It’s been a month of reflection for me as I prepare to move into the next phase of my life. I’m remembering last year on the 4th of July when I was visiting Austin, and enjoying the time I had there. I’m thinking back over my career in the military and how there were many things that didn’t go as I had pictured them. Maybe in some ways I feel a little bad when I think back on what I’ve seen which has created a lot of expectations for me. It’s so easy to go down a rabbit hole of expectations, just like I spoke about 2 weeks ago with the “Who Moved My Cheese” entry. I apologize for not doing an entry this past week, as that might have been an expectation that someone has for me. We always have to be ready for things not to go as planned for sure. There are many stories throughout our society where a lot of what we expected isn’t happening right now.
I feel it’s more important than ever to push out positive thoughts and hope right now. Eckhart Tolle talks a lot about how we have become “unconscious” in our society. We feel bad and so it’s difficult to give when we’re in a taking mindset. We’re numb to other peoples problems which makes us less empathetic. In a sense as a very logical person empathy is something I’ve had to work on greatly and I still get it wrong often.
Years ago when I was in one of my lowest point I heard about the concept of pushing out positive thoughts and actions without expectations. So I did that. I made an effort to be a positive force when I went to get coffee and then a surprising thing happened to me. I found that it came back to me from the other person and that I felt a little better about myself. The thing is few people feel comfortable being positive and pushing out those feelings, or there’s an expectation of getting something in return. After that I started branching out into pushing positive thoughts and actions at work, at home, even while running on my work out.
In the times when I get someone that didn’t respond or in the rare case when I had a negative response I re-frame it to attempt to be empathetic to their situation. Maybe they were caught off guard, maybe they are in a place where they simply can’t accept it. In any case that’s not something for me to dwell on. My day needs to be only 1% better if I get a good response from someone. I need to give the 99% and take the 1% back.
I watched Independence Day this morning and it made me think about the situation we’re all in right now as a nation. We have a common enemy in Corona Virus just like the Aliens in the movie. We have a lot of amazing stories about people fighting it and doing the right thing. Also in a minor role the movie shows looters, and individuals not heeding the warnings of the governing bodies. It’s sad but I hope that we can keep pushing forward like the heroes of the film instead of following in the footsteps of those minor characters.
I guess I should talk about game development on my game development blog too. Things are clipping along as Chris and I are building in sound options that will enable players to shut off music, or effects as well as controlling the master volume. Quality of life options that are important to the overall game. I’m looking forward to a time when things have settled down and I can really dig in without my transition hanging over my head. A lot of my time is going to World of Warcraft right now as I’m stuck inside. I’m streaming regularly and would love to have visitors stop by for a chat!
www.twitch.tv/errantsquire
See you again soon!