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I need the van today, so I rode in with Joe. I was jumpy, ready to go, so I started radio-surfing for something fast and heavy. I found Miley Cyrus singing her little teenage heart out. Not heavy, okay, but the song has a great 80's beat and what woman among us didn't live through this at least ten times in adolescence: Read the rest of this entry »

Most worthwhile things are difficult at first. I wasn't born a professional; no one is, whether their chosen field be basketball, business management, or motherhood. Most of the time, I achieve a level of mediocrity in what I do and stay there, satisfied to be average or a little above. Read the rest of this entry »

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What does it mean to counter the culture? Our friends at Wikipedia tell us that "it is a sociological word used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day,[1] the cultural equivalent of political opposition."

What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive? (Irv Kupcinet)

Our well-trained American minds immediately think of hippies smoking weed in the back of the VW, war protesters burning American flags... unproductive actions like that.

But what is culture? "All the values shared by a society" is the key phrase here. Our culture consists of those societal structures, traditions, and values which we accept as normal (thus, right) simply because they are. Everyone around us accepts them; they are familiar and comfortable. We do not question their rightness. Read the rest of this entry »

Expelled is really about refusing to let The System dictate your life. Even if I didn't have any interest in evolution and intelligent design theories, I would want to see the movie. But I am interested in the beginning of life and especially interested in how we live, now, with freedom from dogma. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone should read. Reading makes you a bigger, better person. I love reading, but I must confess that I am very particular about what I read. I have strict standards: Read the rest of this entry »

Alex and Brett Harris wrote a book called "Do Hard Things" which I probably would know nothing about but for an excerpt in TPE, the magazine of my church's denomination. (Yep, I'm one of those crrrrazy Pentecostals. Are you scared? Are you making assumptions right now? You are, aren't you? That's okay. I love you anyway.)

I was impressed. The book is directed toward teenagers, which, strangely enough, is a group that no longer accepts me as one of their own. (I am still a little hurt by this.) The book's premise seems to be (understand, I have only read an excerpt, not the whole book, so I'm sailing a little blind here) that the "Myth of Adolescence" has turned a group that should be vibrant, energetic, unstoppable into a lethargic and rebellious one.

What a waste. As the book says, "We waste some of the best years of our lives and never reach our full God-given potential. We never attempt things that would stretch, grow and strengthen us. We end up weak and unprepared for the amazing future that could have been."

I'm 26. My husband is 25. We've both been working since we were about 14. Of course, it was part-time during the school year, and some of my earlier jobs were just baby-sitting. But at that tender, adolescent age, our parents expected us to begin to take responsibility, to pay for stuff we wanted, to contribute. We didn't have to put grocery money into the family pot or anything, but that probably wouldn't have been a bad idea.

We're not rich, by any means. But we have worked for and gained an independence that many of my peers seem unable to find. And we're not talking teenagers! It starts then, back at 13, or before, maybe at 10, or 6, when the whole world revolves around a child's happiness. At what point do you let the child know that the point of the world isn't to make him happy? It's a sad awakening, and I have friends who are still fighting that knowledge as hard as they can.

Some people manage to avoid acknowledging that truth their entire lives, and they are the ones who Alex and Brett describe on their blog as " Peter Pans who shave." (This article they wrote describes more about "adultescence.")

I see that in my generation, now in our mid-twenties. I see that in the one coming behind me, the teens with shiny laptops and enormous libraries of music on their iPods, but with no vision for the future, no library of skills or knowledge or character from which to draw.

We're going to be playing catch-up for a while. We better start getting over our own lies and pointing the way.

I love to work.

Work is love made visible. -Kahlil Gibran
Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. -Thomas Carlyle

Why do we try to avoid work? Work is fun. Work is rewarding. Work gives us something to do with all these hours in all these days. A hard day at work provides this satisfied feeling that nothing else can.

I feel sorry for people who are independently wealthy and never work. There are lots of people who are independently wealthy because they've worked hard, and most of them keep right on working even when they don't need more money. Why? It's addictive. It's fun. It's challenging. It keeps you from turning into a soap opera addict. Be a work addict instead.

Work is an opportunity to bring something forth - to create something, complete something, invent something authentic and original. -Alexandra Stoddard

• Find the work you want, love, burn for, need, can't wait to get to, would do in your spare time if it weren't your work: then make it your work.
• Do whatever it takes to make the work you love your full-time work. Define it well. Label it. Look at every angle. Search for jobs. Start doing it in your spare time to establish yourself. Read books. Take classes. Talk about it. Don't give up until the work is yours and you are living off what you make from it.
• Don't feel like "love" is enough of a payment. "The laborer is worthy of his wages." This is why people are afraid to make hobbies their full-time work, because they might "end up hating it." The only reason you would end up hating it is if you cheat yourself out of a fair payment for doing good work. Just loving something while you do it is not enough to pay the bills. It is good, fine, great, and wonderful and should be that all of us work at what we love and make sufficient money from it. Don't buy a guilt mentality.
• Be willing to start waaaaaaay down low on the totem pole, just don't plan on staying there forever. You must start somewhere,and the beginning of great things is usually humble. Have a plan. Find your bottom point, your beginning. Work hard. Be willing to do humble things. Ask questions. Don't act like an expert until you are one; you'll probably find that once other people consider you an expert, you know enough to know that you'll never be an expert. There is always more to learn.
• Network, network, network, talk about what you do, get business cards made, email people, set up a website, write a daily blog, give away related objects, have a party, make announcements, make commitments, keep them! Ask for help. Be persistent! As Alexandra Stoddard says, "put yourself in a position for good opportunities to happen to you."
• Be professional.
• Be helpful to others: those who are just starting, like you; those who are established, those in different fields. You never know how, but it will all come back to you in ways you can't imagine. Help people. Make it a habit. Share your connections, your tips, your ideas. There's enough to go 'round.
• Set yourself up for success by learning to manage your time, organize your space, and maintain useful, simple systems to get work done and not neglect other responsibilities. Get your tools in hand. Supply yourself with knowledge, wisdom, and self-discipline. The world will fall before you if you keep chipping away.
• Stand out by recognizing beauty, creativity, and putting them into your work. Be a step above and beyond what everyone else holds as the standard. Set a new standard for yourself. Become known as someone whose work is always excellent, always dependable, always more than what was asked for. Go the extra mile. Take the initiative. Give a little more. Do more. Share more. Put in your own touch. Brand it with excellence.

It is not that men are ill fed, but that they have no pleasure in the work by which they make their bread, and therefore look to wealth as the only means of pleasure. -John Ruskin

I had a dream about a woman who wanted to be a chef. "Someday," she said, "I hope I can be a passionate cook like that." In the dream, I was trying to find a way to leave her a note with three simple words on it: Why Not Today?

Why trade today for someday? Why push our dreams back day after day, until years roll by? Sometimes we forget the dreams. We let the daily complexities overwhelm us. We let the obligations reach a level we can barely survive. We let our lives become controlled chaos, and all our time, energy, and resources go toward holding it together one more day. We never give ourselves a moment to ask what would happen if we let go. Would the world really end? Would our world end?

We need to end this chaotic, frenzied world, this empty, lethargic one. You come home from running all day and collapse in front of a box to watch other people have fun doing the things you wish you could do. Underneath the chatter, you are bored. You never stir the deeper water. The foaming and rushing on top make you seem busy, active, productive, but you are not drawing from the greater resources. You are not even allowing yourself to look that deep.

Deep in that undisturbed place are the visions and dreams. You sunk them like a pirate's chest. You left them there to wait. You wait too long, you'll die and they will die with you.

Meanwhile, there are storms and troubles building on the surface. You are navigating your boat down the river and you have to pay attention. If you jump off to dive into deeper places, the boat will hit the bank. You'll lose direction. You'll lose everything. The wind will fling your vessel and all it holds up and down the river. You will surface and find yourself alone, struggling to swim with no place to rest.

But if you wait until everything is calm, find a good place to tie up your boat, secure your stuff, clean up the storm damage, make sure everyone is okay... the next wind will be rising. Too late to dive in now; you've got to handle this first. Maybe then...

That perfect calm never comes. We have to find a way to live, to keep cruising down the river, maintaining a steady course, and get to that treasure. Nobody wants a shipwreck. But what is the good of an empty ship? Or one with a hold full of junk, haphazard leftovers you skimmed off the surface as you floated by? You may get to port safely, but what will you have once you arrive? The treasure is not for later; it is for now. If it is truly treasure, it will survive the using, the journey, and so will we.

We have to clear out the junk so there is room for the treasure. We must invent ways to handle the storms and keep going in the right direction. We must find a way to get down, get deep, get to what really matters and bring it into our ship. We must make those dives often so that as we use our treasure along the way we can replenish our store.

It seems impossible, but it isn't. There are ways to live deeper than this surface scurrying that we do. As we begin to wake up, we can find them.

The first step toward fulfilment is dissatisfaction.

Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet.

It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction. To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be. If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius. (From the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield)

The work of art, of creation, is given all of us.

We have a calling. Starting a profitable business, baking cookies, writing poetry, raising children, running a shop, fixing cars, making crafts, designing shoes, doing accounts, designing curriculum, painting, singing, reading, reviewing, helping, overseeing, managing, organizing; whatever the term, some action, some work for life, is yours. It belongs to you and you belong to it. No one is relieved of this responsibility. No one is inartistic, or unable, just dull, unmotivated, lazy, fearful.

Every attempt we make toward something higher and better finds resistance.

We camouflage the call. We are afraid to see it. We make it all so complicated when most of it is so very, very simple. Go check the Self-Help section. Hundreds of titles all say essentially the same thing. This month's version has newer packaging and a cuter catch-phrase. But it's either 1) stuff you know instinctively or 2) drivel to make you feel good about ignoring the stuff you know instinctively.

This article, for instance.

You don't need it.

You know there are things you need to do in life. You know there are particular things for you to do. You feel the tug. You know there is resistance because you are the one resisting. You even know what to do about the resistance, don't you? No? Can't remember? I'll give you a hint:

Ignore the resistance and do what you're supposed to do anyway. Take action.

(Okay, that was more than a hint.) But you knew already! You could probably write this article but for one small quality I (we assume) have and you (we assume) would like to have more of: the voice of successful experience.

Oh yes, you have experience.

You have knowledge. but you're reading this article on the premise that I, the Author-with-a-capital-A, not only have the knowledge but also have the map to the secret goldmine you need: success in applying the knowledge. That little glimmer of gold is what keeps the self-help genre alive. If we share the same knowledge, have similar experience, but I have succeeded and you have not (yet, you say to yourself), then I must have the secret. The key. The difference. It's in this article, somewhere. If you read it all, it will be bestowed upon you, like a prize for wading through all the paragraphs: the final key to insert into the slot which will unlock the door which will release the treasure of your own creative genius successfully!

It's just a flash in the pan.

Ever hear of fool's gold? It's just a sparkly mineral, but there were lots of gold rush miners who got pretty excited. For a while.

The only thing I know that you don't know is that there is no secret to success.

Understand, I'm not saying there is nothing secret about the deep, divine, meaningful, beautiful, worthwhile things of life. There is, and all of us struggle continually to get closer, get more, get immersed, or else to utterly deny its existence. We identify with different parts of the struggle. Marriage, parenting, organizing, self-esteem, setting limits, creative flow. Whatever. The common, and misleading, theme is this: You are a Victim and I, the Helpful Author/Owner/Guru will set you free. I have the key that you, poor child, were never given. I have the question you didn't know you could ask. I'm not better or smarter or worthier... just luckier.

Here's a simple idea we need to deconstruct:

If I'm not successful (moreso than you) because I am better/smarter/worthier than you, why should you listen to me? Don't you want a teacher who is wiser than you? Yes. You do. Heretofore you have gone right along with (sincere or not) self-deprecating authors and have attributed success to that lucky something, that missing piece they somehow found that you somehow missed. They were good enough to share it with you. That's only right, really.

Let's rethink all that.

I'm not saying I am smarter or better or worthier than you. I'm probably not. What I am saying is this: there is no secret that lucky people know and unlucky people don't. Success depends upon your choices and your actions, your habits and your diligence, your persistence and your willingness to work hard, every day, until you see movement. Then you work harder. You are not the victim of cosmic oversight.

Success isn't a given to the lucky few; there are no automatic winners and automatic victims.

But we are enamored of victimization. It is appealing. It removes the responsibility from our shoulders. We can sigh and say, Oh well, it isn't my fault. But if it isn't your fault, my friend, then you really are powerless to fix it. Sure, there is resistance to action, to change, to forward movement, to positive choices. Resistance comes from everywhere: your family, your friends, the culture, the workplace, your peers, your church, your social life. The only Resistance that matters, though, the only one that can actually stop you, is what you allow to come from yourself.

We all have a calling, a work.

Destiny. Fate. Choice. Success. It's what you burn with, what you hate hearing about when it isn't about you, what you can't stop thinking about, what you love, what you drift to while you're waiting for the plane to take off or the game to start or your friend to call. Some of us have covered it deeply and can't even call its name right now. We may have forgotten, but it is a temporary forgetting, one we walked into voluntarily. Somehow we forgot how to stop forgetting. We fixate on little things, details, methods, tradition, criticism, circumstance and let the most important things drift away.

The call isn't lost.

The work, the sanctity, the dream, the draw: it is just buried. It is not my job to tell you what it is. You know it's there. Keep walking toward something better, even if in little steps. Resist the Resistance. You will begin to uncover treasure.