Working on the Book

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After thinking for a while about it, and as part of the 100 post celebration a few days ago, I decided to take a look back at all the postings and how they can be put together to shape the book I want to publish. That is the main goal of this blog, to write the things that come to mind in order to write a book little by little. Better yet, writing pieces of the book. It is a big puzzle. Interestingly, the current posts were more than enough to put it all together. I am not looking to publish a 300-500 page book; not yet. Let’s build up to that with a smaller goal.

It is so exciting to be working on the book. It is taking form. I finished last night with the core content. The rough first draft is ready for me to read it and clean it up and make several revisions before I can send it to a few people for their revisions. I still have to cast the pieces of the new collection this book presents, and take pictures. The pieces will come together to create the graphic art work and select the pictures that would be included. It is going to be a long process but at least the most difficult part is done. 

Someone told me years ago that I would be writing books. A short 100 page book is a very good start. I am really enjoying the blog and how it keeps my brain working actively every day. I like how it is enhancing an awareness of my thoughts. I am also more aware of my creative process. Nevertheless, the writing exercise is also helping me to listen more and observe more. A lot of inspiration and ideas are accumulating in the process but for now I am going to concentrate on my goal. I truly appreciate that you are reading this. I appreciate the comments as well. It is very encouraging when people make comments here and the messages I receive. Thank you for that.

Challenge Makes Us Stronger

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Losers seek easy. Champions seek challenge. Challenge makes us stronger. Easy makes us weak. Seems simple but only a few people like the idea of fighting hard for what they want. Easy comes… well… easy. It is very unlikely for someone to develop muscles without doing the work. Gold needs fire to become pure and valuable. It is of little honor for me to fight someone bellow my level. I want to fight people from which I can learn my weaknesses. Winning is fun only if there is some competition.

My son’s basketball team was undefeated until the last game on Friday night. They played a very good team that was and remains undefeated. My son’s team looked like they were feeling very confident for this game. Not to mention that they didn’t practice that week. It didn’t matter because they defeated all the other teams by 20 points each time. My son spent most of the week playing video games and his guitar. Although he made 10 points in this game he was not happy because the team lost. The other team came out with all intention to win from the start while my son’s team are used to take it a little easier the first few minutes.

It was a close game most of it but after a few turnovers under pressure and a few unfair calls or no calls when they were needed the team was falling behind by the end. Frustration began to overcome the players. My son says that frustration is like a disease and it doesn’t matter what you tell yourself to get collected and focus it doesn’t go away and it begins spreading through each player. All you can do is learn from this experience and move on to the next. I’m sure it will be a different picture next time.

Challenge keeps us grounded and humble, but hungry to achieve, to prepare.  Preparation gives us the confidence to know we are ready to play. Awareness makes us strong, alert, and fierce. It is no secret that overconfidence is the pathway to defeat, to fall, to no longer fight hard from the start for what you want. Overconfidence makes us feel that victory is given. It is going to be another walk in the park until we are surprised by a strong contender seeking to win and to fight hard for the victory no matter the wins of the past. It is a new game. The board is back to zero. It is time to play.

Control and Action

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Self-regulation is said to be one of the most important skills a human being can develop for a prosperous and emotionally healthy life. Self-regulation is the capacity to voluntarily control one’s impulses and also to start doing something or take action as required. It is the best tool against idleness, emotional outbursts, and ‘couch potato’ syndrome. Control and action are both triggered by self-regulation or the lack thereof.

Self-regulation applies to behavior as it applies to learning strategies. It could be a little controversial to describe how self-regulation in relationship to behavior when our society teaches that we can do whatever we want whenever we want, although we have constantly seen the consequences of that mentality in the daily news. Self-regulation challenges the notion that our behavior doesn’t affect others therefore is private and personal. However, self-regulation is a human capacity that differentiate us from beasts and wild animals. We can decide to stop a behavior or to initiate a behavior accordingly based on our capacity to interpret actions and consequences symbolically. Without that capacity we won’t be able to consider how different paths of action would produce environmental responses affecting our behavior in a positive or negative way. That’s where self-regulation and learning dance together.

There is a behavior reality and a cognitive reality when it comes to self-regulation, but where does it develop first? From a behaviorist perspective we develop self-regulation through trial an error. A baby requires guidance in order to learn to control certain behaviors that are not socially acceptable. The person in charge to provide an initial image of society acceptance is the parent. Of course, when a parent allows the child to do whatever they want whenever they want the image of society develops in distortion of reality. Do I need to write about the consequences or product of this distortion or are you getting me?

From a cognitive perspective behavior and environmental interpretation go hand in hand from the time we are born. A child begins interpreting environmental responses in relationship with actions. Best example is when they cry, you hold them, they stop crying, you put them down, they cry, you hold them, they stop crying, and so on. Babies can’t articulate when they are hungry but can let you know clearly and they know that in doing that they get fed. As humans grow older, behaviors are more complicated and the environmental interpretations do too.

Love

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Defining love is a futile attempt undertaken by humans since the beginning of time. Everyone seems to have a definition. Everyone seems to know or completely ignore what love is. People try to explain a source, a location in the human psyche, a physical location, a recipe, the actions that define love, and a justification for all the above. Many books have been written about it. Movies try to portray so many versions of love that generally end up being one of the same, some for good and some not so good, but generally focusing on the fairytale love.

One movie comes to mind: Love Story. This movie was filmed in 1970. I was born in 1975 but didn’t watch this movie until late 1980s I think. Or was it 1990s? I don’t remember that specific detail. I do remember that I was at my grandparents’ house and heard the famous music, so I decided to watch the movie. I found myself swimming in my tears as the credits began to show. Only a few times in my life I cried so much specially watching a movie. Why did she have to die? I also cried watching the 1994 version of Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein also had issues with death and people dying, but I didn’t cry about that. I cried when ‘the monster’ was attacked by the son of the old man after he was the one who saved the old man from attackers. Not to mention that he saved the family from starvation and restored the harvest. It felt unfair to me.

Death, attack, unfairness, and sacrifice are the definitions of the love I came to know in Jesus Christ. Because he loved me first. I saw the example in my parents and my family growing up. I keep trying to learn to love that way. That love holds my marriage and family together and I hope my kids learn that too and pass it along to their families in due time. People are going to die, we are going to be attacked for what we believe and the way we live, life is not fair, we have to sacrifice many things and even our own lives, and still not understand such an amazing love. Love is so hard to comprehend that it is easier to fall for love that is fake, distorted, selfish, and transient.

One Hundred Posts

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One hundred posts ago I was debating if writing a blog was a good idea or not. Who read this things? Who would be interested in reading what I write? I am not a writer, not a poet, I’m no longer a comedian, and the things I know are not that spectacular. When I began writing I thought I was writing a journal just for myself to build up towards putting together a book, which is still my main goal. Although the book is going to focus on the technological and philosophical aspects of the new collection, this blog contains a lot of related pieces. Writing a blog was not my idea. It was my wife’s idea.

After 14,000 views, 15 or more posts published as articles, all the great comments, and a few contemptibly obnoxious individuals, I think it was a good idea. It has been a great learning experience so far and also an exercise of discipline. It keeps me thinking about what to write next. It helps me to pay more attention to what I say and it is teaching me to listen more and read more. Not only I’m developing the strategies to write my book but also paying more attention to my sculpting process both technically and conceptually in order to be able to explain how the mind of this artist works. This is a new kind of awareness for me. I discovered that my brain is more hyperactive than I thought and even when I talk a lot I’m also more insightful than it seems.

The responses from people not only on the website, but the emails,and the discussions in social media platforms derived from the blog make the writing process more interesting. I love how the things we write and how we write online tell a lot a bout who we are as people. You can tell so many things about a person just for the way they approach an online discussion. There is always something to add and think about when any of these subjects are presented. Being able to provoke a camaraderie in these online discussions is a good thing.

I hope to continue writing a few more posts. I am not even close to halfway there towards my goal. Nevertheless, one hundred posts is a great milestone for me.