Monthly Archives: April 2013

A-Z Challenge: N is for Nostalgia

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee
© 2013  Raymond Alexander Kukkee [caption id="attachment_1010" align="alignleft" width="300"]Briton Riviere 'The Old Gardener' Briton Riviere 'The Old Gardener'[/caption] N is for Nostalgia.   The good old days. Times past.  " Back in the old days we..." How many times have you reflected, remembered better days, happier times? Nostalgia offers the poignant remembrance that social values appear to have changed. "Society is different. Civilization and humanity itself has somehow changed."

Changed for the Better? Is It Changed at All?

Today it is easy to sit back in sorrow, listening to tragic events unwinding in appalling news, -and dwell in the confines of nostalgia.   It is easy to conclude that yes, life seemed better 'in the old days', life was 'safer', and  more 'family-oriented'. People seemed more kind and more helpful to one another, society seemed gentler. White picket fences. Mom & Pop corner stores.  Happy children. Afternoon matinees with popcorn and  a soda at the ice cream shop. The illusion of 'the good life'  lived on happily-perhaps dangerously and naively  so. World War II was finished and life was 'peaceful'.   Is nostalgia itself deceiving us?

Yes, Nostalgia is Easy-But  It is also Easy to be Disillusioned and  Wrong.

Life was easy and  better then.    Easy right into into Korea.  Vietnam.  Somalia. Easing right into  Bosnia, the Gulf Wars, 9/11,  terrorism,  Iraq.  Afghanistan. Close your eyes, ignore reality, flash forward, to  better times and let's just skip those endless, terrible events.  'Life's better now."    Right. In today's world  Iran is threatening peace in the Middle East, secular unrest everywhere is rampant and unpredictable,  and North Korea's bluster  is threatening nuclear annihilation of the USA. Horrific terrorist acts by fanatics with their own deadly agenda, like yesterday's insanity of bombing of innocents at the Boston Marathon Bombing, madmen shooting children at Sandy Hook,  and Columbine, --and endless other venues keep happening. It is incredibly sad to hear of beloved, 8-year-old children being victims of fanatic terrorists in any venue.   Death, mayhem and destruction today may suddenly make the past appear more peaceful, --but in reality it was not. These cowardly and inexcusable incidents and attacks upon the innocent are unbelievably sad, terribly tragic to families of those lost, maimed and  injured--and frightening to the ever more wary, scared, and nervous public.  Our hearts and prayers go out to our American neighbours.  These incidents will never be forgotten-they are printed indelibly on the minds of children and adults alike--worldwide, all of humanity. Senseless acts such as these, regardless of venue and detail, are rooted in evil and madness. We poignantly wish to somehow distance our minds from the pain and evil of today, and slip into nostalgia, the "perfect peace of older times". We willingly disillusion ourselves. If one questions the reality that is the imaginary past --so easily contrived with the art of nostalgia --was civilization any better?  No. Is this time in history really changed for the 'better' --or worse --if at all ? No. We think not. The same elements of collective human insanity exist. Genocide, murder, war, bombings, rape, and the warmonger's disruption of peace. The venues may change but  the foolishness,  violence and insanity of humanity does not.  The same insatiable greed, stupidity, and foolishness exists.  Social problems continue to receive the same unacceptable lip service. The same brutality, animalistic behaviour, pervasive hate and racism are 'alive and well'.   Wars and mind-chilling rumors of the ultimate war persist.  The grip of perpetual and progressively worse fear is endlessly encouraged to invade the psyche, encouraging the belief that the events of today are somehow so much  worse than the past.  Instil more fear. Frightened people are easier to control by power-hungry governments.  There is nothing new under the sun. We must come to understand . Only the names of the victims change.  A quantum leap in the way society thinks and develops is required. As an aside, it seems to me that one fact of nostalgia itself remains constant.           In reality, the victims of  nostalgia are all of us. Collectively.   That is why N is for nostalgia.   Is that Incoming I hear/ Photo credit:   Briton Riviere: 'The old gardener'    Wikimedia commons +  
Posted in Humanity, Life, Major Issues, Reflections, The Unknown | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

A to Z Challenge: M is for Motivation

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee
©  by Raymond Alexander Kukkee [caption id="attachment_1260" align="alignleft" width="300"]Autonomy, purpose & mastery Autonomy, purpose & mastery[/caption]   M is for Motivation. Do you suffer from lack of motivation?   Why do some people complete projects started and enthusiastically take on new ones, while others procrastinate, work half speed,  delay progress when offered any opportunity to do so,  and ultimately, never complete what they have started? Why the difference?    The secret ingredient is motivation.  The drive to remain motivated.  As an interesting observation, the  successful usually have a motive.

What is Motivation?

Progress in any endeavor is clearly made when enough will to complete a goal is applied with full force, but what is motivation?  Incentive, a promise of reward? How about an image of success dwelling in the mind?  Autonomy, the will to govern one's own actions,  purpose,  the reason to perform,  and mastery, the ability and skills set required  to achieve a given goal all play a part in the end game.   Which of these is the most important in the concept of 'motivation'?  How do you motivate yourself? Where does your drive come from?  Do you respond to the carrot or the stick? The hard fact is, no matter how skilled and masterful one may be at doing something- and no matter what the reward, (the carrot, or purpose)  if  an individual lacks the willpower to get on with life and be self-encouraged and autonomous, self-driven, nothing will ever  be done, no progress shall ensue, and logically no goals can be reached. We need motivation to overcome inertia. Motivation ensures motion and contributes to activity and ultimately success.   That's why M is for Motivation.    Is that Incoming I hear? Photo credit:  Nevit Dilmen Creative Commons Wikimedia.org +
Posted in Life, Reflections, Uncategorized, Writing Life | Tagged | 7 Comments