First, THANK YOU for the warm and amazing responses to my request for feedback yesterday. Thank you indeed...
Second, at dinner last night I was talking to a colleague and friend about "content" and reading...
And, we talked about books of FICTION. And, I have read and enjoyed them from time to time.... but I feel less and less compelled or interested in picking one up.
"What do you read for ENTERTAINMENT?" he said...
I took it to mean, "What do you read for 'fun' or 'enJOYment'?"
NON FICTION...
I get that fictional tales allow our mind to wonder and expand. I get that it's art. I get that it creates an escape.
BUT,
I get ALL of that, AND more from NON FICTION.
Reading non-fiction helps me continue to build on the IS, in a more direct way, with more direct application than reading fictional tales. You get value from both, I just get a lot more value from the one.
AND...
Reading non-fiction doesn't just entertain me...
I consume content for three reasons:
- FOR INSPIRATION- To have more energy, more confidence, more certainty that BETTER is POSSIBLE... GREATNESS is possible and happens all of the time, through dedication, through perseverance, through purpose, through honesty. And, stories that are REAL inspire me much more so than stories that are made up.
- FOR INTUITION - I am convinced that while I cannot recall every book that I have read, or every podcast that I have listened to, entering data into our minds shapes our values and our intuition. It helps form our subconscious thought. The more data I "input' into my system, the more data that is processed by my being in my thoughts and idea creation. I realize my mind can hold much more than it can remember, because occasionally we get a glimpse into it when we remember something. But, those memories are in there - and they are affecting our minds in how they process information. And, reading NON-FICTION, fills my mind with data that is real - so I am operating more of the IS.
- FOR A PLATFORM - Occasionally I come across a book that I want to linger on... Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Any of Goldratt's books, The Rockerfeller Habits, Winning with Accountability, Leadership:Thinking, Being, Doing, and lately, Traction. These are books that are RICH with content, with applicable content. They are books that I don't want to enter into my mind as a single data point. They are books that offer multiple tools that are worthwhile. They are books that can help us adopt behavior and thus transform behavior. I don't tend to stay in these books for more than 6 months, and there would be more value if I did. These books create a platform to drive consistency not just for me, but for a team I am on. They help create consistency, clarity and ideally a momentum and direction change in a way that would be hard to achieve without them.
My mind wonders as I read books that help me to better understand the difference in how we think, how our bodies interpret, how our physiology is impacted...
My heart fills when I read biographies of great men or women... I gain respect for perseverance. I realize NOTHING is easy. I realize great results require great investment and most often great sacrifice.
My mind expands when I read about how differently people think and act,... and when I read books like 'The Power of Kabbalah" that helps me make sense of why the universe and mankind might exist.
I just don't need FICTIONAL tales for much... I appreciate the creativity to create them. I respect those who enjoy them.
Ayn Rand wrote that art is man capturing his ideals, his values, perfection in some indirect medium (music, oil on canvas, a book, a song, a sculpture...).
To me... REAL LIFE captures our ideals, our values, 'perfection' to the level that it is achievable.... in a direct medium...
"I am the author. Life is my book. My only work of art." I wrote in a poem back in 1999. And, it so clearly reflects who I am and what I believe.
We all have the freedom to express our "ART" in whatever way we want.
The world would be a better place if we all simply realized we are ARTISTS.
I don't believe that if its not an oil on canvas, or a sculpture, or a piece of music, it's NOT art...
LIFE is ultimately to such a GREAT DEGREE... an INTERPRETATION and a CREATION of our minds...
from NOTHING - we CREATE SOMETHING...
We choose a career... a spouse... or we choose not to... we bring in children into the world and educate them... we pick a profession... we help shape our company... our community... our gardens...
The ultimate ART to me is LIFE...
The TRUTH is my MUSE... NON FICTION is my paint, my colors and in some way my MEDIUM...
Would you live differently, if your life was somehow "hung up" in a museum for people to see forever and ever after you died? If your life was a sculpture that sat on the lawns of those you know for as long as they lived?
IT IS!
We all ARTISTS...
We are the authors, or the artists, or the sculptors...
Life is our book, or our canvas, or our marble...
Our LIFE IS our MASTERPIECE!
Shape it...
COLOR IT...
Craft it...
because you will
and are
sharing it with the world...
And, it is
and can be even more...
INSPIRING and
BEAUTIFUL...
in harmony,
Nestor