. fail better.
—samuel beckett

a basic categorization of things we do:

1. so there are the things that we do because we just have to do them. inner compulsion. like a cow eating grass. it’s just how we are put together.
2. and there are the things that we do because we think we have to do them. aha! improper use of thinking there! do you do whatever your computer tells you to do? stop that! listen to your heart! and then move all these things into the next category.
3. and then there are the things we don’t do because we don’t want to do them! and someone else can do them better! faster! for less money! assuming they actually have to get done at all! (he exclaimed!)

and today i am here to declare that the only failure is the failure to get back up and fail again, fail better. the only failure is the failure to get back on your feet after you’ve fallen down. to get back on your path after you’ve wandered off. to follow your heart whatever it costs you.

and see how easy it is to erase your failure? just stand back up! just wander back onto your path! just tune back into your heart! just use a lot of exclamation points!

so what the heck are you gonna do this week already?

okay…so it’s all down to three categories this week.

• ongoing stuff that nips failure in the bud. or kicks it in the ass. your choice.
• ongoing stuff that just has to get done.
• weekly projects.

and so with no further ado:

ongoing stuff that nips failure in the bud

• laundry, bank, and groceries: these i can do!
• bodywork!: yes. this works for me.
• continue floating the house sitting meme: still looking for the first 23 days of january.

spreading these out over the course of the week this time…a success a day keeps the bad spirits away!

ongoing stuff that just has to get done

• still more stuff with the boston public schools: see last week. this just goes on and on…interminable.

wow…that list just got smaller, thanks to category number 3 up above. hallelujah!

weekly projects

• take care of certain bureaucratic nonsense like re-applying for health insurance, renewing my membership with the abmp, increasing my cell phone minutes, entering my amazon points so i can get some xmas stuff.
• burn a mess of cd’s and dvd’s for rowan and randi.
• hire a va to take care of all the stuff that needs to get done and won’t get done until i hire someone to do it. stuff like:
• a newsletter
• speaking engagements
• installation of advanced tinymce editor so my lists can be nested and i can link to anchors and such
• making all the necessary arrangements for my meat-space groups, the true wheel and the artists way
• making all the necessary arrangements for my virtual-space group, the true wheel

okay then…notice that most of those bullets are things that someone else is going to do once i find the right person to do them. woo hoo!

keep failing!

one more thought on failure before i wrap this up: a lack of failure is a sign that you just aren’t trying hard enough! if everything always works out perfectly then you aren’t getting out of your comfort zone, trying new things, etc.

and so the corollary is that an abundance of failure is a sign that you are taking chances, risking others losing their faith in you. which is great! ‘cos it’s only your faith in yourself (read: Universe) that counts. stick with that. try again. fail again. fail better.

what’s on your failure radar this week? what’s that project everyone thinks you should give up on? when are you gonna grow up and get a job already? what are the things you are going to do ‘cos you really want to?