Tag Archives: Blogs

My Deep Thought Notebook

by Jonathan Hilton

My current colorful, deep thought notebook!
My current colorful, deep thought notebook!

I am not sure what other people do with their thoughts. I mean the one’s that make you adjust in your seat and know that there is power boiling there.

The potential seed that could grow into some potentially awesome writing, or a gadget the world has never seen before and may never experience if I don’t record it quickly and accurately.  I often get hit with ideas from sources I experience every day and spend my time trying to record them in my almost magical, brightly colored, deep thought notebook.

Why I carry My Notebook

I have been carrying around a notebook for most of the past two years to catch these wonderful thoughts before they can escape me.  I call it my notebook of deep thoughts and ideas. More of a hopeful title than descriptive because it captures all ideas both good and bad.

As a learner throughout life, writing things down allowed me to internalize them, ingest them and work them around inside which allows me to decide if the idea is a good one or if it needs a bit more work. My notebook allows me to place an idea off to the side, safe and sound. Then return to it in the future and find my subconscious has found the value of that writing.

Looking for a "great Idea" in my notebook. Find them all the time
Looking for a “great Idea” in my notebook. Find them all the time

Some are from reading I do, and note taking of unique points and thought provoking phrases that highlight a feeling or spark a unique thought.  Some come from the great blogs I read online. I fill my notebook with quotes and descriptions that are just inspiring.  Like a blog I read yesterday for the first time. There were so many great writings, I filled up many pages, with quotes like:“In your shadow, I became a child.  In your light, I became a bird, and learned how to fly.” – Purnimodo

This quote and many others,  I place into the book and refer back to as often as I have to, in order to let it spawn a great expression of my own.  These are easy to do, because the words speak a story.  In a few short words, a story is spawned in my mind.  It is then just a matter of letting it flow out through my fingers onto the keyboard.

Some times during meditation, I think of those words and they allow me to encompass and cover the entire world.

Get Yourself a Thought Book

I highly suggest that you have a thought collection process for all great ideas that come your way, be they deal with spiritual things, action plans or just great information about life.  I am sure that people look at my colorful notebook and have pangs of jealousy, but they are going to have to find their own.

The great thing is that the actual book, means nothing without some substantial substance located on the pages inside. Any old notebook can provide any person with a vehicle to catch their ideas and manufacture them into greatness.  Mine cost a dollar but I have made it priceless.

 

I Feel So Much Gratitude!

Thank You
I was very shy about letting anyone know what I wrote.

by Jonathan Hilton

I was scared to death! Petrified! White knuckle, grab a hold of something, close your eyes and scream scared of what other people would think of my writing. So much so, I really hesitated to ever show it to anyone.  I had one friend who I would “let” read what I thought. They were very safe and supportive.

Finally after a bit of coaxing,  I started to take a few tentative steps out into the world of blogging.  It was a world that is very strange to me, I just never realized how many other people write and share their work.  What an amazing discovery this world has been.  It is a world of dynamic personalities, interesting thoughts and great knowledge.

I was pensive at first because I am careful by nature I guess, and looked at a few blogs, and finally got up my courage to leave a couple of comments.  I was amazed that not only did most of the blogs I commented on read my comments but they replied back!

I read another bloggers account of reading spam and pretending that it was real interaction, because at least it felt like someone had read my thoughts.  That was me for sure. So getting actual feedback from real people was like winning the Super Bowl!

thank
Thank you so much for following one of my blogs in any way!!

Other people actually read what I wrote.  What a great feeling! Now even though I have never met in person any of these people, their stories and writing is a vital part of my daily life.

Finish a job at work, sneak over and see what is happening in the blog world.  See a story that inspires, a video that puts me in awe, or a picture that makes me scared of reptiles.  What ever it is generally, specifically I am inspired.  Creativity comes from this inspiration and I want to express my gratitude for those who have followed me in as special a way as I can!!!

Thank you so much for making my life a richer experience. I placed each person in a random order because I love all of you so very much. If I forgot anyone it is not because you are not in my heart, because you are, it is because I somehow missed you!

Samantha DeLint
http://lcdcexamreview.wordpress.com
Presley-Love
http://PresleyLove.wordpress.com
lifeinzuri
http://lifeinzuri.wordpress.com
Dave
http://www.groovydocs.wordpress.com
cast-light.com
http://castlightdotcom.wordpress.com
Maaher Sayeed
http://despicablewonderfulyou.wordpress.com
Kozo
http://everydaygurus.com/
fjpeter1961
http://frankjpeter.com
thebettermanprojects
http://thebettermanprojects.wordpress.com
sasha
http://btwnshadownsoul.wordpress.com
truelovejunkie
http://truelovejunkie.com
lifeinzuri
http://lifeinzuri.wordpress.com
Leila Dayne
http://leiladayne.wordpress.com
itstartedwithaquote
http://www.itstartedwithaquote.wordpress.com
marga t.
http://lifeasimprov.wordpress.com
socalmark
http://smallsteps2health.wordpress.com/.com
Pat Cegan
http://patcegan.wordpress.com
Angie
http://angiesgrapevine.wordpress.com
istopforsuffering
http://istopforsuffering.wordpress.com
rarasaur
http://rarasaur.wordpress.com
Ray Barbier
http://rbarbier1967.wordpress.com/
Simply Me
http://simplymejustbe.wordpress.com
madelinelaughs
http://www.spreadinformation.wordpress.com
sarahmcc
http://biointegration@yahoo.com
MG
http://SmartasseryInc.wordpress.com

Jefferson Writing Project Success

by Jon Hilton

This is what I looked like at Jefferson Village School, circa 1980.
This is what I looked like at Jefferson Village School, circa 1980.

It was a few short weeks ago that MY COHORT  and I embarked on the Jefferson Writing Project.  We didn’t know where the winds would blow our thoughts but we knew that each day they would be published on our blogs.

My friend’s name is Hope and we talked at the beginning of February and she wanted to do more writing but had some writing blocks and motivational issues. I suggested a mutual writing project.  She agreed and we made up some simple rules.  I am not a big rules guy because who needs limits on our creativity.

I would make up writing prompts and we each would do a post that day involving the prompt. It was supposed to last for thirty days, but went a bit longer.

I went back and looked over our Facebook messages and it started on the 9th of February and ended today. Hope doesn’t like to write on Sunday! (I can blame her, but I like Sunday off too. 🙂

The only known photo of me playing ball at JVS.  Thank God. We were styling!
The only known photo of me playing ball at JVS. Thank God. We were styling!

Coming up with the prompts was not as easy as I thought in the beginning. I know Hope so I wanted to get some good easy to write about things.  Then as I got going I would just make them up in three seconds.

Or if I was cheating, I would start a post on something and use that for the prompt, or make the prompt something I wanted to write about anyway.  In fact what I found, no matter what the prompt was I just wrote whatever I wanted to anyway.

I found that I learned a lot just from reading Hope’s posts, when she was fired up she would get them done way before me. I found I could read and enjoy her thoughts and not let them affect what I was writing.

After about twenty writing assignments or so, we switched it up and Hope was responsible for the prompt. That was more fun because then I could bug her to tell me what it is, rather than the other way around.   I still just wrote whatever I wanted to and included the prompt in some way. Other times the prompt was the story.

jonupclose7th
7th Grade Lookin” Good!

It was fun to have someone else “checking up” on your work and at first the only other person who knew why you were writing about the things you were.

It is just enough motivation to get you to give a little extra effort to make sure you got your post out that day. But most importantly it was fun.  Hope is a bit different, (in a good way), I know her personally and used to coach her in basketball. That was awhile ago but I enjoy seeing the young lady she has grown to become.

So I encourage anyone who is hitting a snag in their creativity or motivation to partner up or even group up and start a writing project.  It was a fun way to keep things interesting and to work on being creative.

It is called the Jefferson Writing Project because, Hope and I both lived in the town of Jefferson, Maine when we were growing up, and we both graduated from Jefferson Village School, and know that Jefferson is small, has a beach, and a cattle pound.  I do not know what the cattle pound is for,  but it exists. She likes to take pictures there. Thanks Hope for all the fun.  I will always be reading and commenting on your blog because that is how I roll.

Are You Truly Living

What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

truly living
Are you truly living?

by Jonathan Hilton

All people are going to answer this question differently depending on where they are in their life.  To me being alive is a fact of nature, and enjoying life and living for a purpose is truly living.  But how do you enjoy life?

Other people will answer this very differently.    It only takes a few visits to any number of blogs to experience the wide variety of philosophies and beliefs that exist.

Young people are struggling to master life, yet so hopeful about living it is encouraging   While older people are resigned to the fact that you may never figure it out everything there is to know about life, but they share their thoughts and experiences.

One of the things I like about reading so many different people’s opinions is to be exposed to ideas that are different from mine. Valid yet different and I think that is a powerful force of growth.  These are my thoughts on truly living.

The problem with Life

For me there is a question that came to me as I got older and thought that I was on the

questions about living
We all have questions, I know I did.

path I should be on. After carefully contemplating the experiences I have been fortunate enough to have in life I came to the conclusion that being alive was not enough and that I needed to start truly living and for me that meant I had to make a lot of changes in my perceptions of people, life, God and everything that at one time I was sure of.

I wasn’t sure what was “right”, but I knew there was more to life than a conditioned accumulation of material goods to supply comfort to life.

What comfort did I ever give to others? What did I contribute? Even as an educator, I was contributing stories about living which happened long ago, espousing the morals and actions that young people should aspire to follow, with the awareness of the world around me the size of the head of a pin.

I don’t think I  consistently enjoyed what life gave me. There are easy things to enjoy and appreciate, like those we love, and those that love us, a sunny, beautiful day, a large sum of money, all of these can be easily enjoyed, but how many people pass through a day without having gratitude for anything in their life, because they are too busy looking at what they don’t have.

I was one of these, searching for the right amount of stuff that would bring happiness with it. I never found that.

 The Past

Future past and present sign in the sky
Which direction do you follow?

One of the biggest problems people face,when trying to truly live is that they always seem to distract themselves from the moment they are currently experiencing.

Perhaps spending time with someone you love, reading a book, exercising, or doing whatever it is you do, because you allow yourself to be distracted by things that make you feel the moment you are in is not a good enough thing.

One distraction is the past, which often allows you to reminisce about the past and feel that things were so much better back then, when you were happy.

Often the past is not quite what we remember it to be and it really doesn’t matter in the scope of today.  It is over and gone, good or bad and to short change today for yesterday is selling something tangible and of extreme value for  nothing but a fantasy.

Often I had looked to the past to the good old days, which were nice memories, but other than lending experience to today, couldn’t help make me very happy or allow me to truly live.

 The Future

Others choose to focus on the future, planning and scheming the best way to route their lives to get to the point where finally they will be happy.  They think that if they  do this particular thing, at this particular time then I will be happy, satisfied, successful, or whatever.

The problem with this is that when you put all of your focus onto tomorrow you miss the great things that are happening today.  You can prepare for the future with the actions of today and enjoy today at the same time, the difference is that you don’t put anything off, like being happy and satisfied with life or anything else. Tomorrow may never come and rarely does it happen as you plan, so putting happiness off is a bad gamble that will most likely never pay off.

I’ll Be Happy When I am Rich

Materialism is another distraction that keeps people from enjoying the moment, often it goes hand in hand with waiting for the future, but tying your happiness into the acquisition of some material thing is going to stop you from appreciating today, because you are going to be thinking that happiness is going to come when you get that house, or car, or Ipad or whatever.

The satisfaction of that acquisition will be short-lived and soon you will be looking for the next thing that should bring happiness and satisfaction to your life, as you ignore the opportunity for happiness that you have in your experience today. Being grateful for what you have will allow you to enjoy the day. If you don’t believe me, then try it.  Be truly grateful for what you have.

Your Choice

choice for life
You can choose if you are alive or truly living

So truly living to me is the appreciation of what life is giving you right now in this moment.

That doesn’t mean that it will always be perfect. Sometimes there are painful things in life, and we have to deal with feelings that are not so nice, people get sick, accidents happen, people die, life is not perfect and there is no guarantee that everything is going to go your way.

However, there is a choice that comes pinned to each of those experiences to make it a positive or a negative factor in your life.  Only you can decide for yourself the difference between being alive and truly living.

What does truly living mean to you?

I Remember You

Poetry is not something that I have never written much of. One of the great blogs I read, shared a sonnet on Thursday. I am taking the opportunity to write one myself, because I never have and it should be a unique experience. It was an interesting : first I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed rhyming. Secondly I apparently have some unresolved issues inside. I think they are resolving.

dusty room (2)

I Remember You

by Jonathan Hilton

Oh, yes I remember you,

As a deep dark mystery I sought to reveal.

I never found or discovered, what was due,

The truth about you, hurts too much to feel.

We used to talk and be together every day,

Laughing and sharing each special time. 

Now you have left, and moved along your way, 

The emptiness inside alone is mine

Where is the justice? Where is the Peace?   

I destroy all the selfish evidence of us.

There is a thought that this will bring a release,

Nothing worked, nothings fixed, It wasn’t worth the fuss. 

The dusty, empty room is inside of me,

It is as vast and as deep as the mightiest Sea.

 

So what did you think of my first poem? I know, but it is the first try.

Here are a couple I remember you songs to help set the mood.

Skid Row: I Remember You

Someone Like You