The young man wanted me to give him some advice about writing
he found out, I write every day
“What’s your secret?” He asked. “How do you stay so disciplined?”
“It’s not discipline,” I told him. “It’s love.”
I wake-up at the beginning of the day, and I ask
“What matters more than anything? I’ll do that.” That way, when I’m lying on the pillow at night
I’ll be able to sleep.
Each day, is stolen from us, or it belongs to us
I am a greedy person, so I think philosophically about my possessions.
Earlier,
a young man asked me what he could do to cure his depression
He’s on anti-depressants and he checks-in with his psychiatrist
I told him to focus on the little things
that he can control: vitamins, exercise, sleep, friends, and retention
He told me, he can’t retain, because he has a girlfriend
He knows I don’t have a girlfriend,
and I’m retaining.
It’s a defense mechanism and a blind spot for him
that renders change, impossible.
The other guy in our group told us,
he wasn’t as Godly as we were.
He’s a mediator—
a guy who wants everybody to get along.
Here—I am giving some honest life-changing advice
and they want to agree to disagree
They don’t get it.
If something works, and you do it,
you can’t deny it.
If you offer theoretical wisdom
to somebody
they almost always deny it.
I have quit trying to help other people
I help myself, mostly
because that’s where I have the most influence
I can see the changes—
intimately.
And occasionally, I am called, “Selfish!”
I am the kind of fish who doesn’t swim in schools
I swim in the dark water
I look for men who can give me advice
at the bottom
I take it.
They,
are in the black
they find their way by wisdom
They don’t venture up to the clear water
where the little fishes want to be taught
There are many readers
and few
writers
who do
anything about it.