Inside-Out

There is a saying that goes something like this , " Think outside the box. ".

It's definetly a great saying. Normally people apply it towards solving some type of problem, or comping up with some great idea. For all intents and purposes, this is an awesome phrase. You don't really know how great it is until you experience it yourself.

There have been a few happenings in my life that lead me to believe that this is probably the best way to view yourself, and to view situations. If you can think outside the box, and from inside the box, at the same time you are at a substantial advantage. Which leads to the question, do you even need a box?

Our belief system can aid us or hurt us. If you are finding that you are hindered in some way, and you can't seem to get out. Why not try and take a moment and step outside of your perspective, and view yourself in a different light? You may find that there are better beliefs out there, and there are better paths towards what ever goals you hold.

You may just realize that you are in the dark, not because there is no light, but because you have blinded yourself to it.

Holding conflicting beliefs with hinder your progress, and make things that have previously worked for you cease to work.

Fog and Mist

I stepped outside of the house today, it's 11:47 PM.

There is a lot of mist/fog/haze, I suppose it usually comes this time of year. It is a very insightful experience, to walk outside in it. The fog is thick, only allowing you to see about 25 yards ahead. As you walk, you can make out vague silhouettes. You can hear the sounds of life beyond the layer of haze, but you can't see it. All that is there is you, and the present moment.

I walked for quite some time. Looking ahead was fruitless, looking behind the same. As I walked and the moments changed, I found my surroundings shifting slowly. I was still in the center of it, seeing only a small circle in a massive haze of what might have been terrain.

It didn't matter what was ahead of me, I quickly left what was behind me.

This is life.

If you take the second to realize that the present is where your powers lie, you will be surprised at what you feel.

Today I experienced such a moment, before the fog. But it took a while for it to sink in. I changed something, myself, my surroundings, reactions... In a second, with just a moment of clarity I made things better. Maybe I'm to blame for anything that has gone wrong up to this moment.

I hope I know better now.

Nature and Coincidence

I find it completely weird that so many things at so many parts of my life have perfectly 'fallen into place'. The best part of it all is that it doesn't require post-cognition. ( I don't know if that's even an acceptable word :-P) What I mean to say is I can see when these "coincidences" are happening in the present, and I don't have to look at the past to notice that they happened. Of course, Now that these things have happened, I have to tell you about the things that happened in the past :-P.

Let me give you a few examples of this strange coincidences:

1) A shift in focus for Psipog: Not only does it seem that I was discontented at the way things where going, Sean and many others shared the same sentiment. I find it odd that it would all of a sudden happen "at once". The way I had been feeling for several months expressed by many people in a few days to weeks.

2) I want a motorcycle: Ok, what's so big about that? I have been seeing a shit load of motorcycles. I swear that I see 3x more motorcycles now than I have seen in the past 2 years. The funniest, if not the strangest part, that my girlfriend has noticed the same thing, and happen to meet people who have motorcycles. While that isn't odd, owning a motorcycle, it is a little weird at the frequency of it all.

3) Nature and Existance: I have undergone a shift in the past month that involves me developing a deeper respect for nature, and a great admiration for it. Now, this isn't strange in itself, because it's relatively hard to miss nature (and its beauty). There is a palm tree that I used to go to that was near an Estuary relatively close to my house. The palm tree got me into walking through the estuary paths (I guess it was pretty convincing). After walking on the path, I decided that some time I would write about admiration of nature. I naturally got lazy, and here we go... One of my favorite bloggers wrote about his recent adventure into nature: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/09/overcoming-news-addiction/

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That's just three examples there of what I call strange coincidence. You may or may not see it that way, but what else could they be? I find all events significant and helpful. It would seem that what dominates my thoughts seems to be coming into my perception, and the perception of others around me. But, let me tell you a little about nature.

I discovered the estuary recently. It's a relatively large tract of marsh land enhabited by many a type of bird and amphibian. It's really a neat place. I don't know often you go outside but you should increase that amount by 10x. If you don't you're missing out.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about how cool it would be to get out side and go camping. Nature, the outdoors, wilderness.... All of these things are amazing. Thinking about it gets you away from the hussle-bussle of normal, everday, corporate life. It gets you away from the t.v., computer, and it isolates your mind away from everything that wishes to encroach upon it. It's very fun, and inspiring.

Like I said above, there was a palm tree that I would normally walk to. It's something like me, the palm tree. It's relatively short for its type. But, it's very stout and sturdy. It displays a healthy dark green color in it's long leaves. It's strong, I guess is what I'm trying to say. It's also very respectable. (I'm talking more about the palm tree than myself here :-P). The palm tree inspired me onto the path that leads through the estuary, and I can't help but respect the tree for that. It's an awesome tree, and I'd love to plant one of those palms somewhere in my yard.

I can't help but wish that I lived closer to nature, and that those around me had the same amount of respect that I am growing within me. I think if we all respected life and nature more... The world might just be a better place.

Good luck for now,
Youseff

It begins...

Hello everyone!

It would seem that within the past week I have actually been working to my goals!

I have been working out consistenly for about a week now. I have organized, to some extent, my room. Got my sleeping habits in fair order, AND am now learning to play Bass guitar. Boy are my fingers numb from that :-P.

These are all awesome things to me, and by thinking about them, I can see my future opening up to me. It sound weird, but, these little simple things show such a huge shift in my attitude, and my diligence. After thinking for long enough, I mustered up some momentum, and nothing is going to stop me from getting the ball moving even further.

I haven't written in my personal "journal" in a while, regarding my philosophies and rants of daily life containing questions I ask myself and ask about the world. I will continue this here, and then pick it up tonight.

One of the first thoughts that I have is about my ability to communicate my thoughts effectively to others. Often times, I find that I am getting ahead of myself when trying to communicate to other people. What I find "common sense" is quite often "uncommon sense". I discuss what I am thinking about and people are either lost, or misinterpret the words I am saying. I will focus now, on all the ideas I am going to share with people before I share them. Thankfully, I have some idea of the things I am going to share with people before I get them out there :-P.

Another thought is on the concept of "truth". It is a word that I have become "bonded to". Not by action yet, but by mere relation. When I hear the word "truth" it inspires me to seek the best in myself, the world, and my environment. I guess it's compirable to zen, though, because the more you "talk" about it, and try and explain it, it loses its meaning :-P.

A final thought that I want to add is about "psi". I haven't practiced for over a month now, and I'm thinking that's a "good thing". The way I was practicing before was unfulfilling. It was repetative, it was drab and boring. Think about it this way. With all the possible ways to practice psi, why am I constantly spending my time doing the same game, same motions, over and over again, when I could be expanding my thoughts and knowledge, and pushing my limits. You don't get good unless you get ambitious. Something I have seemed to have lost resently and am just discovering again.

I want to continue practicing Psi. But I want to do it in a way that actually impacts my life, and the life of others for the better. A way that forces me/them to think and grow.

I told you it'd be good when I wrote again :-p.

A little bit of nothing

Hey All,

It's been longer than I intended. But, that's fine as of now. I'm going to be 100% honest with you. I've been doing a lot of "nothing" lately. I have some great ideas that I would love to impliment, and indeed shall.

Only a couple of problems that I've noticed with myself as of lately. I'm not writing the good stuff down. And, I'm not doing anything :-P. But it is fine for now. I'm still growing, as strange as it sounds. A lot of transitions are happening and I think I'm adapating fairly well. I feel as if I am more "independent" of my environment. That is to say, I am making choices without my environment affecting them as they usually have in the past.

I'll be back again, my friends, what news will I bring then? Until then, here is a quote. I'll give you 1000$ in Youseff money if you can tell me where this is from:

"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone"

A Great Distraction

I just got back from a two day road trip to Oakland... Thankfully, I had to travel to such a terrible place to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mars Volta in concert! It was an awesome experience, not only did I see a great band I met some awesome people, expanded my world, and gained that much more confidence in my freedom and abilities to adapt and grow.

It was great getting out of the house, and far away. A friend of mine, and I, decided to take the trip because it would be a great story... And it is. We met two people, stayed at their house over night, and drove back the next morning. There was no way I was going to attempt a drive home without some sleep :-P. But, the strangest thing, I felt like I knew these two people... Like I saw them before, and we where familiar. In anycase, it was pretty cool how the first fifteen minutes at the concert we found them and got invited to hang out after wards, and spend the night if we needed to.

"Fate" seems strange, doesn't it? How things seem to work out for the better, or how they just seem to work out. It's almost beautiful :).

I got a lot of thinking done on the road trip, and I'll sare some of that with you guys in a day or so :).

In the mean time, have an awesome day.

Psipog, Psi, And all the good Stuff

Hey everyone who reads this, whoever you are ;).

You've probably heard the news by now, if you pay attention to my mini-blog-like-thing-a-majigg, that www.psipog.net is going down. The decision was made by Sean (Aka Peebrain) to take 'er offline! When I first heard the news of it, I was slightly confused, but after reading Sean's reasoning on why he is doing it, I actually felt good.

He seems to have a new purpose in his head now, something he definetly feels inspires him. This is wonderful. I can't help but wonder what it is he's thinking about doing :-P. I find it so odd that so many people find so many likeness', congruencies if you will, in how they have been feeling, and what is going on at Psipog. I myself was pretty weirded out, and almost scared, at how accurate all of the things Sean said in his blog where (Link to your right, I'm lazy right now).

I feel like I have completely stopped growing in Psi, or if not completely at least am growing very slowly. There is more to Psi than what I am doing, a lot more that I barely understand. I think I had it in the past, when I would meditate... When I would just think about Psi and accept it and all the possibilities that what I have always done weren't quite what was really out there.

I should go back to doing that, and I will. I have decided to take a break from the Forums at Psipog, and from IRC/Chat in general. I ALMOST went full scale and said I will completely abandon the internet for a while, but alas, I lack the gumption to do so.

So, as of tomorrow, I shall not be seen for a month MINIMUM. That's right, my goal is as follows: Do not visit forums, or IRC, or AIM for 1 month! Sounds pretty easy, huh? We'll find out.

So, why am I doing this?

Going back to Psipog, and what I said, I have not grown. Now, I'm not going to blame Psipog, because that'd be stupid of me. It would be deflecting responsibility to an inanimate object, if you even want to call it an object. I think I have been forming a bad habit by patrolling the forums, and thinking that was my "psi practice" for the day. I have been substituting practice for chat/irc, except for on rare occasions.

It's time to think about your life. (My life).

There's an awesome lyric in the new Muse song called "Knights of Cydonia", the lyric reads " Don't waste your time, or time will waste you." (Ofcourse it's sung and sounds way awesome in song form).

I will however, make it a point to update my blog every few days, to keep everyone updated on my progress, if I have any. Which I will. So maybe I Should have excluded that :-P.

You MAY e-mail me with your wishes of a Happy Birthday at Wooglesboogle@gmail.com , I turn 19 in Sept. 8th.

Next time you find me, next time you talk to me, I'll be a far better person.