Reasons to dance in the moment

francesco

Resilience and Existentialism

"A person's character is their destiny."
Heraclitus

 

Essentially, character is about what's under the surface, the principles and values lived by day in, day out.  Most would say they believe in common values such as freedom, justice, truth, peace, love and acceptance but as we live in a cause and effect world, mere belief is not enough.

"Action is character."
F. Scott Fitzgerald

A value is not a value unless you're willing to pay a price to uphold it - and in most cases the price paid will be at a loss of some beneficial outcome to yourself.  So what happens when we do things that compromise our values?  Even if no one ever finds out, you will always know.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."  Martin Luther King Jnr. 

We tell this story about who we are, based on what we've done.  This story about ourselves lives in the past and helps us to construct our story about who we are, our place in the world and how the world works.  We carry these stories with us wherever we go and these stories can either strengthen and nurture us or they can become unwanted baggage, weighing us down.

 Resilience is about building a strong foundation and then acting with integrity, aligning being and doing.  An internally self sustaining system is one which is internally supportive.  In an existential sense this means recognising the benefits of doing in a way that supports your intended state of being.

"Excellence is not an act but a habit"
Aristotle

So first clarify your vision and values and then, put them into practice.  Set out your intention on being in the morning and at the end of the day, reflect on how it went.  Daily practice becomes a weekly routine that soon becomes a supportive internal story - remember you can't escape yourself so even better if your internal story is self supportive, promoting resilience.

So: resilience, existentialism and self mastery - recognise that we all exist in these three domains and in each domain there is work required to establish and then maintain a sustainable system for being.

- More wisdom here  more images here

Arrive without traveling

Without going out of my door
I can know all things of earth
With out looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Without going out of my door
You can know all things of earth
With out looking out of my window
You could know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

Japanese manhole covers

When Summer Comes

And I Go.

MIFF 2012

Here's my MIFF hit list - shaping up to be a pretty grand festival methinks.  Also hoping cutting down on the number of films jammed into the festival this year might reduce the exhaustion of last years MIFF extravaganza...

Shut Up And Play The Hits

Searching For Sugar Man

The Ambassador

Crazy Horse

Faust

Bad Brains: A Band In Dc

Sleepless Night

The House I Live In

Gainsbourg By Gainsbourg: An Intimate Self-Portrait

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap

Caesar Must Die

Beware Of Mr. Baker

Damsels In Distress

Marina Abramovic : The Artist Is Present

The Fortune

“Do stuff. be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.”
― Susan Sontag

ph: Sasha Kurmaz

 

 

Haters

You cannot hate on me

‘Cuz my mind is free

Feel my destiny

So shall it be

It's a thin line between paper and hate
friends and snakes, nine millis and thirty-eights
Hell or the pearly gates

I was destined to come
Predicted, blame God, he blew breath in my lungs
Second to none

 

  

Took a little time to claim my spot
Chairman of the board until this game stop, and I side with the Lord
Ride for the cause while drivin niggas shot at my doors
Plottin I'm sure to catch me with they glocks to my jaws

 

Tried, stickin me up, but I flipped on these ducks (you tried)

Instead of me, ambulances were picking them up (that's what you get)

Niggas fear what they don't understand, hate what they can't conquer

Guess it's just the fury of man

Became a monster, on top of the world, never fallin

I'm as real as they come, from day one, forever ballin

C'mon

La Nouvelle Vague

My deep love affair with the French New Wave may well simply be indicative of my general adoration for film, documentaries or films of that ilk, the era and attractive French people and their impeccable style - bien sûr.  

  
Or maybe I've just grown too comfortable with ambiguous narratives thanks to the cruel real world. 

In any case, my last two weeks have been spent immersed in the world of my beloved François Roland Truffaut.

It's not just because he wagged so much school he was expelled from a bunch of them, then chose to make his academic goals to watch three films a day and read three books a week.  Nor that he made his own film club (dork - at least the one I made was an official University one...) and spent two years trying to escape the French Army he willingly joined (I'm 5 years in here) and so is just exactly like me.  C'est Vrai.  C'est claire.

No, I suspect it's because he created such spectacular, funny masterpieces ensconced in the most beautiful and absurd aspects of this ludicrous and crazy life.

He said what he thought - "Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français", attacking what he saw as inferior work (JK2 I'm looking at you) and selling the auteur theory in the 60s.  His life goal was to make thirty films and then retire to write books.

touché mon fréré, touché

It's Not the Bullet that Kills You

It's the Hole.

 

It is always during a passing state of mind 

that we make lasting resolutions.

Marcel Proust

Polly Morgan

Unhooked Generation

Awaking first thing with Freda Payne in your brain is a 

grand way to start the day.

 I kicked the habit...

 

Now to focus on the future.

 

friendships

 career

 home

 and actually being there to enjoy it

attention to detail

 because the little things are important too

 

enjoying the fruits of that labour

 

and finally - upholding the Bohemian ideals

truth, beauty, freedom

thanks Pleasing Aesthetics