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| Defining Greatness What really matters? Looking for Life Purpose Brian Austin Whitney |
| Heal your Heart - Love your Body - Live your Joy! Simply Stunning! A Profound and Beautiful experience 3 guided meditations on one CD. Access higher wisdom, intuition and insights. Change habits, release fears and activate healing energies. Buy now Click CD's for more info. Read what others say Sound samples and instant downloads |
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| Heal your Heart, Love your Body and Live your Joy! Reinventing Myself by Sonya Green is now available in paperback or as an ebook. Click the book cover to find out more. |
Welcome to Just Plain Notes!
Just Plain Notes: Volume 1.157, March 27, 2006
Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website: www.jpfolks.com
***************************************************
Just Plain Quotes:
"Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length." -Robert Frost
"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet."
-James Oppenheim
:Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." -Margaret Lee
Runbeck
"We can't all be the most talented, attractive, athletic or even the most healthy. But
we can all be as happy as we choose to be. Take advantage of that gift." -Brian
Austin Whitney
My Take:
Some of my friends were having a discussion on what is "greatness" and when the
term should be applied. Some folks had criteria's and others insisted that it was all in
the eye of the beholder. Still others lamented that no matter how you determined it,
they were pretty sure that "greatness" would never be a word used to describe
them. (Yeah.. I know.. self confidence has never been a trademark of the average
artist.. but I digress). As I participated in the discussion, it occurred to me that
whether or not your work or talent will ever be considered "great" is perhaps not
even the most important thing. In fact, I think that designation, even if widely
agreed upon, is highly overrated.
How often do we use or hear the word "great?" Someone has "great" talent.
Someone is "great" looking. Someone is a "great" athlete. Someone feels "great." If
you considered how easily the word is tossed around, you'd probably surmise that
for most people "great" really only means anything better than horrible. But,
semantics aside, I think even when the word lives up to it's definition, it still might
be meaningless. To give a compelling example of my view on this, you'll need to
find a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica. (If you don't happen to have a dusty
version on a bookshelf or on a CD ROM that came free with your computer, then
you'll have to take my word for it if you're not motivated enough to browse it
online).
You can turn to nearly any page of any volume of the EB and you'll find tales of
greatness. You'll find people who were universally loved (or hated) who saved
civilizations nearly single handedly, or wiped them out of existence with ferocity.
You'll find people who invented and discovered things that have saved millions of
lives and you'll find pop culture icons from throughout history that people swooned
over in the streets. And what will a lot these "great" people have in common? For
the most part, you will not have heard of any of them. Sure, if you happen to be an
expert in a particular field, you might know who invented something or created a
process or wrote a famous book or poem. You might vaguely remember a few from
your college days or a school book report. But, far more often, you truly will
wonder how in the heck someone so dominant in every way in their day has been
forgotten in the dust of time. If you think about that, it sort of makes a relentless
pursuit of a hit pop or country song a bit shallow doesn't it? After all, if someone
who saved an entire civilization doesn't rate a blip on our mental radar screen, do
you really think that your major career success will rate much in a few dozen years,
let alone few hundred or a few thousand? Ah.. something to think about isn't it?
Then there's the cases where something deserving of being remembered is
forgotten, while something of far less value actually IS revered. Most people would
agree that the Beatles are certainly our current era's best shots are becoming
musically immortal in centuries to come. But what if someone of lesser current
accomplishment is remembered instead? What would you do if Ashleigh Simpson is
the representative that folks in the 30th century refer back to as the most important
musical representative of our time on this dusty ball of rock called Earth? Many of
you probably think that concept is blasphemous.. but pick up an Encyclopedia and
you'll see people of far greater stature and importance in their time who you've
never heard of, even in history class.
So, lets pull this discussion back to what's really important: You and me. The truth
is that most of us can't be the most talented, attractive, athletic or even the most
healthy to rank with the "greats" of our era. But there is one thing that each of us
can do, no matter what our foibles or weaknesses are. We can be happy. In fact,
we can all be as happy as we choose to be. We can probably be happier than the
most famous "great" people in history. Take advantage of that gift.
Many of us spend a great deal of our lives miserable trying to achieve whatever
goals we have that are often just slightly out of our reach. Sometimes it's because
we're just not good enough. Sometimes it's because someone treated us unfairly.
Sometimes it's because we just have horrible timing and sometimes we're just not
lucky. But while we torment ourselves in that pursuit of fame (or "greatness") we're
missing out on the one thing we can actually control ourselves. We can be happy.
We can avoid the things that we dislike while doing as many things that will make us
happy as possible. Think of it this way: if you have a 100% chance of living a happy
life in obscurity, or a 1 in several billion chance of being remembered at all by the
masses 200 years from now while being unhappy most of your life, which is a
better option? Is the pursuit of temporary greatness really worth blowing the one
shot we all get at happiness while we're alive?
So the bottom line for me is, if pursuing a famous career or a work of art or a
meaningful task makes you happy, then by all means keep doing it. In fact, find
ways to do it more. But, if the stress of trying to become "great" is a bummer, if it
means you get to spend less time with people you love, or if it means that you have
to miss out on a lot of happiness you could be having right now, it's not worth it. If
you have a great time creating bizarre music that will never be commercially
recognized, so instead you force yourself to write country ballads.. stop it. If you
love playing music with your high school friends but they aren't good enough to get
a record deal, so instead you're thinking of blowing them off and finding "pros" to
pursue your career with, don't do it. If you're going out on tour while your young
child is taking her first steps.. what the hell are you thinking? If you miss out on all
the things that could make you happy today, will the "greatness" you might achieve
be worth it?
Some of us can effortlessly do "great" things. More of us spend a lot of time trying
to be great at one thing we'll always fail at, while missing the chance to be truly
great doing something else entirely and better yet, to be very happy while doing it. I
say choose happiness. It's not worth giving up that sure thing so some day you can
be a few lines of text on the shelf of some dusty book, or worse some forgotten
computer code on some spaceship library in the next millennium.
Learn, Succeed, Thrive. We're All In This Together!
www.reinventingmyself.com/greatness.html
Just Plain Notes: Volume 1.157, March 27, 2006
Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website: www.jpfolks.com
***************************************************
Just Plain Quotes:
"Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length." -Robert Frost
"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet."
-James Oppenheim
:Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." -Margaret Lee
Runbeck
"We can't all be the most talented, attractive, athletic or even the most healthy. But
we can all be as happy as we choose to be. Take advantage of that gift." -Brian
Austin Whitney
My Take:
Some of my friends were having a discussion on what is "greatness" and when the
term should be applied. Some folks had criteria's and others insisted that it was all in
the eye of the beholder. Still others lamented that no matter how you determined it,
they were pretty sure that "greatness" would never be a word used to describe
them. (Yeah.. I know.. self confidence has never been a trademark of the average
artist.. but I digress). As I participated in the discussion, it occurred to me that
whether or not your work or talent will ever be considered "great" is perhaps not
even the most important thing. In fact, I think that designation, even if widely
agreed upon, is highly overrated.
How often do we use or hear the word "great?" Someone has "great" talent.
Someone is "great" looking. Someone is a "great" athlete. Someone feels "great." If
you considered how easily the word is tossed around, you'd probably surmise that
for most people "great" really only means anything better than horrible. But,
semantics aside, I think even when the word lives up to it's definition, it still might
be meaningless. To give a compelling example of my view on this, you'll need to
find a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica. (If you don't happen to have a dusty
version on a bookshelf or on a CD ROM that came free with your computer, then
you'll have to take my word for it if you're not motivated enough to browse it
online).
You can turn to nearly any page of any volume of the EB and you'll find tales of
greatness. You'll find people who were universally loved (or hated) who saved
civilizations nearly single handedly, or wiped them out of existence with ferocity.
You'll find people who invented and discovered things that have saved millions of
lives and you'll find pop culture icons from throughout history that people swooned
over in the streets. And what will a lot these "great" people have in common? For
the most part, you will not have heard of any of them. Sure, if you happen to be an
expert in a particular field, you might know who invented something or created a
process or wrote a famous book or poem. You might vaguely remember a few from
your college days or a school book report. But, far more often, you truly will
wonder how in the heck someone so dominant in every way in their day has been
forgotten in the dust of time. If you think about that, it sort of makes a relentless
pursuit of a hit pop or country song a bit shallow doesn't it? After all, if someone
who saved an entire civilization doesn't rate a blip on our mental radar screen, do
you really think that your major career success will rate much in a few dozen years,
let alone few hundred or a few thousand? Ah.. something to think about isn't it?
Then there's the cases where something deserving of being remembered is
forgotten, while something of far less value actually IS revered. Most people would
agree that the Beatles are certainly our current era's best shots are becoming
musically immortal in centuries to come. But what if someone of lesser current
accomplishment is remembered instead? What would you do if Ashleigh Simpson is
the representative that folks in the 30th century refer back to as the most important
musical representative of our time on this dusty ball of rock called Earth? Many of
you probably think that concept is blasphemous.. but pick up an Encyclopedia and
you'll see people of far greater stature and importance in their time who you've
never heard of, even in history class.
So, lets pull this discussion back to what's really important: You and me. The truth
is that most of us can't be the most talented, attractive, athletic or even the most
healthy to rank with the "greats" of our era. But there is one thing that each of us
can do, no matter what our foibles or weaknesses are. We can be happy. In fact,
we can all be as happy as we choose to be. We can probably be happier than the
most famous "great" people in history. Take advantage of that gift.
Many of us spend a great deal of our lives miserable trying to achieve whatever
goals we have that are often just slightly out of our reach. Sometimes it's because
we're just not good enough. Sometimes it's because someone treated us unfairly.
Sometimes it's because we just have horrible timing and sometimes we're just not
lucky. But while we torment ourselves in that pursuit of fame (or "greatness") we're
missing out on the one thing we can actually control ourselves. We can be happy.
We can avoid the things that we dislike while doing as many things that will make us
happy as possible. Think of it this way: if you have a 100% chance of living a happy
life in obscurity, or a 1 in several billion chance of being remembered at all by the
masses 200 years from now while being unhappy most of your life, which is a
better option? Is the pursuit of temporary greatness really worth blowing the one
shot we all get at happiness while we're alive?
So the bottom line for me is, if pursuing a famous career or a work of art or a
meaningful task makes you happy, then by all means keep doing it. In fact, find
ways to do it more. But, if the stress of trying to become "great" is a bummer, if it
means you get to spend less time with people you love, or if it means that you have
to miss out on a lot of happiness you could be having right now, it's not worth it. If
you have a great time creating bizarre music that will never be commercially
recognized, so instead you force yourself to write country ballads.. stop it. If you
love playing music with your high school friends but they aren't good enough to get
a record deal, so instead you're thinking of blowing them off and finding "pros" to
pursue your career with, don't do it. If you're going out on tour while your young
child is taking her first steps.. what the hell are you thinking? If you miss out on all
the things that could make you happy today, will the "greatness" you might achieve
be worth it?
Some of us can effortlessly do "great" things. More of us spend a lot of time trying
to be great at one thing we'll always fail at, while missing the chance to be truly
great doing something else entirely and better yet, to be very happy while doing it. I
say choose happiness. It's not worth giving up that sure thing so some day you can
be a few lines of text on the shelf of some dusty book, or worse some forgotten
computer code on some spaceship library in the next millennium.
Learn, Succeed, Thrive. We're All In This Together!
www.reinventingmyself.com/greatness.html