Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Confidence...it works!
I've had a pretty introspective set of revelations recently. All due to my confidence.
Let me explain.
Within a month I talked to two girls whom I've been friends with for years. These girls live in Ilinois and back when I did as well there was a time where I felt like I wanted a relationship with them however I was so under confident that I couldn't muster the courage to go beyond friendship. So, when I talked to both of them they both were really surprised that I had felt that way and just thought I was either not interested in them or a private person. Amazingly revealing! They both were interested in me at the time as well!
So it turns out a lot of people saw the side of me that I was blind to: my private side. I used my privacy to mask my under-confidence, and I did it well. Damn. Wow.
Who knows who else this was the same with. I can think of a few but I won't ever see them again probably. All I know now is my confidence has increased ten fold.
The question is. What sparked it? I can think of a few things. One thing is the job i'm at I've had to learn confidence in order to be productive with customers and training agents. I think what I was forced to learn on the job just leaked out into my outside life.
Another thing, more controversially, may have been this time I took a tablet of E. I was alone and I was thinking about my life and why I wasn't achieving certain goals and it dawned on me how much confidence plays a role in our lives in order to get what we want. In fact I began to see how much someone looks more intelligent when they have confidence. It was an Earth shattering point in my life.
Whatever it was i'm glad it happened. I can't imagine going back to the self I was.
Let me explain.
Within a month I talked to two girls whom I've been friends with for years. These girls live in Ilinois and back when I did as well there was a time where I felt like I wanted a relationship with them however I was so under confident that I couldn't muster the courage to go beyond friendship. So, when I talked to both of them they both were really surprised that I had felt that way and just thought I was either not interested in them or a private person. Amazingly revealing! They both were interested in me at the time as well!
So it turns out a lot of people saw the side of me that I was blind to: my private side. I used my privacy to mask my under-confidence, and I did it well. Damn. Wow.
Who knows who else this was the same with. I can think of a few but I won't ever see them again probably. All I know now is my confidence has increased ten fold.
The question is. What sparked it? I can think of a few things. One thing is the job i'm at I've had to learn confidence in order to be productive with customers and training agents. I think what I was forced to learn on the job just leaked out into my outside life.
Another thing, more controversially, may have been this time I took a tablet of E. I was alone and I was thinking about my life and why I wasn't achieving certain goals and it dawned on me how much confidence plays a role in our lives in order to get what we want. In fact I began to see how much someone looks more intelligent when they have confidence. It was an Earth shattering point in my life.
Whatever it was i'm glad it happened. I can't imagine going back to the self I was.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Pssst...
I'm no longer on Facebook or Myspace. It was too involving and I felt my time could be spent doing other things like, oh say, reading, hanging out with others, making mixes, or even...hell most everything actually.
Good riddance!
Good riddance!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
What Spirituality Is
Hi, remember me? My name is Marc and today I'd like to talk to you about spirituality and how we all have it.
....
Don't fret. I'm still an atheist. However, I do want to show you how easy it is to have a spiritual 'feeling' or 'enlightenment' and not have one ounce of religious beliefs in your life. How? Well, it's easy as having a hobby!
You see to be spiritual means that you find yourself in what you do in the world. If you are an artist you will be spiritual through the art you create. If you play sports really well you will feel a sense of bonding with the sport you particularly like. Oh and how about praying to a god every Sunday? If you do any one of these things chances are you're going to feel very good and whole inside.
Now some who read this might argue that the feeling of hobbies is different from that of religious conviction. Well, I can certainly see how that argument might be made but let me be clear about something: I used to be a Christian and I remember quite well the feeling you'd get from having a 'moment with God/Jesus'. And you know what? It was simply amazing and invigorating. The problem is though when you throw belief into the a situation it becomes very discriminating against anything else that happens to share good feelings. When someone has a belief in a deity or 'force' they start to make believe that the feelings they're getting are from this religious conviction. It feels good doesn't it? This is why, I believe, religious people get very excited about their god and/or force because it makes them feel good. Their hobby, more or less, is belief in that god or force.
Disagree with me? Well take my example then of late. I've been attending a Unitarian Universalist Church (see my article below about my visit). During my visit I had an amazing spiritual awakening. I felt good, really good...self aware you might say. I could see all the problems in my life melt away and love was flowing through my body. I had a goofy smile on my face and damn if I didn't feel as if I was on top of the world! Reminds you of something huh? Well, I assure you this was not from the presence of a god. I was feeling the love of the community I was surrounded by and by my own feelings of self worth. Talk about enlightenment.
That feeling conjured up feelings from my past from, you guessed it, my time as a Christian. Shocking I know. Yes part of it was me going to the UU church, however, it was also my willingness to get up and go to the church as I'm not usually a morning riser. I expected this would help me spiritually and it did and thus I fulfilled my own goal and as we know accomplishing goals makes us feel good!
Another time I'd like to mention is when I went on a 2 hour hike into a canyon. The trip was long and arduous to be sure however it was the feeling I had when I came down that made all the difference. Can you guess how I felt? That's right, the exact same way I did at the UU church. Here I attribute it to a few things: exercise, fresh air, a great friend whom joined me, and nature. I remember afterwards exclaiming to my friend how I felt more clear than I have in years. Ideas and optimism seemed to be flowing. I felt like a spirit had embued me. Well, it had...it was my spirit; the spirit of marc eriksen. Spirituality is thus this: You actualizing your goals and asperations and in turn getting motivated to continue on with them and the like.
Unfortunately, we can't all have spiritual moments in our life because life can sometimes be too busy. I don't mean to say that life is montenous and boring but rather when you do the things you enjoy you will find meaning in the tasks you do in your life. It's that simple. If you find yourself in a slump or just completely 'stuck' in a world you feel out of place in then make yourself appear in it by doing something like I did and I promise you will feel the spirituality of youself blossom into the world and take form. You are spiritual, when you want to be and it has nothing to do with a god-like being or religion.
Thank you for your time.
....
Don't fret. I'm still an atheist. However, I do want to show you how easy it is to have a spiritual 'feeling' or 'enlightenment' and not have one ounce of religious beliefs in your life. How? Well, it's easy as having a hobby!
You see to be spiritual means that you find yourself in what you do in the world. If you are an artist you will be spiritual through the art you create. If you play sports really well you will feel a sense of bonding with the sport you particularly like. Oh and how about praying to a god every Sunday? If you do any one of these things chances are you're going to feel very good and whole inside.
Now some who read this might argue that the feeling of hobbies is different from that of religious conviction. Well, I can certainly see how that argument might be made but let me be clear about something: I used to be a Christian and I remember quite well the feeling you'd get from having a 'moment with God/Jesus'. And you know what? It was simply amazing and invigorating. The problem is though when you throw belief into the a situation it becomes very discriminating against anything else that happens to share good feelings. When someone has a belief in a deity or 'force' they start to make believe that the feelings they're getting are from this religious conviction. It feels good doesn't it? This is why, I believe, religious people get very excited about their god and/or force because it makes them feel good. Their hobby, more or less, is belief in that god or force.
Disagree with me? Well take my example then of late. I've been attending a Unitarian Universalist Church (see my article below about my visit). During my visit I had an amazing spiritual awakening. I felt good, really good...self aware you might say. I could see all the problems in my life melt away and love was flowing through my body. I had a goofy smile on my face and damn if I didn't feel as if I was on top of the world! Reminds you of something huh? Well, I assure you this was not from the presence of a god. I was feeling the love of the community I was surrounded by and by my own feelings of self worth. Talk about enlightenment.
That feeling conjured up feelings from my past from, you guessed it, my time as a Christian. Shocking I know. Yes part of it was me going to the UU church, however, it was also my willingness to get up and go to the church as I'm not usually a morning riser. I expected this would help me spiritually and it did and thus I fulfilled my own goal and as we know accomplishing goals makes us feel good!
Another time I'd like to mention is when I went on a 2 hour hike into a canyon. The trip was long and arduous to be sure however it was the feeling I had when I came down that made all the difference. Can you guess how I felt? That's right, the exact same way I did at the UU church. Here I attribute it to a few things: exercise, fresh air, a great friend whom joined me, and nature. I remember afterwards exclaiming to my friend how I felt more clear than I have in years. Ideas and optimism seemed to be flowing. I felt like a spirit had embued me. Well, it had...it was my spirit; the spirit of marc eriksen. Spirituality is thus this: You actualizing your goals and asperations and in turn getting motivated to continue on with them and the like.
Unfortunately, we can't all have spiritual moments in our life because life can sometimes be too busy. I don't mean to say that life is montenous and boring but rather when you do the things you enjoy you will find meaning in the tasks you do in your life. It's that simple. If you find yourself in a slump or just completely 'stuck' in a world you feel out of place in then make yourself appear in it by doing something like I did and I promise you will feel the spirituality of youself blossom into the world and take form. You are spiritual, when you want to be and it has nothing to do with a god-like being or religion.
Thank you for your time.
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