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Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.

Zero Dean

Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker

Do you want to be a superhero?

Do you want to be a superhero?

If you use the powers that you already have to their fullest potential, you will likely find that you have more than you need to make a real & lasting positive difference.

Superpowers are not required.

Want to make a positive difference in the world? Start now & lead by example.

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“Do not follow your passion.”

[This was originally written as a response to a post by Wojtek Skalski on Medium.]

Every so often someone likes to challenge “Follow your passion” by suggesting that people shouldn’t (Huffington Post | Wojtek Skalski). And that’s fine.

But it’s important to realize that there is rarely a single approach to life that works best for all people.

“Do not follow your passion.” suggests that countless wise and successful people who have advised it are wrong. And that isn’t necessarily the case.

Because for at least some, follow your passion is the answer.

But whether it involves pursuing one’s passions or not, folks who dispense life advice would likely be far wiser offering open-minded suggestions than absolutes.

Neither is necessarily bad advice. It simply depends on what one’s source of motivation and values are in life.

Success can be defined and measured in many ways.

Not everyone measures wealth with money. Not everyone wants to lead a conventional life. And not everyone has the courage to go after what they truly want.

Whether a person ultimately succeeds at turning their passion into a sustainable career or not, one thing is for certain, they will no longer live with the regret of never having tried.

What is one of the primary purposes of life if not to continually reaching out for newer, richer, deeper, life-changing experiences?

People who don’t think that involves pursuing one’s passions may be successful at what they do, but at the expense of being truly fulfilled by it.

Video: Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith |TED

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True wealth is traded in kindness and positive energy.

Excerpt from: What it means to be truly wealthy

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Be the embodiment of the qualities you seek in others.

Excerpt from: Want to feel better?

Be the embodiment of the qualities you seek in others.

 

Conventional thinking doesn’t change the world, crazy ideas do.

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Conventional thinking doesn’t change the world, crazy ideas do.

“The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.” — Andre Gide

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Normal may be normal, but it doesn’t mean good.

Always remember that what you may consider totally weird, someone else may consider perfectly normal. And vice-versa.

Reminding yourself that what is weird and what is normal is subjective is a major step towards living in harmony with people.

Yes, every society has its standards, but every society’s standards for what is considered normal are not only subject to change, what is considered normal at any given time isn’t necessarily good for the people who contribute to making it normal.

For example, if enough people in a given area act out a bad habit consistently that bad habit becomes normal and accepted. Smoking comes to mind.

So remember, before you judge someone for not being normal, remember that normal is not only subjective, normal is not synonymous for good.

And normal certainly isn’t good if it means judging others unfavorably for exerting their individuality and not simply conforming to the crowd.

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.” — Charles Addams

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The danger in believing “Happiness is a choice.”

“Happiness is a choice” and “Just BE happy” is a message being spread so much and so often on social media these days that it creates the impression that if you are anything but happy, there is something wrong with you.

And that’s not true.

True happiness involves more than the simple decision to act happy or think positively.

No matter how happy one may act, pretending to be happy doesn’t equal happiness. Habitually convincing yourself that you’re happy when you’re not is potentially dangerous — and here’s why:

When a person who is not happy convinces themselves that they are, they remove the incentive needed to make the changes that are necessary to put them on a path to being genuinely happy.

This only serves to perpetuate the problem because pretending to be happy doesn’t rid a person of any underlying dissatisfaction in their life — it simply covers it up.

It’s far more productive to be unhappy and honest with one’s self than it is to cover up the symptoms of unhappiness by pretending they don’t exist.

It is from pretending to be happy that people often fool themselves into settling for careers or relationships that do little more than cause them to drift further from the things that they truly care about.

And the further one drifts from the things that bring them genuine joy, the further they drift from the most potent sources of happiness that exist for them.

I’ve said it before, it’s not happiness that’s a choice, it’s attitude.

It is a healthy attitude that allows a person to recognize and be grateful for what they already have.

It is a healthy attitude that allows a person to consider mistakes to be nothing more than learning experiences.

It is a healthy attitude that allows a person to consider strangers to be nothing more than friends they haven’t met yet.

It is a healthy attitude that allows a person to see the world as a playground instead of a cage.

And it is a healthy attitude that allows a person to survive a negative experience in a positive way no matter how challenging it may be.

A healthy attitude is what allows a person to see the value in all life experiences, not just the “good” ones.

The simple decision to be happy isn’t as much of a precursor to happiness as a healthy attitude is. A healthy attitude is what allows one to truly appreciate the journey of life regardless of one’s circumstances.

The more one learns to enjoy & appreciate not just the highlights of one’s life, but the complete journey, the more often happiness arrives as a result of that enjoyment.

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You don’t have to be smart to be wise.

Just because someone isn’t considered to be a “smart” person doesn’t mean they can’t excel in life. Some people are quick thinkers, others are slow.

It isn’t necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed that makes the biggest difference, it’s how one chooses to use it.

Being smart means very little if you don’t use your resources wisely.

You don’t have to be smart to be wise.

“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” — Steve Jobs

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Self-discipline is a key to many doors

Excerpt from: The strength in tolerance and kindness

Self-discipline is a key to many doors. Not least of which is one that leads to a better, stronger, and healthier version of yourself.

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If no one is surprised when you act like an assclown…

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If no one is surprised when you act like an assclown, then perhaps that’s a sign you act like an assclown a bit too much.

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Assclown: (American slang) Jerk, douchebag, asshat, asshole, Donald Trump…

Urban Dictionary: One, who, through the fault of his parents conception, is a skid mark in society’s collective underwear.

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