Year: 2014

Discipline: Don’t Leave Home Without It

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Do you aspire to be successful? Most people do, regardless of their specific dreams or desires. It doesn’t matter how you define “success”—you know that it’s something you want. Everybody does.

But if success is something most people want, why are there relatively few who seem to attain it? What is stopping so many from achieving success? What are they missing?

In other words, what is a key component of success?

Discipline.

You need discipline if you want to get anything done.

You need discipline if you want to achieve something.

Great leaders achieve their successes through discipline.

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Achieve mastery through discipline ~

Achieve mastery through discipline ~

Great leaders—inventors, innovators, creators, athletes—achieve their successes through discipline. Thomas Edison’s light bulb was birthed through discipline. The Sistine Chapel would have just a bare ceiling were it not for the patient discipline of Michelangelo. Mark Spitz would not have seven Olympic gold medals to his name were it not for discipline.

What is discipline?

Thanks in part to medieval religious practices, we tend to think of discipline in negative terms, often equating it to “punishment.” However, discipline’s etymology paints a much more positive picture. The word “discipline” comes from the Latin disciplina (teaching, instruction, learning, knowledge), which in turn comes from discipulus—a word we recognize as “disciple,” someone who sits at the feet of his master and learns, drinking deeply from the master’s vast store of knowledge and accumulated life experiences. Indeed, rather than a punitive aspect, discipline is concerned instead with correction and training. It is the cultivation of character: breaking bad habits and instilling good ones, followed by training so the good habits become second nature. Admittedly, discipline is not always fun, but it is always rewarding.

chaos

Without discipline, there is chaos ~

Discipline is crucial.

An undisciplined life is characterized by chaos and disorder, laziness and a lack of direction. You will drift through life, carried about by the winds of circumstance and feelings. You’re no longer in the driver’s seat, so you feel helpless as you watch things spin out of control. A lack of discipline is a hindrance on your path to success, a burden that will weigh you down and prevent you from achieving your goals. Discipline allows you to harness the circumstances of life and use them as stepping stones rather than millstones.

Although discipline is necessary, the good news is that it can be learned. It can be cultivated. The habit of discipline can be exercised and strengthened, growing as it takes root in your life. Anyone can acquire it—it is not limited to a select few. But you have to be willing to pay the price. You have to dedicate yourself to your goal. It cannot be a half-hearted dedication. You have to make up your mind, and, having done so, not look back. He who wishes to be a disciple must be single minded. He must focus his energies on the tasks before him, if he wishes to achieve his goal. Half-hearted, double-minded disciples simply do not make the cut. Without focus, you are doomed to fail.

Discipline is training ~

Discipline is training ~

Discipline is the key to becoming a master.

You cannot become a master without first going through an apprenticeship, without going through discipleship. A disciple who lacks discipline is no disciple, but rather a wannabe, one who is bound to quit when the going gets rough. Difficult times will come, temptations will arise—and those who have made discipline their habit will be the ones who survive. Discipline is what keeps you going when you feel like giving up or giving in. Discipline keeps you in your routine when you’re contemplating making an exception “just this once.” Discipline is what enables you to react in a split second when seconds count.

Discipline is indispensable.

It is one of the habits of success. Cultivate it, and it will be a faithful friend. Ignore it, and you will spend your days thinking “woulda, coulda, shoulda.”

Discipline is yours for the asking.

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What Do You Do When You Lack Motivation?

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What do you do when you have no motivation?

What do you do when you have no motivation?

Motivation is a magical thing. It is necessary for anything you wish to accomplish. Yet there are undeniably times when your motivation falls far short of what you know it should be.

What on earth do you do when you lack motivation?

Can it be recaptured or rekindled?

Consider some of the situations that could result in a lack of motivation. For example, perhaps you are “mismatched” to begin with. By that, I mean that maybe you are trying to pursue something that simply is not meant to be. Are you wasting time and energy by expending effort on something you need not do, or something that in fact would be of no benefit to you?

For this reason, it may be instructive to listen to the opinions of friends or family. Loved ones often know us better than we give them credit for, and sometimes they are able to see a particular situation more clearly and more honestly than we can—since they are more removed from the situation than we are, their perspective enables them to consider a broader scope. Their insight can be invaluable, and we could save ourselves a lot of grief if we would just take their advice to heart.

Let’s assume, however, that it is not a case of the wrong person for the wrong job. You have something that you must do but you haven’t the will to do it, or you have some activities that you formerly enjoyed but now have become a chore to you. You’ve lost whatever motivation you had.

How can you get it back?

The key to understanding your lack of motivation lies in the answer to the question: Why?

Why is your motivation lacking?

What has changed?

Are you feeling overwhelmed?

Do you feel overwhelmed?

Do you feel overwhelmed?

The task may be more involved than you initially thought, or you may have come to the realization that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. The task looms over you like a gigantic weight threatening to crush you, and you’re feeling the stress.

Is there something that can be delegated?—Maybe you can enlist someone to share the burden with you. Perhaps you can think of someone who is better suited to some particular aspect of your task.

Can the task be broken up into smaller ones?—Sometimes an activity is best handled as a series of component ones. It’s easier to focus on taking the next step than it is to focus on taking 45,000 steps to complete a marathon. As the old riddle goes: How do you eat an elephant?—One bite at a time.

Do you need to modify your original goals?—People change, circumstances change—and your goals and plans probably need to change along with them. Consistency is good, but not to the point of rigidity. Being flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions will reduce the stress levels and help you to get back in control.

Are you weary of long, hard toil with little to show for it?

Are you caught in a endless loop?

Are you caught in a endless loop?

You feel like a hamster on an exercise wheel, with plenty of activity but no real accomplishments. Maybe it’s time to take a break, a pause that refreshes. A break will give you some mental space to assess your situation. Maybe you could combine or consolidate tasks, giving you greater efficiency.

You may be physically tired.—Being worn out and rundown puts you in a precarious situation, as you then have a greater likelihood of coming down with illness, disease, or some other condition. Good sleep, adequate nutrition, and regular exercise will help you regain your energy and restore your balance.

You may be mentally tired.—Mental or psychological fatigue is more pernicious, since it often masquerades as physical fatigue. Weariness of the soul, however, cannot be remedied with physical rest. Are there psychological sinks in your life—things, people, habits, or pastimes that drain you of your mental energy? In particular, you may encounter people who are psychic leeches, sucking you of your energy. Rather than uplifting you, they make you feel drained. If possible, limit your contact with such folk. Better yet, try to get them involved in a project of their own, which will have the natural effect of getting them out of your hair without hurting their feelings.

Do you feel frustrated?

Are you frustrated?

Do you feel like you’re swimming upstream?

You might feel as though you’re swimming upstream, against the current.  Not having the support of family and friends will certainly dampen your enthusiasm. Many times such opposition is latent, lurking beneath the surface. If you’re not expecting it, it may take you a while before you realize what’s going on and can deal with it for what it is.  Reach out to others in your network to get the support you need.

Other times, though, the antagonism may be more obvious. You may have people who are actively working against you. They may be trying to thwart you, sabotaging all your efforts. Perhaps they may harbor jealousy, envy, resentment, or animosity towards you, and consequently they have no desire to see you succeed. Being aware of the situation is generally the first and best line of defense. Channel your frustration and anger positively, and use that energy to prove them wrong. Success is the best revenge.

Do you think the task or activity pointless?

Have you lost sight of your original motivation?

Have you lost sight of your original motivation?

Maybe it’s become meaningless to you. You’ve lost sight of why you’re doing it. Having a reminder of your goal, of how it fits in to the big picture may be sufficient to bring back meaning and purpose.  Something as simple as a photo or a personal affirmation could help you fix your eyes on the prize when you find your motivation flagging.

Think about your original motivation.—Has it changed without your realizing it? Why? If your motivation has changed, it may be that your goals or priorities will have to change as well. Conversely, if your priorities or goals have changed, you’ll probably have to modify your motivation to keep it in tune with your new definition of success.

Lack of motivation is a serious problem, but the good news is that acknowledgement of the situation then puts you in a position to do something about it. Take the time to pinpoint the cause by asking the questions above.  Once you’ve done that, you should be able to come up with your own unique fix to your lack of motivation.

Have you struggled with lack of motivation? How did you overcome it?

Share your story in the comments below!

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What Motivates YOU?

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What motivates you? What gets you going?

What gets you going?

Have you really thought about what motivates you?  What makes you tick? What really trips your trigger?

Of course, it depends on what we’re talking about here. What motivates you to go to your job each day is probably not the same as what motivates you to mow the lawn for your elderly neighbor. So, pick a particular task or activity and ask yourself the following questions:

Why am I doing this?

Ostensibly, the answer to this question will indicate what motivates you, but as we have seen previously, this alone won’t give you a complete picture. This only scratches the surface, so you are going to have to delve deeper if you want to get beyond the superficial.

What would happen as a result?

Think about cause and effect.

  • Would doing this allow me to perform or engage in some other task or activity?
  • Is it a necessary step in a longer, more complex process?

Conversely, you might ask yourself:

What would happen if I don’t do this?

Sins of omission can cause just as much trouble as sins of commission.

  • Have I given my word?  Have I made a promise to someone?
  • Is there anyone depending on me?
  • Are there penalties or negative consequences if I fail to do this?
What good things could I expect?

What good things could I expect?

How does it benefit me?

The benefits may be tangible or intangible.

  • What good things could I expect out of this?
  • How would it help me, make things easier, improve my quality of life?

How does it benefit others?

What you do will affect others as well – it’s a question of how, not if.

  • How does it help my family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, co-workers, strangers?
  • How does it improve their lives, or ameliorate their pain?
  • Would they appreciate what I do?
  • Would others suffer in some way if I fail to do this?
  • Would they miss out on something?
Would I have the satisfaction of completing a challenge?

Would I have the satisfaction of completing a challenge?

How will I feel as a result?

Understanding emotions can provide powerful insight into motives.

  • Would I have the satisfaction of a job well done, of completing a challenge, of brightening someone’s day?
  • Would I have a feeling of accomplishment? A sense of relief?
  • Would I be able to look back and say, “It was tough, but worth it”?
  • Would I feel legitimately proud of myself?
  • Would I feel arrogant? Superior? Inferior? Cocky, smug, self-assured?

Conversely:

How would I feel if I didn’t do this?

The yang to the above question.

  • Would I feel like I had let myself or someone else down?
  • Would I feel ashamed?

Determining motivation is a complex, highly individual process which deserves careful thought.  Contemplating the above questions and answering them honestly and sincerely will go a long way towards helping you to ferret out what your motive is.

What motivates you?

Share in the comments below!

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“I’d like a bottle of Motivation, please~”

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What puts that spark in your eye? Motivation!

What puts that spark in your eye? – Motivation!

Do you find yourself lacking motivation?

Do you wish you could just go to your favorite superstore and pick up an economy-size bottle of motivation?

Ah, if only it were that easy. If only motivation were something that could be bottled and sold. Whoever could pull that off would be rich!

Unfortunately, it’s a little more complicated than that.

I’d like to explore with you the topic of motivation. But before we can answer the question about how to get motivation, we have to take a step back and ask a more fundamental question:

What is motivation?

Basically, motivation is the reason for a given behavior or course of action. But this is a bit simplistic, as the concept of motivation is much broader than a mere cause-and-effect phenomenon. Properly speaking, motivation is restricted to human beings in its application, so that is what I shall consider here.

Motivation involves a reason for doing something, but it is much more than justification for one’s actions.

Motivation involves a reason for doing something, but it is much more than justification for one’s actions. Consider this: you could no doubt come up with a hundred different reasons why you should eat properly and exercise every day, but unless you have motivation, your gym shoes will stay in the closet, and your cupboard will be filled with junk food snacks.

Watch any reality show, and you’ll see this played out time and again—the morbidly obese woman who cheats on her diet; the hoarder who lives in squalor, adding to his tremendous collection of junk and trash; the teenager who is so engaged in substance abuse that she can only think about her next fix. Intellectually, these people understand that what they are doing is unhealthy and potentially self-destructive, yet no amount of haranguing by loved ones or medical professionals will result in them changing their ways—if the person lacks motivation.

A lack of motivation logically devolves into apathy.

We see, then, that motivation is important. In some cases, it can literally mean the difference between life and death. In any situation, though, a lack of motivation, signaled by a “Why bother?” attitude, logically devolves into apathy: “Who cares? Not I. Just leave me alone!” Once a person has crossed this point, his situation becomes all but impossible. The psychological inertia becomes so overwhelming that the person is locked on a downward spiral, and in most cases nothing short of a miracle can break that spell.

We see, also, that motivation must be internal. It arises from a decision of the individual, and, as such, cannot be imposed upon from the outside. This is why nagging seldom works; if it does, it is not because the nagger’s words were especially pithy or persuasive, but rather because the individual just wanted to get the nagger out of his hair. So even in those instances where it appears that motivation might have been external, in reality the individual merely acted upon an internal desire to ameliorate his own situation.

It can be said that motivation can be either healthy or unhealthy, but these categories are not as clear-cut as you might suppose. For example, fear, greed, pride, and the like may all appear to be examples of unhealthy motivation, whereas success, family, and self-improvement would most likely be considered examples of healthy motivation. But negative emotions like fear can nonetheless provide the basis for healthy motivation: fear of leaving your family unprepared might very well be a healthy motivation if it results in you taking better care of yourself and taking steps to secure your family’s financial future.

Regardless, any type of motivation is better than none, and a lack of motivation should be avoided at all costs.

Thus far, we have said more about what motivation is not than what it is. So: What is motivation?

Motivation is that which keeps you going after the initial excitement of a new endeavor has worn off.

We see this happen time and again with New Year’s resolutions. With the prospect of a new year and a fresh start, many people resolve to make all sorts of positive changes in their lives: lose weight, stop smoking, get out of debt, learn a new language, exercise more, take up a hobby, etc. But a few days or weeks later, the enthusiasm is gone and the resolutions fall by the wayside—unless, of course, you have some sort of motivation.

Motivation is that which keeps you going even when you “don’t feel like it.”

There are times when everything seems blah and even the things you normally enjoy appear to have lost their luster. You’d rather spend an extra hour in bed instead of going out for that five-mile run. You’d just as soon take it easy for a few days, hang out the “Gone Fishin’ ” sign and escape for a while. Motivation helps you to stick to your commitment and push through the “don’t want to”. Motivation is what goads you into action.

#Motivation helps you to push through the “don’t want to”.

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Motivation keeps you going when things get tough.

We all have struggles that we must face in life. Sometimes you just find yourself in a difficult situation, whether it be due to circumstances beyond your control, or thanks to your own ignorance, or as the result of those who would wish you ill. Motivation gets you to focus on your goal, reminding you of the promise of reward, the result you can achieve if you endure. It is what enables you to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and overcome those obstacles that life has thrown at you.

Motivation - the drive to do the seemingly impossible

Motivation – the drive to perform the seemingly impossible

Motivation is what stops you from waving the white flag.

Motivation keeps you going despite the odds.

Other times, you’ll be tempted to give up completely. The task seems Sisyphean, the circumstances dire, the situation hopeless. You’d like nothing better than to walk away and let someone else handle it. You’re ready to admit defeat. But motivation is what stops you from waving the white flag. It enables you to ignore the voice of the naysayer whispering defeat in your ear. Motivation is what causes you to keep putting one foot in front of the other as you trek on your seemingly endless journey.

Motivation is like a guiding star that keeps you from straying off course. It lights a fire under you and gets you going, giving you that spark in your eye. It is the fuel without which you’ll find yourself stranded, just as a car that runs out of gas winds up sitting on the shoulder of the highway, unable to make any further progress.

Each of us is unique, with our own particular skill sets and our own particular dreams. The talents and tools that we need to achieve our goals are therefore as varied and unique as we are. But the one thing that we all have in common is the need for motivation. Without motivation, our dreams will be stillborn.

If I have convinced you of the necessity of motivation and got you thinking about what motivation is, then I have accomplished what I set out to do with this post.

“Well and good,” you may protest, “but how do I get motivation?”

That’s a good question! I haven’t mentioned anything about that, because that’s another topic for another day, a question that I shall explore in the near future. Stick around!

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Life Lessons from a Furnace Repairman

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baby-its-coldThe other day—in the middle of the night, actually, on one of the coldest days thus far this season, with daytime highs in the single digits and windchills well below zero Fahrenheit—our furnace stopped working. It would fire up and blow unheated air for a minute or so, then quit before things had a chance to warm up. This was most disconcerting, not only because of the frigid weather, but also because the furnace was only a few years old, and there was absolutely no reason why it should malfunction. We went down to the basement and popped open the front panel for inspection, but, being a modern unit, there was very little for a laymen to monkey around with.

I hated to admit it, but there was no way around it: We’d have to call the HVAC guy and have him take a look; that meant it would cost us money. I could certainly come up with a hundred other things I’d rather spend my money on, but with the indoor temperature barely warmer than a walk-in refrigerator, I had little choice. So the call was made, and the repairman was scheduled to come between noon and two. Until then we’d have to tough it out, wrapped up in blankets and huddled around the space heater in the spare room we used as a home office.

Of course, being scheduled to come in a certain window of time and actually doing so are two different things. The kids, as kids are wont to do, failed to grasp this subtlety and took things rather too literally, commenting every five minutes, “It’s after two o’clock—why isn’t the repairman here yet?” Indeed, a good question. But to be fair, at least the dispatcher had called prior to two to inform us that the repairman was on his way, so I guess that counted. If he could have flown, he would have made it.

At length the repairman arrived. I ushered him inside and led him downstairs to the furnace. He took a look, then pointed to the front of the unit. “See those flashing lights there?”

Well, now that you mention it—

“Those are diagnostic lights. And when I’m king,” he said, popping off the front panel, “I’ll make it so every furnace will have these troubleshooting flowcharts on the outside of the panel in plain sight, so you won’t have to call guys like me all the time.”

And there, hidden on the inside of the panel, was a diagram that cracked the code displayed by the diagnostic lights. Who’da thunk—

The repairman was actually rather helpful, and intent on educating me in the interest of avoiding future unnecessary, expensive house calls. “All the modern furnaces have these charts, but it’s silly to put them on the inside where people don’t think to look. But as you can see here, this’ll tell you exactly what your problem is. Have you changed your air filter lately?”

I was floored, and not a little chagrined. “Really? You mean something like that—” I reached over and lifted out the dust-laden filter. Sure enough, the furnace kicked on all by itself, happily sucking unimpeded air from the intake duct.

“Yup. It’s a safety feature. A dirty air filter reduces the efficiency of the furnace, making it work harder.”

“I admit, an air filter is one of those things that’s easy to forget about. I haven’t given it much thought—”

The repairman held up the useless filter. “I’d say you haven’t given it any thought. Most people don’t. That’s why I advise folks to mark it down on their calendar, or let their monthly gas bill serve as a reminder to change filters. A little basic maintenance goes a long way. The trick is not to let things get out of hand in the first place. In other words, stop problems before they start. It’ll be cheaper, too, in the long run.”

He proceeded to check out the rest of the furnace to make sure everything was functioning properly, but, as was expected, there were no other issues that required attention.

Echoes of Barney Fife rang through my head:  “Nip it in the bud!”  I thanked him for coming out and tending to our furnace. If only there were another way besides the hard way to learn these things—

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On Writing Longhand.

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Writing longhand

Writing longhand is liberating ~

I like to write longhand. My preference is to use a fountain pen, but in many respects a fountain pen seems too lofty, too sacred, if you will, to be put to profane use. So, for mundane, everyday writing I utilize a pencil.

In an age where computers are ubiquitous and schoolchildren are scarcely taught cursive—the rationale being that typing is a more practical skill for the digital age and people won’t need to write by hand anymore—the notion of writing longhand seems quaint, if not heterodox. Why bother? What’s the point? Isn’t it a waste of time, especially if you’re planning on typing up a manuscript later?

Well, no, I don’t think so. There is so much that is lost when one neglects writing longhand.

Being able to write on paper is inherently liberating. You aren’t locked into a rigid array of pixels dictating that you must live in a rectilinear world. Writing on paper gives you the freedom to write left to right, right to left, up and down, down and up, backwards, diagonally, circularly, in between the lines, in the margins, wherever you desire and however you desire. You can overcome a bout of writer’s block by doodling in the middle of your opus, should you choose, rather than sit there and endure the insulting mockery of a blinking cursor. When you realize your writing is flat and clunky and wholly unacceptable, you can start over with a fresh piece of paper after first having derived satisfaction from marking the offensive tripe with a huge “X.”

The act of writing on paper is a sensory experience, involving four of the five senses. You can see the strokes forming letters and words as you manipulate your writing instrument, resulting in a page full of penmanship that, if not beautiful with well-formed letters, is at least uniquely yours. You can feel the texture of the paper, whether it be high-quality linen stationery or cheap recycled paper with 80% post-consumer content; you can feel the smooth wood of a Ticonderoga, the rubber grip of a Pentel mechanical, or the balanced weight of a Parker “51.” You can hear the scritch-scratch of your pencil or fountain pen as it leaves the marks of your thoughts on the paper. And you can smell the wood shavings of a newly-sharpened pencil, the rubber of a recently used Pink Pearl, or the ink of a freshly written note.

We admire those who have mastered the calligrapher’s brush. Beautiful writing bespeaks grace and elegance. Someone receiving a handwritten note or hand-lettered invitation recognizes the time and effort inherent in such communication, the writer having thus chosen to share a bit of his soul.

Writing with a computer, in contrast, lacks this intimacy. The computer is a mediator between you and your words, allowing you to see but not feel your words, imposing soulless uniformity through the use of standardized, ubiquitous fonts. There is no room for individuality, no room for variation, no room for deviation. With a computer, you cannot tell if the words were scribbled in haste, written in excitement, or penned with the deliberate movements of the very young or very old. You cannot tell if the person learned Gothic or Spencerian script, or wrote in Zaner-Bloser, the Palmer method, or D’Nealian.

With computers, a thousand monkeys may eventually be able to pound out Shakespeare, but limit these simians to a pen, and never would they be able produce so much as a simple sonnet. It is said that one of the chief differences between man and beast is the invention and use of tools. Perhaps with computers we have come full circle—it shall be the writing instrument that distinguishes the civilized from the uncivilized.

So celebrate your humanity, your individuality, your civility—pick up a pen and write!

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What’s in a Name?

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Naming a website isn’t as easy as you’d think.  First off, many of the “good ones” are taken by squatters and other unscrupulous critters who hijack decent domain names for the sole purpose of holding them ransom.  (A pox on such people.  They need to get an honest job.)  Consequently, it takes a bit of ingenuity to come up with something that is available.

Additionally, there should be some sort of rhyme or reason to the domain name.  It should be memorable in some way:  intriguing, philosophical, reflective of a brand, making a statement—something.  Otherwise, just string together random letters or concatenate arbitrary words and be done with it.

As if that weren’t enough, a domain name should be euphonious.  It should trip lightly off the tongue, rather than get choked in the throat.  It should be pleasant to the ear, rather than a jarring juxtaposition of phonemes that do not play well together.  It should not be long or unwieldy.  It should steer clear of homophones and other vagaries of English orthography.

So, whence came “Nordic Solitude”?

Nordic.  I wanted the name to reflect my ethnic heritage.  I am a descendant of the Norse, or Northmen.  Although I was born and raised in America, I have had the opportunity to live for a time in the land of my forebears, which has helped to broaden my perspective.

Solitude.  With modern society’s inordinate emphasis on “community,” the concept of “solitude” is anathema.  I’m not entirely certain why this is, or why individuals who seek out solitude are generally viewed as emotionally deficient, if not defective.  I suspect it has to do with society’s tendency to conflate “being alone” with “being lonely.”  (Susan Cain’s book, Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, goes a long way towards validating introversion.  It provides insight regarding introverts, and therefore should be required reading for extroverts, I believe 🙂 .)

Personality aside, there is little in modern life and/or society that lends itself to quiet contemplation and reflection.  Our lives are filled with noise and distraction—from the idiot box that forms the basis for background noise at home to the iPods and smart phones that get dragged everywhere, much like a blankie or favorite toy might accompany a small child at all times, regardless of the occasion.  We are so rarely alone with our thoughts.

Solitude provides an antidote to this frenetic, switched-on, wired life.  Solitude gives us the chance to listen to what we’re hearing, watch what we’re seeing, taste what we’re eating, and notice what we’re feeling.  Solitude enables us to take a deep, cleansing breath and quiet our minds so we can ponder what we’re thinking.  Solitude is the pause that refreshes, so we are better able to connect with one another because we have been able first to connect with ourselves.

Nordic Solitude.  This phrase therefore unites these two concepts.  Norway is a land of natural beauty and rugged wilderness, with plenty of opportunity to escape the trappings of modern, civilized life.  One of the stereotypes of Norwegians is that of the cold, aloof Northerner, and perhaps there is a grain of truth to this—as the old joke goes, when asked about his vacation, the average person responds that he had a great time in part because his vacation destination was crowded and popular; in contrast, the Norwegian would respond that he had a good time because nobody else was there.  Norwegians appreciate their country, and frequently spend their free time at their cabins in the back of beyond—cabins with primitive facilities, and largely lacking modern comforts.  Of course this doesn’t necessarily imply that all Norwegians are a contemplative sort, but they are comfortable enough in their own skin that they are not afraid of solitude.  They know how to be alone without being lonely.

Hence, Nordic Solitude.

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Happy 2014!

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The thing that I like about a new year is that it carries with it the expectation and hope of better things.  No matter how the previous year went, we get to take down the old calendar and put up a new one, one that’s wide open with fresh pictures.  There’s just something mentally liberating about starting over with a blank slate, like when you get stuck on a math problem, and you crumple up your old scratch paper and throw it in the wastepaper basket – the new, blank paper allows you to forget all the false starts and rabbit trails, freeing your mind to view the problem with fresh eyes.

Likewise, let us close the chapter on 2013, with all of its mistakes and dead ends.  Let us look to the future with fresh eyes, dreaming big dreams.  Let us pray and plan for a better 2014!