Chapter 49: The Other

Dear reader,

Come here, get next to the fire :).

A boy squats over the tide. In the reflection of water he sees himself, and his reflection sees him. The boy stirs the sand with his finger, and the reflection does the same. Then something extraordinary happens. The boy watches his reflection get up from where it is sitting and wanders to the other side of the shore. There it builds a sand castle. Not a castle we would expect from a little boy; it has intricate towers, a drawbridge, a moat, several layers of wall and a throne. The boy still squatting, stops and watches in awe. He watches long after the night falls; after his parents call him back; after the very tides in the reflection wash the castle away; after the boy in the sea is gone.

This came to me while reading about the multi-verse theory, or parallel universes. These are realities that mirror our own with some similarity but have significant changes in variables.

Our boy is stirring sand with his finger, the boy in the parallel universe is building a castle. Both boys are identical, but what makes them different is the choice they made. The boy in the reflection was born from choice. With every decision, infinite realities are created. One universe where the boy sat down, the other where he decided to build a castle, one universe perhaps where he never went to the beach to begin with, and so on and so forth.

This idea came to me while procrastinating. Hah! Of all places :). If we pre-suppose that all of us have another version of ourselves somewhere in the universe, doing the opposite of what we are doing, surely then we are better to be competing with them, rather than other people?  This is a more healthy and encouraging form of competition.

I see this as the most motivating thing for me this year, and I hope you can see some light in it too. :) It's a lot better advice than just "Work harder, do better next year". It takes a little imagination, but when you start to think of all of the choices we make in our lives, and that the accumulation of those decisions govern where we are today- it makes me wonder. What is the other boy in the reflection capable of?  I imagine that the boy couldn't believe his eyes when his reflection sculpted this castle!

Chapter 48: The Moon

Dear reader,

You haven't aged a day :). Please dear friend, rest your feet.

It was the 28th of August, the day of my papa's birthday. Isabella and I had missed our connection flight in Munich, which led us to stay overnight in a resort. I bought some groceries for dinner and we sat on a terrace under the full moon. We are approaching the Chinese Moon Festival, the time of the year when the moon is closest to the Earth. For that reason the moon appeared larger and more glorious that night. 

It is surprising what staring at the moon will do. I found myself reflecting my age (I was to turn 25 the next day), I began to reassess my purpose, and my position in life. My initial thoughts were: halfway to 50, you'd better get a walking stick soon, Danny. :) Then another thought entered my mind: what if I was the moon? What if I was looking down at myself? 

Now believe me, there was no wine in my hand that night, and I was wide awake. :) It just begged the question: would the moon ever question it's position in the sky? Would it ever question it's age? 

The moon to me remains mysterious and ominous. If we think of its literal effects it is one of the the greatest influencers on the planet. Its mere presence changes everything. 

That night I thought it was symbolic. See it as the one thing we strive to become, the single great thing that we all hope to achieve. Some will call it fame, some will call it money. What I am guessing is that to be like the moon is to be completely the master of our own destiny.  It is like the tarot cards suggest, the moon is our dreams, desires, our subconscious mind. It remains the biggest influence of them all.

Chapter 47: Perfection

Dear reader

You are the definition of perfect, you sly devil you. Welcome back! :D

A wise man once told me that there are no writers, there are only re-writers. It's the editor and not the writer who makes those best-sellers. I have to agree with him a little. Who buys the first draft? Everyone always wants the final product.

Many of us have this fear when putting pen to paper. It is the anxiety of writing something that will be easily criticized or torn down. Afraid of not reaching perfection. The mindset is this: 'I don't write a blog because I'm not good enough,' or 'I have nothing good to say, so why would anyone be interested to read it?' Dear reader, I encourage you to do something challenging, something that makes you afraid, every single day. For comfort and predictability are the greatest barriers to self improvement.

A great message that stayed with me was 'perfection begins where perfection ends'. This is to say that the moment we stop striving for perfection, the closer we are to achieving it. We all strive to be better and yet if we are afraid of starting, how will we ever reach the end? Remember the eastern philosophy: the journey of a thousand miles started with a single step. The struggle is not in the journey but the initiation. 

Chapter 46: The Parrot

Dear reader,

If I was a parrot, you'd be my favourite cracker. Oh, snap. :) Come here, you.

I once knew a man who could speak for days. He was the sort of person who loved my company as I listen quite well. There is an old saying which is that the best friends are the best listeners. For me the best speakers make the best friends. I love a deep conversation and most of all I love listening to people who speak with passion. If their eyes light up, I am all ears.

It is not what you say, but how you say it. Those who speak well, speak with conviction. They genuinely believe what they say, they mean it, and their heart is in it. They have an emotional connection with what they recall. People follow emotions faster than they follow words. Comedians are great examples of this. It is not so much the punch line itself, but the way it is delivered. Politicians avoid complex language when they want to win over an audience. Keep it simple, but most of all, keep it emotional. I can write you an essay on how I can improve the United States, but if Obama speaks a single word three times "Change", "Change" and "Change" again, my essay is redundant. Our attention spans have decreased rapidly since the rise of television. We no longer have the patience to read long drawls of text. Our ego's want the information now: they want the emotional thrill as soon as possible. So let us feel more and think less.