Catalysts

Waiting for other people to do something, or anything, before you do something is about waiting for action to take place so that your reaction can follow.

It’s about following.

But it’s only concerning incidents that follow once the main event has taken place.

The complete situation is like a chemical equation: it’s all in relation to being a catalyst or a reaction.

Depending on the catalyst the reaction can be rapid or slow, and at the end of the reactive process the catalyst remains the same. Given these facts, I think it’s worth considering whether I want to be a catalyst for change or merely have a reaction to change imposed on me. The reactive element of this process is usually altered at the end of it while the catalyst remains the same: able to cause reactions within different environments again and again.

With that choice to make I’d suggest it is better to live an active than a re-active life.

It’s March, a new month, so that can be a catalyst, can’t it? I think the start of each month means a spring into action ... doesn’t it?

All the world’s a stage

It is said that everybody role plays – at least a lot of the time they do.

Occasionally an outgoing personality is created to hide a certain fear or it may be part of a desire to be different.

Everybody’s identity is a constantly morphing reality depending on who they are with or who they are not with.

When alone some people can be the happiest or saddest that their beings can express, and yet, when they are in the opposite situations the emotional character creation also changes.

From Shakespeare's As You Like It, 1600:

JAQUES:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

If, according to Shakespeare, all the world is a stage, then I suggest you play it ... As You Like It.

Learning Opportunities

Do you remember everything that you set out to learn? If you do, please tell me the secret!

I was thinking about the various learning opportunities that have occurred throughout my life and I remember one particular attempt at learning another European language. I still remember a few words and phrases but nothing substantial, and when I compared it to the amount of French I remember I tried to figure out why one was easier to remember than the other (not that I am anywhere near fluent in French).

Then it came to me that the language that has more or less slipped from my memory never had an anchor there at all. This was because I only went to the classes to accompany a friend who wanted to learn Italian because a boy she was attracted to was Italian!

I went for friendship, she went for potential love. I forgot the lessons and I’m not sure how much she remembers now – her current husband is not Italian and she lives in California, so Spanish would be more convenient to her now.

In contrast, I thought about something I am passionate about and I don’t remember when the learning started and I know that it hasn’t ended.

My conclusion is that when you have different reasons for learning the lessons can stick like glue or fall away like old wallpaper.

Motivations make the difference in learning opportunities.