This is a rough draft. I cleaned it up a bit; but I also wanted to give other writers a glimpse into how I arrive at my ideas and put them together in a flow. I am nowhere NEAR perfect at this – if perfection even exists – but I strive to come ever nearer to that ideal of perfection through continuous self-examination of both myself and my work.
I desire not only to share my thoughts, stories, poems, experiences and inspiration on a blog; but also I crave being a well-known and respected author, such as Piers Anthony (Fantasy, Science Fiction) Isaac Asimov (Many, many fields), Zig Zigglar (Sales), Lee Child (Best known for his REACHER series about a a former MP with military detective training, who continually calls upon a set of devastating martial arts moves and lightning-quick reflexes….think the latest version of Sherlock Holmes, only much taller, stronger and built like a tank!), Herman Hesse (A very controversial German writer who’s main audience seems to be young adults and teenagers ready for a different viewpoint – my two favorites being, “Siddhartha” and “Demian”) and the latest author and public speaker for which I have great respect: Scott Berkun (“Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management” – a book, warm, witty and relatively free of annoying technical jargon. But my favorite work of his has to be (“MINDFIRE: Big Ideas for Curious Minds” – a book which he self-published in order to ensure getting his message across with little to no censorship.)
Eventually I hope to be able to tell a story, write a poem, or detail instructions, with the pace, imagination, and apparent ease with which these master weavers of the word, have managed to do on such a consistent basis.
I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, that YOU (Yes…I’m talking to YOU, reading this right now!) may become anything YOU want, as long as YOU are willing to look at yourself with fresh eyes every day; and one of an Artist’s greatest strengths is to be able to listen to constructive criticism and really hear what the other person is trying to communicate. Based on the main 12 astrological personality types – I feel that gaining feedback from each type, gives a well-balanced viewpoint of the various psychological types in humanity, from which to work with in forming your own communication.
In the future, I hope to incorporate an inner circle of those friends who I feel most strongly embody the positive characteristics of each of the 12 psychological types. For now, I will have to make do with imagining a critic from a second and third perspective, just as Leonardo Da Vinci did in his time, when attempting to learn how to better his communication skills and better his relationships.
[Give Quick Overview HERE]
1) Introduction
A glimpse behind the writer
Some of his favorite reads and authors
2) Table of Contents
Story
3) First Keystone Decision
Move from Denver to Boulder
Story
Problems
Benefits
Humor
Summing up
4) Second Keystone Decision : Common to all human beings
Sleep
Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Picture of Pyramid from Wikipedia
Order of My Day
Tie in with Keystone Habits
5) Sum Up
6) What’s in store in the near future:
Physical and Written Reminders you can call upon in order to enhance the speed, and cement the new habits you are attempting to establish in your life
7) Thank You
8) Apology for Not Being Able to Answer Comments or Questions on this Blog (Life is very Busy at the Moment
9) Email address where I CAN be accessed
10) Credentials
11) Tags List
—————–
When I was living out of “Step 13”, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Denver, Colorado – I enjoyed strolling down to the local McDonald’s every morning, located on the 16th Street Mall, because it was a place where I could go inside away from the elements, not be bothered too much, and gather my thoughts. While there, I would stand in line to get several breakfast sandwiches, two cherry pies (because let’s face it – they were only 49 cents each…might as well get two, right?) – And I would top it all off with a coffee that I could refill as many times as my heart desired. This was a negative life-impacting habit that I needed to get control of – and quick!
I kept track of my receipts, and was horrified to find out that I was spending more than $100 on fast food per month! Not only was it costing me financially; but it was costing me my health, as well. But I couldn’t stop. I had will power; but it was more like a candle flame which flickers and dances depending on the strength of the wind; than a steady resolve of iron. It wasn’t constant. I could be swayed by most of my smaller desires. You might have applied the term, “addict” to me, and you wouldn’t have been far from the truth. The truth was, as much as it might hurt to admit it, was that I was a slave to my desires and habits. I didn’t truly control my life. My mind was not my own. My decisions were not really decisions, but rather impulses which I justified and rationalized at the moment, in order to get what I wanted in the short term; even if I knew, on some level, that in the long term, it would be detrimental.
It’s interesting how many people believe that they are making choices, when in reality they are slaves to their petty desires. I believe this results from a scattering of consciousness.
And so, even had I been capable of completely avoiding that particular McDonalds; there were half a dozen other fast food places that I would eventually be drawn to, right down the block. Realizing that I needed to have a ‘dry’ period where I could detox for a couple of weeks from the harmful effects of that particular food and drink, and establish better habits, I tried to think up a creative way to solve the problem. After writing about it and thinking it over for a few weeks, I realized that I what I really wanted to do was to move back to Boulder. A strange decision you might be saying to yourself – “If he only wanted to avoid eating at McDonald’s, why’s he gotta move all that way to a completely different city?!”. Yeah, you might be right, but just hear me out, and then decide whether I’m crazy, ok?
There were a couple of reasons for that decision. The biggest reason is that it would solve a bunch of issues at once: The first observation I made, was that I needed my support groups back…Carriage House, Friends, Nightly Dinners, Deacon’s Closet – a clothing bank, and MHP – regularly scheduled sessions for emotional and mental well-being. I liked the clean air coming off of the mountains to the west; and the bus system was way easier for me to navigate, than say, Denver’s. – And of course – the McDonalds would be too far for me to travel on a daily basis from where I would be staying the previous night, in Boulder. (I am generally lazy at times, and so I knew that by making it a hassle to have to bike all the way across town to the McDonalds; or if I was walking – to spend forty minutes walking just to get a coffee and a couple of sandwiches, hefting a back pack filled to the brim with books and clothes and other stuff — would persuade me to think of another, more convenient option.)
So, making the move from Denver to Boulder Colorado (A particular Keystone Action) took care of a whole host of things that I wanted to change; and it was only ONE DESCISION that I had to make to get all those benefits!
Now, a humorous side-effect to making that decision, was that I DID manage to stay away from McDonalds; only to be seduced by the much closer and friendlier Star Bucks on Pearl Street – where I got hooked on large hot chocolates every morning! My friends laugh their asses off when they hear this. It’s kinda funny, really. I moved to try and save money; but wound up paying even MORE than I expected, because each hot chocolate was maybe $3.00 or $4.00, and as you know, there is no “Dollar Menu”, at Starbucks, and you don’t get free-refills, do you?
Anyway, the above is only one example of one of my personal Keystone Thought/Action/Habit(s)
But let me see if I can come up with a Keystone Habit which most probably affects all of you; not just me. It would have to be something for which I’m pretty certain – the whole human race has in common. In order to rise to the challenge, I’ll have to fall back on something that I was taught in health class back in high school:
Ever heard of Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
Now, don’t groan…I can hear you guys. This is really cool stuff. Mazlow came up with a pyramid which depicted the various levels which a person must go through, in order to become a fully functioning and fulfilled human being. One of the lowest levels, at the base of the pyramid or triangle, is our BASIC NEEDS. In order they are: AIR, WATER, FOOD, CLOTHING (if in a cold climate), AND HOMEOSTASIS.
Well, I’m gonna quick skip over to Google and Youtube and see if Mazlow said anything about SLEEP; because that’s definitely a very important one……………….
……….And……. I’m back. I typed, “Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs”, in the Google Search Bar (Google’s so NEAT – don’t you think?) and up popped thousands of links in blue. There was one that took me to a Wikipedia article; and once I got there, on the right was the same picture, below, (which you should be taking a look at right about now).
Well, I was right; but I unfortunately left out SEX (one of our favorites) and ELIMINATION; as in what you do when you go to the bathroom.
To get back to the point, SLEEP is very important for us to function, and is one of the prime requisites for human beings to have a fulfilled life. Without it, or enough OF it, you can run into all kinds of problems. Chief among them is that you get very tired and sluggish and can’t move your body the right way, and your brain just refuses to work as it usually should. Other things begin occurring right around the third or fourth day without sleep…visual and auditory hallucinations, feelings of your body getting a rush of heat, a feeling of being “wired” or your nerves moving toward the breaking point where they are all over the place. You lose all sense of time. You begin to forget the easy things, like where you put your glasses (on top of your head). Paranoia. – And at the very end, insanity and eventual death. Of course that’s the extreme; but you get my point – You need your sleep. You need the right amount of it, uninterrupted; and you need to have a feeling of safety when you lie down and close your eyes.
The choice of when to go to bed, for most adults, is entirely up to them. I know that when I was a kid; I chose to go to hit the mattress as late I could get away with! My dad had to bribe me with Baskin’ Robbins, once, just to get me to climb the stairs and turn in, and STAY there! But like I said, most people, get to choose their own sleep patterns.
For myself, I found that it is best if I go to sleep around 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is that it sets up the following day, and opens up opportunities for me to better myself and get all that I need to get done before the end of the evening.
I’ll run you through how I made the decision (and I use that term loosely, because I’m still working at it – maybe I’ll have to bribe MYSELF with ice cream, huh? And you’ll get to see the SYNERGY that this particular Keystone Habit sets up for all other thoughts, actions and habits that I would like to build.
First, I’ll outline the early part of my day from the time I wake up, till the time when I walk out the door in the afternoon:
I get up around 6-8 in the morning (this is my ideal intent; though it doesn’t always happen that way)
I wash the dishes, first, so that while doing my other stuff, they have time to dry.
I make a bowl of fruit
I pull out plastic bags of fruit and/or vegetables which I prepared all at once the night I got back from grocery shopping: Blueberries, Strawberries, Kiwi, Pineapple, Peaches, Mango, Blackberries, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, red/yellow/green/orange peppers, spinach (torn up with fingers), mushrooms, and purple cabbage (not at all, an exhaustive list. I prepare a bowl of fruit throwing in as many colors of the rainbow as possible. Followed by mixing in crushed walnuts; and then drizzle it with honey after eating a spoonful of Coconut Oil for my joints and for Alzheimer’s.
Next, I fill up a large, plastic cup with tap water, and take both the cup and the bowl of fruit into the bathroom with me…(But, I need to get in the habit of drinking filtered water.)
I take my bath, and set the timer on my stove, (sometimes twice), for about 40 minutes.
While in there, I’m reading my Massage Anatomy and Physiology Text Book that I got from a second-hand store for two or three dollars.
I’m drinking water from a large plastic cup. Glass shatters. And sometimes I’m clumsy with my left elbow – knocking things over.
I’m eating that bowl of fruit, which I just made in the kitchen
When the timer rings, I set everything aside, pull the curtain in, and drain the bath water.
I’ll take a shower to get rinsed off.
Once dried off, I pull on sweat pants, preparing for relaxing the body and nervous system with yoga, in order to create the ideal conditions for a calm body for meditation.
I like to light incense and set the mood by walking slowly around my apartment in a clockwise direction, setting the intent that I am cleansing the air and the space in which I live and protecting myself against any malevolent forces or spirits which might decide to attack me psychologically, energetically, or spiritually, while opening myself up to the universe or god in my particular style of meditation.
I start off with THE 5-Tibetans, moving slowly and purposefully into my own, unique style of Yoga which I created just for me over time.
Followed by 60 rotations of Kundalini Spine Twists. They might be called something else, but that’s what I call them.
Followed by kneeling meditation for 15 minutes.
Followed by specific mind concentration exercises.
Followed by visualization of how I want my life to turn out in the future; and who I would like to become.
Then I get up, and put away the dishes which are now dry, wipe down the stove, the counters, and the sink, and faucet. Then dry all of it with a soft towel.
As you can see, without my having to go any farther – you can sense the importance of getting to sleep at the right time; for if I were to get up at, say, 12 or 3 in the afternoon, then most of my day would be gone by the time I got done with those things which bring me balance for the rest of my day.
Thus, the time which I go to sleep is extremely important to the how many things I am able to accomplish the next day; and even the order in which I might accomplish them.
Therefore, sleep, for me…is defined as a Keystone Habit. – One which unlocks the doors, and prepares the road I will travel while uncovering other necessary thoughts, actions and habits.
Well, that’s it for this installment of “SYNERGY”.
Next time we’ll be taking a look at how we can set up both physical and written reminders, which will enhance the speed and effectiveness of our attempts at establishing better habits for ourselves, and eliminating ones that no longer serve our needs. As always, I will be detailing my current methods which I’m playing with, which in time, should lend to creating a synergistic and harmonious personal power with which I will construct my own life.
Thanks for reading,
Yours Truly in Loving Spirit,
I should smile more, here, huh? *smile*
If you would like to get in touch with me with comments or questions, then don’t hesitate to email me at this address: knavelylovesynergy@gmail.com. I reserve this email address just for replies to my blogs. I will attempt to be timely in my own response, because I care about reaching out and creating a world which our grandchildren’s grandchildren would cherish and take care of. If I judge the email to be less than that of high character, I reserve the right to refuse to respond. So please, be kind and considerate to the writer, and he will, in turn, be kind and considerate to you!
This is the soul/sole creation and possession of:
David Lee Madison, Jr.
~Dave/Nate/Knave
~KnavetheMage – Twitter
~ZenNinja
~Dreamweaver
~Knavely Love
~Nay Nay
~Davey
~Junior
~Eric
Think only of that which you would have appear before your very eyes
I AM Becoming/Crystallizing my Form and Essence of: Superman, Wizard, Warrior, Jedi, Shaman, Fool, Master Creator, Magus…star-seeded human being. I AM clothed in ALL Roles; subject to none…
~anewoldsoul – mylot.com
Wordpress – “Synergy”, suprememasterjedi, “Poetry by 34”, “Other People’s Poetry”, “The Bathtub Philosopher”
Copied from my WORD documents in Boulder, CO
Friday, March 12, 2014 – 05:30
Synergy 