Tag: life

Can we remove fear’s power over us?

Carl Setzer

Fears easily win

When I lose faith that there is 

A pathway forward

It seems that the quickest path to despair is giving up on finding a way forwards. That there are solutions to problems. Perhaps even that there’s any sort of solution. Sometimes, it’s easy to get so enmeshed into the details any problem that even obvious solutions become elusive. 

It’s critical that we challenge that mindset. That we refuse to believe in that self-talk. We’d just believe in growth, in learning, in the path forward through the darkness. 

I find reminding myself that other folks have gotten through similar challenges helps greatly. Knowing I’m not alone gives me peace, which feeds my strength. 

A Video Recommendation: Anything Worthwhile Takes Time

Carl Setzer

As I’m want to do, and have received a modicum of fame for, let me start with a haiku:

Such a simple phrase:

“Anything Worthwhile Takes Time”

Not the common view

I’ve long followed Ms. Millman: somewhere around 7-8 years. A long time. And, considering the modern view of time, a VERY long time. Lot’s changed over that time. Especially me. As I keep moving forward, keep learning, keep trying to be better, I become better.

Defining “Grown Up”

Carl Setzer
I love this comic from xkcd.

It sums up a key idea I’ve been meditating on lately: that we get to define our lives. We get to choose what “success” means to us. We don’t need to be stuck in the destructive loops of our culture’s history. We can find a new way forward. That’s a key beauty of life today.

When I consider Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain’s suicides, I think that there’s something inherently wrong with our culture’s definitions about success. We need to work to define “success” so that we’re feeling fulfilled as we progress. I can’t imagine anything more miserable to achieve everything we’d dreamt of, and feeling empty and miserable.

 

They grow up so fast

Carl Setzer

​My phone buzzes

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p style=”font-family:"”>A beautiful woman

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p style=”font-family:"”>Who I remember

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p style=”font-family:"”>In diapers

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p style=”font-family:"”>I feel joy

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p style=”font-family:"”>At the blessing

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p style=”font-family:"”>Of my simple

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p style=”font-family:"”>Witness 

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May 24, 2918

Carl Setzer

​May 24, 2918

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p style=”font-family:"”>What will that day like?

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p style=”font-family:"”>Beyond my imagining

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p style=”font-family:"”>So far forward 

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p style=”font-family:"”>Where my name 

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p style=”font-family:"”>Will have faded 

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p style=”font-family:"”>Into the realm of dreams 

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p style=”font-family:"”>This notion brought about 

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p style=”font-family:"”>By my misplaced fingers