An important goal in my
life is to be INFORMED instead of just opinionated.
Welcome
John William Tuohy lives in Washington DC
The artistic journey
I run blogs on Greek philosophy,
Roman history, psychology, American history, literature, painting, Pop art,
writing and Latin. I spend my time doing this, posting every morning for one
hour, because it helps me endure with day to day life, it makes life more
pleasant.
During that hour in the early
morning, I find myself and I lose myself in the arts. It’s almost a scared time
for me. But let me explain, that doesn’t
mean I spend my time working on art to separate myself from life. Not at
all. Despite what some people think, the
arts are not meant to escape reality but rather to enhance it.
So I run those blogs because
the arts restore me and really, if you think about it, that’s what the arts
for; to revive the imagination, to renew the creative soul and to see what is invisible
to someone else. As Picasso said “The Purpose of art is washing the dust of
daily life off our souls”
Keep the faith
“Faith
consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.”
Of course that’s easy to say
but difficult to put to work in our lives. Faith is a symbolic, powerful doctrine
that we train outselves to have and to keep. (You have to work to keep faith
because losing one’s faith is easy to do and it is usually lost in seconds.)
I’m not talking about
religious faith, here. As important as religious faith is in our lives, the definition
of faith goes beyond that. Rather, I’m talking about trust without proof that
we should trust, belief without proof that we should believe. Trusting and
believing in what we cannot see.
And why not? Why not trust and believe in the invisible?
We lose our faith, we lose
our nerve and we lose our self-assurance mostly over things we cannot see. Things….worry,
negative thoughts, doubt…. that have no proof that they exist. We make them up.
The worst thing can happen, true, but we tend to give it life and authority
before it does. (By the way, the worst thing usually never happens)
And yet while we allow
these negative, pain in the butt invisible forces to dictate our lives we tend
to lose faith because we’re looking for concrete, rock solid evidence that
faith in the positive is worth having.
If you want faith, create
faith. If you need to see it, look for it. Look at the miracles that are
everywhere and if you can’t find one remember this, you’re a miracle.
Look, every day is going to
be a test of your faith so look for daily affirmations of faith.
They’re everywhere,
everywhere and all you have to do is to want to see them. It’s all about what
you allow yourself to see and to think. You are the result of what you allow
into your life, it all plays a role in creating us and our attitudes. So see
the miracles, hell, be the miracle.
Remember, a happy person, a person of faith,
isn’t someone who enjoys life due to pleasant circumstances. Rather, a happy,
faithful person is someone who has decided to adapt a positive set of attitudes
about life no matter what the circumstances are. Speak to your soul, affirm
your own faith “I have faith in myself and my fellow man. Life is good. I will
find the positive and I will live the positive”
Remember to stay reasonably
healthy. Commit yourself to that. A healthy body is a happy body and a happy,
positive mind.
And dream. Dream about all
the great stuff that can happen in your life. It’s good for you. Dream your oldest best
dreams. Our society demands practicality out of its citizens and in the process
drains the dreams out of them. Society is wrong. Dream if you want to. It’s
your life, not theirs.
What is the meaning of life?
What is the meaning of
life?
Simple answer. The meaning
of life is to give life a meaning.
Here’s the catch, making
that simple answer work requires never ending, life long commitment and diligence
to your life goals and dreams.
....and don't forget to have fun, like this guy.
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Let us dedicate ourselves
“Let us dedicate ourselves
to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and
make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say
a prayer for our country and for our people.” Robert F. Kennedy
...and tell him I sent you.
“If you have faith when you pray, you will be given whatever you ask for. -Matthew 21:22”
There's always one..........
“You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” ― Dita Von Teese”
You can’t build on regret
You can’t build on regret but you can learn from it. So learn from the
past, prepare for the future, but live in the moment….by the way…if you are
doing ANYTHING produtive and meaningful with your life, there are a lot more
regrets along the way so don’t waste your time on them.
....and don't forget to be happy....like this guy...
Don’t doubt yourself
Don’t doubt yourself because you’ll be taking work away from the people who
don’t like you. That’s their job.
It’s never too late to be what you might have been because what or who you are now or what you were in the past doesn’t have a damn thing to do with who can become later on.
It’s never too late to
be what you might have been because what or who you are now or what you were in
the past doesn’t have a damn thing to do with who can become later on.
When I was young I wanted
to be a writer and a college graduate. But I was a poor and a high school dropout
and for me, back then, becoming those two things was a larger than life dream. Grand
things.
You have to aim high and
when you are as broke and busted as I was when I was young, there’s no
difference between dreaming about having a decent place to live and being a
nuclear scientist. They both see impossible. But I held on to my dreams and my
plans.
I gave up hope more than once, especially as I
neared my 30s. But I kept dreaming and tried every possible angle to put those
dream to work but most of those schemes failed. I kept trying. I was aiming high but I figured
that if I failed, I failed greatly. As my idol Robert F. Kennedy said “Only those who dare to fail
greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
Keep trying because the greatest failure is not to try.
One day, I
realize that the special things that we want to achieve in our lives, no
matter what they are, are going to take time. I think that’s because as we get older
we develop a better grasp on time, of understanding what it is. I
published my first book at 43 and I graduated from college at 57.
I write full time and I
love what I do. I absolutely love what I do. I’m a lucky man. However I will never be a successful
writer and I can live with that. I’d rather be a failure in
something that I love than a success in something that I hate. I am a lucky man.
It’s never too late to
be what you might have been. How long it takes you to get there doesn’t matter.
it’s all about unlearning fear
For those of us on a spiritual journey, it’s all about unlearning fear. Unlearning fear and replacing it with
the love it took away, the love and the happiness and the good nature that we
are born with.
Of course that’s easier said than
done. You gotta have faith that you’ll win. Faith in yourself, faith in the
power of goodness.
A childhood in foster care has left
me filled with fear, and anger and hate and suspicion but with all of that I’m
one of the lucky ones. It hasn’t killed
me. But it has killed others and it continues to kill them, by the thousands
every year. Of the 20,000 kids who will age-out of foster care this year, about
half will fall to homelessness, jail, drug addiction, lack of opportunity, lack
of education, teenage pregnancy, no support on any front and it all takes its
toll.
Still, I struggle every day to lose
the fear and it is an epic war within my soul and honestly, I lose more battles
than I win and it’s discouraging and I have never known peace.
Do you know the saying “Be kind, for
everyone you meet is a fighting hard battle”?
Well, it’s like that.
But I keep trying. I know the verse from somewhere in the bible
that reads “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have
kept the faith”
When my time is done
that’s what I want to be able to say about myself. I unlearned hate. I never
allowed fear to win. I fought the good fight.
We, you and I, are
fellow traveler, so I’ll let you know how it goes and I wish you nothing but
victory in your own struggle.
Learn to overlook things
Learn to overlook things. Make a practice of it.
Trust me on this, I spent a life time shooting myself in the foot or placing
the same damn foot in my mouth because of my inability not to overlook the
glaring stupid, the lies, the crass and hypocrisy that is much a part of daily
life.
The stupid, the crass, the lair and the hypocrite will
not, I assure you, appreciate your pointing out the obvious. Believe me, you
are not the only one who sees but by not overlooking, you’ll be the only one
bringing pointing it out and the only one making enemies.
It’s not our job to decide the way a person wants
to live their live. Overlook it, mind your affair and be happy with that.
.....and remember to have fun
What we see
What we see, in all
things, depends mainly on what we look for. So look for the good, the positive,
and the fun. It’s not always easy to see but it’s good for your state of mind
and the health of your soul.
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