Our blog is dedicated to facilitating the dialogue about social change and trends, and how we can excel. Each entry speaks to the human condition—how we function as both dreamers and doers—and our interconnectedness as a society. How do we define what constitutes a model employee, employer, parent, spouse or friend? How can we shift our perception of the world around us to promote personal growth and look beyond ourselves? For well-considered suggestions on how to answer these questions, read the following entries from our repertoire of established bloggers and associations.
the surprising habits of original thinkers
writing lessons from a maxed-out yoga class
As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently moved to a new apartment. Habits researcher and author Gretchen Rubin writes, in her book Better than Before, that an excellent time to adopt new habits is when undergoing a shift or change in your life: a break-up, a new relationship, a new job, a home renovation, etc. Moving to a new place, it turns out, is actually the number one time to successfully adopt new habits! So I leaped upon the opportunity to try cementing some new healthy habits that I had been wanting to fully integrate into my life.
One of these habits is going to bed earlier, so I can wake up earlier feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. Another is to focus on simplicity; I did a huge purge of clutter and papers before I moved, and I want to keep these nonessentials from slowly re-accumulating in my life, as they so often do. Also, I now begin every morning with two big glasses of water and a green smoothie. I try to write at least a couple hundred words on my creative work-in-progress each morning before I even check my email or work on projects for other people. And I am trying to set in stone a regular routine of going to the gym.
action and responsibility
Each of us has a responsibility to ourselves to create the life we want to live. We are in the driver’s seat of how our lives go. If you want to be successful, what are you doing to create that success? Van Gogh said, “Great things are made up of a series of little things.”
But, behind those little things is intention. The little things add up to something big if you are focused. The thing is to realize that you, and only you, are capable and responsible for directing your actions. It is no one’s fault but yours. Your success or failure, your job, where you live, how you care for your body, the people you choose to spend time with…when you look in the mirror, it is all the choices you have made that led you to the life you have.
the best way to fail: on a quest for legendary calves
I was twenty-seven, and I could hardly walk. As I limped around D.C., I thought, I’ve aged 50 years. How quickly ten minutes of running on your toes can wilt you.
Two months before, I’d bought a pair of black and pink “toe shoes” on my paltry budget. At $100, this was a big investment, a bucket-of-paint-against-the-wall sort of splurge into the unknown. “Reduce foot injuries!” they proclaimed. “Strengthen foot muscles!”
Well, I’d never had a foot injury, but–assessing my pale, shapeless feet with new eyes–I certainly wouldn’t object to stronger muscles. Before my shoes arrived, I consulted their website for proper preparation: fourteen days, they advised, of “foot exercises.”
I spent a night trying to curl my toes under, to bend them up, to pivot the ankle while balancing on the ball of my foot. I tried five or six times to pick up a small towel between my toes. My feet obeyed feebly, the toes moving by robotic degrees until I had finally gotten hold of a terrycloth corner. Then I dropped it and could not pick it back up again.