“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide
I don’t want you to get left behind
I know you feel you’re standing still
The world is running too fast to find
The chances to improve your skill
So I’ll give you all the time I can
Although my time is hard to spare
Let’s walk together to make a plan
That will see you getting there
Failures really gave me confidence. They led to great things and opportunities. I was terrified of those very things happening until they happened.
Cindy Spiegel
We didn’t know it before
Why the dark clouds came
You just had to get on with it
With only yourself to blame
Then someone turns on the light
And it all starts to make sense
So begins the slow process
To down the shields of defence
Inspired by reading Mick Wall’s Black Sabbath biography and Geezer Butler growing up with undiagnosed depression, much like myself.
The feeling of having no power over people and events is generally unbearable to us.
Robert Greene
He’s the number one, top dog
Always best in class
Sits quietly satisfied
As smoke is blown up his ass
Everyone else plays in the mud
Whilst he lounges on the grass
In between sips of champagne
Smoke is blown up his ass
Whilst everyone struggles to get in
He always gets a pass
Head held high at the gate
As smoke gets blown up his ass
A nose, again, turned brown
From impressing all the brass
It’s difficult to focus
With all the smoke blown up his ass
Smiling teeth a-gleaming
A halo as clear as glass
Powered by all the steam
Of the smoke blown up his ass
For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were reality.
Niccolo Machiavelli
You used to be an armchair warrior
But now you got so fucking fat
You’ve become a sofa warrior
Unable to wriggle from where you’re sat
Sometimes I like to read a book that has nothing to do with my life, which often has the effect of making me wish for a different life.
Elisa Gabbert
It’s been over a year now
With a poem every day
Sometimes it’s a struggle
To think of something to say
Now all my teachers are dead except silence.
W.S. Merwin
Having walked through shadow and light
Seeing the slaves in misery and distress
Even those with strength and faith
Struggle to make sense of this mess
The apprentice, artisan and employer
The soldier, governor and king
All enslaved with submission
Of another’s tune to sing
Chained to the parent’s past
Urged to yield oneself to tradition
Words create empty echoes
When failed to express contrition
Certain types of persons are terrified even to poke a big toe into genuinely felt regret or sadness, or to get angry. This means they are afraid to live.
from The Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
There’s a gospel of prosperity
With riches as reward
Fall into the algorithm
Or risk to be ignored
Click, like and share
This message was meant for you
Fall into the matrix
Now dawns a new age anew
When you’re at the beginning, don’t onsess about the middle, beacuse the middle is going to look different once you get there…just get moving.
Chip Heath
Is a choice between two evils
Even a choice at all?
And the middle is mediocre
If that’s where the chips fall
The balance of all power
Remains in the hands of a few
So the systems maintain
If the parties are one or two
Where corruption can be stamped out
And happiness prevails
Any system promoting self-interest
Will be the one that fails
The real object of pity is the person who has never been through adversity.
Seneca
It’s not luck that gained success
Things didn’t just fall into place
Good preparation, good decisions
Kept everything within its grace
Hard work and perseverance
Never giving up on the goal
Fall down and get up again
Choosing things within control
The difference between good and great results is often found in consistently doing the boring things you know you should do when you feel like doing them the least.
Farnam Street
Words are written to fan the flames
Generate outrage with magic games
Knowing nothing except the names
Of all those whom the writer blames
Propaganda pushed to every screen
Harmony must remain a dream
The devil, front and centre, seen
More dangerous than it’s ever been
Heroes forever dashing hopes
Innocents on hanging ropes
Testing how its society copes
Forever sliding down slippery slopes
*Inspired by and title appropriated from Caitlin Johnstone
What are you going to believe, the facts or your eyes?
Ronald Reagan official
1994ever 