Archive for April, 2011
046 Creative Journey
by Charles on Apr.28, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 46th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
Freedom: Part 2
Continued from Creative Journey 45.
I am not saying that external limitations, restrictions are bad or unnecessary. But I am saying that we must think about them, know why they are true and why we want to own them. And then make them our own personal rules and limiters.
When I was a child, I had the external control of my mother enforcing the limitation of not touching a hot iron. I know of no sane person who will say there is much freedom found in being burned by a hot iron. There is only pain and suffering and (depending on the severity of the burn) a long healing process. But if I had never believed my mother, did not ponder about her warnings, admit the pain I knew others had suffered because of being burned, and come to own (believe in deeply and even passionately in) the knowledge that I wanted to be healthy and injury free, and that touching the hot iron was a very quick way to loose that freedom. Then when my mother was not around I could very easily have been irresponsible and chosen the, “I’ll show her” mentality and touched the iron and gotten burned. I not only would have gotten burned, but I would have given up the freedom of being healthy, whole, and pain free. I would have exchanged this for the entanglement of pain and the limitation of what I could do, limited because the pain would be too great to do very much.
Yes, the pain from a burn may not last forever. And one can use this experience and pain to grow wiser and also to emphatically warn others against this pain, to help them to want to own this truth. So they don’t suffer from getting burned. And in time, one can even move beyond this pain, almost forgetting about it and finding ways to live that are not effected by the old injury, or at least minimally effected by it; or to put it another way, to become healed from this injury. Yet, why get burned at all? Why surrender any of your freedoms?
Why not freely choose to take responsibility for your own life by choosing to limit your self to things that make you healthy and whole. Thereby increasing the possibilities and options of things you are free to do. True happiness lies in this realm.
True, you may miss out on scars to carry for the rest of your life, but is that such a bad thing?
Choose the path of freedom my friend. Not the path of chaos.
Until next time….
Grow in freedom,
Grow in peace.
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
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To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
063 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Apr.25, 2011, under Weekly Quote
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You are only as free as you are responsible enough to be.-The Eadarian Poet
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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045 Creative Journey
by Charles on Apr.25, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 45th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
Freedom: Part 1
Over the coarse of history, freedom (the word) has been applied to many things. In politics, religion, in relation to tyranny by others, to… well it has been used in many applications. Here we are talking about personal freedoms; personal choices and responsibilities that we all have and make.
And freedom is one of the scariest notions that men encounter today and not many really want it. Why? In a world that tries to be black and white about things, freedom is a vast field of grey. It is not easily controlled. It lies outside the realm of do’s and don’ts, outside the jurisdiction of laws and correctness. Yet it can fulfill the intent of all the above.
Freedom is the ability to choose what you do. To choose what you do, what you do not do, what you think, and what you do not think. It is not the action, not the thought, but your ability to choose what action to take and what thought to think.
The thing is, in Freedom, you can choose things that bring more freedom or you can choose things that steal it from you. For example, you can choose to exercise and take care of your body, thereby opening up the choice of activities in which you can participate and to otherwise help you enjoy the freedom that good health brings. Or you can choose to over eat, neglect the body and have those freedoms of choice taken from you.
Freedom IS the ability to choose. Your choice leads either to more access to freedom of choice or to a lack of it.
I once heard it said that freedom means you can do anything you want for as long as you want to do it. This is not freedom, this is chaos. Freedom is the ability to choose even if that choice steals your freedom leaving chaos and pain. Yes, you can choose chaos, but in doing so you loose parts of your freedom. Your ability to choose from many options either expands or shrinks based on your choice.
And once you have started down the road to chaos, it is a long hard journey to once attain the freedom you once enjoyed. To remain free takes a great deal of self-responsibility. For freedom to truly be free there must be self-imposed limitations. It may sound counter intuitive, but without limitations freedom ends in chaos every time. Complete freedom does involve self-limitations, self-responsibility.
I say self-limitations because external ones are not permanent and not very long lasting. You see this in college age folks all the time. They grow up under a set of rules and expectations of others, yet when they get away from these rules for the first time (because those limitations are not their own, not self-imposed) they gladly break as many of them as they can. It is only those who have internalized these imposed limits and made them their own, who can hold onto the freedoms given by these restraints; no matter who is or is not around.
To be continued…
Grow Free,
Grow in peace.
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
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To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
044 Creative Journey
by Charles on Apr.22, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 44th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
Calm Assertive Energy: the extrapolation.
Last time we explored Cesar Millan’s favorite phrase, “Calm Assertive Energy”. We explored what this did and did not mean in our relations to our dogs.
We also mentioned that this concept could be extrapolated to our interactions with others. And that these interactions would display the hallmarks of a life nobly lived; the hallmarks of respecting others and treating others as people of worth.
This is a lot to talk about – so here we go.
Calm Assertive Energy: One of the definitions for assertive is self-confidence; so we could call this Calm Self-Confident Energy, the energy and corresponding abilities that come from being self-confident. When you have this energy, this attitude, this state of being, you have the ability to consistently remain calm and clear thinking in any situation and with anyone you are conflicting with.
A person who is calmly self-confident is self-assured, self-possessed, and consistently displays great poise.
As we are discussing this, it is important to remember that self-confidence is not self-conceit, self-assurance is not self-importance, and self-possessed does not mean self-absorbed.
Let’s take a quick look at each of these.
Self-assured: You know who you are and what you can do and what you will not do. This enables you to not allow negative people or situations to sour you on people of life.
Self-confidence: This and the one above are very similar and are integrally related. Self-assurance is knowing who you are and self-confidence is living who you are. Doing what you know you can do time after time. This gives you the ability to face difficulties calmly because you have no doubt of your capability to handle it, to cope with it.
Self-possessed: The controlling of your emotions. Emotions are good and needed. They are part of what makes us human but only a part. There is also intellect and the two must be in balance; the one tempered by the other. Emotion uncontrolled is chaos. Intellect uncontrolled is legalistic coldness. Controlling your emotion helps you to stay calm and focused when situations are not to your liking.
Poise: Being calm and collected, having composure.
These allow you to have respect for yourself. And it is only when you have true respect for yourself that you can extend true respect to others. You can only give away what you have and only at the amount you have it. If you have it not – there is nothing to give.
One of the great pit falls of thought concerning self-assurance, self-confidence, and self-anything positive, is the fear of being selfish and self-centered. That simply because the word ‘self’ is used, there is fear that it will quickly lead to the selfish side of life. Fear is always a bad motivator.
I mentioned earlier that self-assurance, confidence, and possession were not self-importance, conceit, and absorption. While they all involve your self the first three are not self-centered. They put you in a place where you can interact with others freely. These are a place of strength from which graciousness and respect can freely flow. The last three are weaknesses and they are self-centered. Living in these last three makes everything in life about you, what can benefit you, and what you can enjoy. People become mere pawns of convenience; there is no respect here.
This discussion could go on for at least a book or several – but we need to end for now. If you would like to start a conversation about this thought please do so in the comment box below.
Until next time may you grow into greater Calm Self-Confident Energy.
Grow in peace.
Charles Yerkes
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To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
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Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
062 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Apr.21, 2011, under Weekly Quote
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A true nonconformist conforms not to nonconformity.-The Eadarian Poet
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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043 Creative Journey
by Charles on Apr.13, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 43rd installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
Calm Assertive Energy.
This is an amazing concept. The place of being confident in who you are, of having a positive self image and attitude that helps you face what ever comes calmly and confidently.
Anyone familiar with Cesar Millan (the dog whisperer) knows that this is his favorite phrase. It is the attitude, self-image, and energy needed by a dog owner in order to be the dogs pack leader, to earn their dog’s respect.
As I have learned about this concept (I have a 95 pound puppy, yes puppy, and I am learning all I can about being a good pet owner) I have come to see what the influence calm assertive energy involves and what it does NOT. And that this concept can be extrapolated to our interactions with other people and these interactions, those based in this extrapolation, are the hallmarks of the noble life.
PLEASE understand, I am not calling people dogs nor am I saying we should treat people as if they were dogs. It is about treating people more like people of worth, of being more honest with ourselves and with others, and of having an attitude that earns respect from others.
First, let me share what I have learned about this as it relates to my puppy. I think a good place to start this is by sharing what it is not. It is not intimidation, manipulation, or coercion. These are actually signs of weakness on the part of the pet owner and your pet picks up on this weakness, preventing you from being the needed pack leader.
Intimidation: This is when we use anything at our disposal to threaten and force our way in a given situation. This is about making yourself look bigger, fiercer, or more imposing in order to achieve a desired behavior.
Calm assertive energy inspires you pet to do what you want.
Manipulation: To control or influence through clever or devious means. As with intimidation you are using an artificial means to influence your dog to behave a certain way. Your dog sees this as weakness and will only comply as long as it sees a benefit for compliance.
Calm assertive energy influences the dog to want to do as you wish – no tricks, no gimmicks – for dogs follow the pack leader. Yes you have to work with them to teach them what you want and you must have patience as they learn and occasionally push the boundaries you have set. But when you maintain this state of being they do follow.
Coercion: The use of force to obtain compliance. This should speak for itself. The use of force creates fear and resentment. Your dog may cringe before you or, depending on the dog, it may fight back. Either way you do not have an excellent companion.
Calm assertive energy does not force, it does not give ground, and it achieves desired results. This energy asserts you as the pack leader; the one who is to be listened to. This results in your pet becoming more than a mere pet, a mere object of our affection, by transforming it into a companion. A companion that respects you, not merely a pet that only loves and trusts you. Respect does not come cheap but is vital to growing companionship.
Our next installment will deal with the extrapolation of this principle to our interaction with others.
Until that time my friend,
Be Free.
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
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To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
061 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Apr.12, 2011, under Weekly Quote
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When you have nothing to say, keep quiet.-The Eadarian Poet
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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060 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Apr.04, 2011, under Weekly Quote
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Dreaming without daring is nothing. Daring without doing is… less.-The Eadarian Poet
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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Worth Quoting
Never be so libelous as to call a man perfect; once a person is so labeled it is too easy to tear him apart for being what he is, a human being.
Contributions and Flow Enablement
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