Tuesday, November 9, 2010

SO MUCH TO DO

We have so much to do and not enough time. This at least is the loser's whine. But those who truly have something to do refuse to let time rule. Instead they do by minutes what others avoid by intention, because instinctively they lack the ambition success requires and diligence describes. Ask the great about how small were the steps they had to take before they triumphed. In failing this pattern, we make ourselves liars concerning our dreams.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

ON BEING PLIABLE

We must be pliable to be liable for success. In being rigid we are apt to stiffen when we should bend instead. Hence, the importance of passion which, rightly managed, enables us to maneuver accordingly without, however, forfeiting our integrity.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

ON SEEING

We see more than we admit yet often pursue less than we desire. Some people refrain because the claims of success are too demanding, according to their standards. Others ignore because they aren't sure of themselves. Even so, we still see whether or not we seize accordingly.

Monday, September 20, 2010

TOO MUCH ENERGY


We have too much energy, more in fact than we need. Else we wouldn't desire to do the exceptional deed, by which it would be drained and we would gain a new image of ourselves. Presently, however, our endeavors neither demand greatness nor reveal our uniqueness. We get by instead as if we are bred all the same, with nothing significant to distinguish our frame. http://www.joelbryant1.com/

Friday, September 17, 2010

ON BEING SEEN

The desire to be seen is so insidious. It makes us say what we shouldn't and act as we wouldn't if we were content with ourselves. www.joelbryant1.com

Thursday, September 16, 2010

ON CROWDS

Shallow is the marrow of most bones.

Those who would astound must not be found in the crowd, because most people are so fickle that all they can do is tickle mutual fears. (www.joelbryant1.com

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

GETTING THROUGH TODAY...


If you can get through today with all of its weight, you can win tomorrow despite the sorrow that threatens or the desires that are waiting to be fulfilled. If you don't, someone else will. It's not that they're better than you. They're just more willing to do what it takes to out-wait the cycles of success, which none can rush.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

THE STRONG

The strong survive because they insist on life. They are strong moreover because they discover that the secret is in letting weakness nurture strength, not accuse it. Thus they accept their limits without being inhibited thereby. Instead, they pursue what they desire and endure the ire of circumstances. 'Tis by this that they make their advances.

Friday, September 10, 2010

THE AGE OF ARTHUR

In our will to rule we waste and ruin.


Our age yet awaits its Arthur, a king so keen that he can not only extract Excalibur but also exalt humanity simultaneously. We have sought vainly politically. It has the words but not the will to redeem, especially if redemption benefits universally. It would rather palaver than pull the sword, being bound by allegiances too narrow to hold. Even so, the age awaits Arthur's emergence and groans daily for his appearance. Many contend, and even more pretend because they know instinctively their hypocrisy. Yet the opportunity entices. Afterwards, however, Excalibur remains and they leave with sore hands. Even then, however, the age awaits. It can do no less if it would survive. (http://www.joelbryant1.com/ )

Thursday, September 2, 2010

THE PROBLEM

The problem isn't with success but with our willingness to be seduced by easy formulas that promise to produce. Success is possible but it isn't as docile as some people claim. Those who say such only seek to make a name for themselves based on our fears. (www.joelbryant1.com)

Monday, August 30, 2010

ON WRONG AND WORST

A fist-fight is the first fight virtue forsakes, especially when cowardice provokes.

It's better to do the wrong thing than the worst thing, especially if the right thing eludes. Ask any husband who killed his wife because he couldn't leave her. (www.joelbryant1.com)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

THE POINT

Missing the point imperils truth.

People have opinions but lack convictions. They discuss virtue but don't practice it. Like ancient sophists, they explore the great questions but don't answer them. Most require a good disaster or a great tragedy to stir. Yet after these pass complacency consumes. Virtue again eludes. Without tragedy some people would never know their capacity for kindness.

Monday, August 23, 2010

ON DESTINY

Destiny is the choice we make about ourselves and our potential. We don't have to know what it is to believe that it is. (www.joelbryant1.com )

Sunday, August 22, 2010

ON MINORITIES

I'm at a diversity workshop learning how to be sensitive to minorities. Being black it's easy to forget that their are others.

Friday, August 20, 2010

ON PRECEDENTS

Too much wonder makes us wobble.

Sometimes we must be the precedents we envision or seek for confirmation, affirmation too. Doing so is hard, lonely and unlikely. Not because of its difficulty, but because of our passivity.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

WIND FALLS

When the wind falls, the woe flees.

On what are you waiting? How long have you waited? Are you still waiting or have you resigned? If so, why not resume your wait, knowing that it only takes a second to experience the super? But you must be ready. So, go ahead and resume your wait. In doing so, you vanquish the woe of resignation. (www.joelbryant1.com)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

HELPING OTHERS

Helping others nurtures success. You must be able to this or your influence will fade. It's not enough to impress others with your knowledge. You must help them benefit from this. If you can show them how to achieve their greatness, you secure your own. Unfortunately, however, most people are merely consumed with themselves and their ideas. (www.joelbryant1.com)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Legacy of Destiny: Part 1

OUR TURN

Each of us awaits our turn. Few of us accept the present as permanent. Silently we all court fortune's favor. This courting keeps some and kills others. Hope is the hinge. Some people, however, abandon hope and quit prematurely. In doing so, they frustrate their destiny. (www.joelbryant1.com)

Friday, August 13, 2010

GROWING GREATNESS

When greatness grows nature knows no limits. Yet when limits encroach greatness crouches, preparing to vaunt to achieve victory. It overcomes what confines others because it is willing to go further than reason advises and threats discourage. Without this quality we won't accomplish what we envision no matter how vividly we imagine, Discouraging perhaps, but true still. (www.joelbryant1.com)

Thursday, August 12, 2010

FROM ABOVE

Do you know what it's like to be fed from above, to feel without suspicion how deeply you are loved? Do you know the satiety, transcendent temporarily, that bequeaths beyond desert? Or do you still imagine that your degree of having rests upon your merit? If so, you will forfeit this comfort. (http://www.joelbryant1.com/) Also check out the enlightening video: The Legacy of Destiny on http://www.youtube.com/ .

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

JERSEYS AND JOCKS

I own no jersey and claim no jock. I don't care which team "rocks." Though, when I was young I gladly sung others praise. But at this age I'm stayed focus on myself and my capacity for success, greatness, even.

jerseys and jocks

Monday, August 9, 2010

WANTING TO ACHIEVE

We want to achieve but often concede prematurely to failure. Our biggest error moreover is in asking others. It's okay to seek opinions but not to obey them unless they encourage us in the direction of our dream. After all, no one who succeeds truly believes that failure is final unless he is fragile and can't take its blows. If so, he looks for reasons to quit because he can't admit to himself that he is a failure. In this regard, real winners are real tender but not so much that the slightest touch sends them turning. Instead, they hurt on the way as they obey their will to succeed. From a distance they look lucky to the touchy. (http://www.joelbryant1.com/)

Friday, August 6, 2010

ON PRETENDING

I can only imagine the pain of pretending, of being polite instead of sincere, which doesn't mean that we foolish say what's on our minds. I wonder if some people ever consider how each smile makes them small in the eyes of the perceptive. Do they even care or are they are aware of themselves?

Thursday, August 5, 2010

A TIME

Where we end up doesn't always depend upon how we stand up to pressure, though it helps.

There is a time when we should listen to none. There is a time when wisdom fails and what follows should. There is a time when neither speech nor silence serves. There is a time when all that we know must be forgotten or at least foregone. When this is, however, is hard to say and foolish to force. Even so, it exists.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

TORN AND TENDER

Paydirt is payback for all the put-downs we endured.

There is a height that invites us to visit. Few, however, are inquisitive. So, they buy postcards and postpone the journey, surrendering to reason's tyranny. Then when others emerge who followed the urge they are the first to cry, "How do these fly!" Yet if how knew the flight's view would be all too common. It isn't, however, because most people ignore the summons. (http://www.joelbryant1.com)

Friday, July 30, 2010

YOU

You must be convinced (or impressionable) to accomplish. You must know before you start or be persuaded in route that you will rise. You must master yourself and mute your soul occasionally. The sudden rush of death wishes must also be censored. In doing so, you increase your choices and reduce the challenges substantially, though not completely. (http://www.joelbryant1.com/)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

THE PROPOSAL

By the time we are in the mood, success has moved along or perhaps changed its mind about us. Hence, the time we spend courting and craving its attention, only to become suspicious of its intentions. We want a commitment but it wants a minute to consider our proposal. By the time it decides we have changed our minds, committing to failure instead.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

ON HATERS

If we had as many haters as we imagine our lives would be fantastic, fuller at least, than they are. Yet we confuse criticism with hate because we aren't willing to take in stride what is designed to strengthen and develop our character.

Friday, July 23, 2010

QUIZZES

Our love of leisure damns, labor, change too, unless autonomous.

There is a quiz but no key, academically speaking. Thus the answers like the questions must be created, creative even, for you to pass. Else you will pout implacably.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

LIFE

Life proceeds without complaint because it is without compare.

PLEA BARGAINING

The pining to pursue our dreams is so common that it corrupts. Most people render this with the rabid, "If I win the lottery..." How can the heart handle such folly! I understand the relief the idea gives, but I reject the statement that it makes about ourselves. Why must we win the lottery to pursue our destiny? What fears must we defeat? Or are we merely waiting for fortune to favor?

Sunday, June 6, 2010

FORTUNE'S TALONS

COMPASSION CORRECTS OUR COURSE.

Fortune's talons are sharpened during our trials. Amid this manicure we manifest what we never imagined. Fortune meanwhile withholds its smile until we envision, adding its polish to our conditions.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

SECOND THOUGHTS

One mind is enough for anyone, yet most people aren't satisfied with such. So, they seek second opinions on their first thought. Then when the advice fails they fault the counsel, though cowardice crushed.

Monday, April 26, 2010

ON BEING DIFFERENT

It's hard being different when we desire to be normal. Something about our manner seems stiff and formal, as if we're disconnected and detached. In being so, we are routinely misjudged because of how "we act." Yet if we were merely acting we wouldn't be so passionate about our course. But only those who are different themselves understand the divorce that keeps us from uniting with others against ourselves by choosing to ignore our dreams. Yet this is no consolation, especially when the desire casts us as difficult also. The ache that eats can only be eased by what eludes.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

ON TIDES

The tide defeats until we perfect our ability to tread water and our willingness to go after our desire. So many, however, choose to blame oceans (and obstacles) for their emptiness.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

ON GREATNESS

Have you ever seen greatness stripped of its grandeur --I have? Were you shocked or still assured that it was for you? Were you still willing to suffer (and censor) yourself, lest by diappointment you damn your hope? Isn't the angst amazing, how it condemns and encourages? That's what MTV omits. It would rather show the cribs than the crawls achievers endured. Even when it does, it isn't as dynamic. How can it be when years of frustration are pleasantly framed by soothing voice-overs.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

AT LEAST

Accept limitations but not inhibitations.

At least consoles when life disappoints. At least it tries. But it's seldom enough to ease because we want the crown, not the consolation.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

CHANGING CATEGORIES

Wind and will both overwhelm.

Can you endure the cataclysms of changing categories until you accomplish? Or are you content to be who you aren't with all the anguish that attends because you refuse to atone by enduring? If so, what will you tell your children to aid their evolution? Or will you suggest that they settle?

Monday, February 1, 2010

ON GREATNESS

No one who dreams of greatness is fully sane;
It requires too much for pretension to reign,
Thus those who endure are authentically engaged,
Driven by madness until they achieve,
The rest relent and go their way,
Saved by sanity from its sway.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

THE SEEDS OF GREATNESS

Failure frays our essence.

The seeds of greatness sow themselves. They scatter freely but are tended indifferently by most people. Hence, the thinness of their harvests. Most of them labor briefly before abandoning. In doing so, they spend their lives admiring what others cultivated in their stead. Maybe that's why greatness feels so familiar when encountered, and resists when courted. Having been abandoned previously, it senses their inconstancy.

Monday, January 25, 2010

ON EXHORTATIONS

When fear grips failure grows.

Exhortations discourage when we can't curry the favor we need or accomplish the deed we envision, especially if our labor have been consistent. Then we don't need encouragement, but the opportunity to demonstrate our excellence before an audience beyond our family and friends. In this regard, encouragement helps but doesn't heal our desire to excel.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

PRETEND

So much pretense, so little preference. Yet we are obliged to behave as if we care.

Pretend that this time next week everything will change. Then ask yourelf, "What would you change in preparation." Do this daily though the weeks pass uneventfully. How different would your days be? More important, what would you perceive that now bypasses? If nothing else, you would improve your work by your wait if excellence is your goal. Besides, maybe one day the week will come that changes everything. If not, it won't be because you loitered.