The Courage To Be - The Simple Truth
60The Letter
"Dear Ann. This is a letter. Love, Freda"
What an inspired letter it was, too! She had been trying to explain a simple concept and I had been coming back with pages of words (handwritten, of course!) and ample logic why not. So, in that simple letter, she demonstrated her premise without even trying again to explain it - and it left me muttering to myself.
But in so doing, she awakened my ability to see THROUGH to the concept and to internalize it for myself almost without resistance, and perhaps, eventually to be able to explain it with clarity and in words.
But I was to learn fully that this is true: "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." I wish I could remember who coined that wise adage.
Freda’s wasn't a trivial concept. In its utter simplicity, it was profound. She had observed that I was immersed in and strangling by a hopeless situation and that I was supporting my idiocy by rationalizing it and intellectualizing everything else.
She'd tried to point out basic facts that I'd chosen to ignore. But still I managed to avoid facing them. no matter what she tried to show me as alternatives. I just didn't get it. . If anything, I seemed more adamant in my efforts to jusify and rationalize my bad choice and its progressively more futile consequences.
Freda always kept her letters simple. She often wrote only a sentence or two on a page in a large free script and her letters were usually no more than six or seven pages of these cursory, poster-like sentences, written on small-size plain paper which seemed to bear the scent of tranquility. So she had been demonstrating from where she was coming all along. I'd been upset by the reminder of the gap between there and where I was and a bit terrified of opening the can of worms on which my precarious position balanced, at the expense of my being integrated. It was frightening.
A Glimmer of Light
Finally, though she found a way to bring a pause to my headlong plunge through and into a sticky oblivion and to get her message across to light an awareness I had not stumbled across in my much reading - up till then - or in my own mind despite its mental gymnastics and natural preference for simplicity.
I began to let go of the frantic scramble to think it through and as I began to simply look at the concepts in action in her letter, by which she kindly and mercifully ruled out opportunities to come back with the usual outpouring of rationalizations, it produced a quietude which allowed me to internalize principles rather than to analyze them as ideas. Then, as they always must, they had a chance of becoming my own, appropriately altered to "fit" me. They could use all my feelings and instincts properly.
At first I resisted - but - resisted what? She offered me nothing TO resist. I began to relax and to feel the flow she referred to, an inner peace and quiet where wisdom rules rather than intelligence or vocabulary.
Freda did not try to impose her philosophy on me but she simply allowed it to be seen and responded to as fit so that I could find my own inner guide and learn to trust and assert it appropriately.
She demonstrated how much she cared with her almost zen-like masterful stroke. As if she pointed at a frog and declared - SEE! in response to my questions about what matters. I had little choice but to begin to unravel my own traps and to SEE for myself - with clarity and understanding.
I think it was along about that time that I wrote:
Try to not make
Your sense
Out of another's
Inspiration;
And let him
Tell you
What it is.
I always could put into fewer poetic words a thought which I would ramble on about for chapters in prose!
Freda's concept was to FEEL what one truly feels and experiences and to SEE what is is really happening externally around one IN THE PRESENT.
Meanwhile, I kept on describing what I was trying to see through blinders and what I had read as if it were my authentic feelings. Yes, I know. Sounds confusing. perhaps unnecessarily so. Well - that's because confusing is what it IS so long as we deny our internal feelings and the wisdom of our bodies and so long as we let ourselves be lost in over-thinking, analyzing, anger and trusting external things while replaying the past over and over.
But Freda didn't explain her concepts in so many words. She simply demonstrated them and let me see for myself. Inspired!! Also she didn't give up on me. Courageous!
Denying one's truth is emotional suicide. I shudder to think what might have become of me had it not been for Freda's wise perception and counsel.
Kahlil Gibran: On Giving
- click -> Gibran - On Giving
The truest spirit of giving, by Kahlil Gibran in "The Prophet"
So What's In A Name?
Incidentally, about "Ann" in the greeting of her letter: I'd allowed others to choose my name from among the possibilities of my given name since I could remember. I wonder who I thought of myself as being during those years! I finally recognized this as being a part of the separation from myself which had been slowly progressing far too long. I'd allowed it, though, so I realized I had the power - the sole power - to change it.
I was born Nellie Anna, which gradually became Nellie. Then it became Nell, though eventually I did manage to impose on it Nell Ann, in a feeble grope for identity at one point. That was a time when my designing talent had blossomed and I was being recognized for it. I chose as my design name NELAN. It was a brave front. I was whistling in the dark.
Before long I was renamed Ann because someone incidental in my life decided that Nell was too corny and countrified. I merely shrugged and accepted it..
Ann stuck a long while and was it the furthest from the real name I had. At that point, I’d virtually been totally separated from my birth name And it persisted - and I allowed it to - all during the most difficult 20 or so years of my life and beyond, in which many other landmarks of my identity were being diminished without my firm assertion to reclaim my SELF.
Then some kind soul decided to rename me again. He thought he was exalting me when he would introduce me with a grand flourish in which one could almost hear the drum roll:
"And HE-E-ERE izzzz MY-Y-Y-Y ANNIE!!" Ta-da-da-da--da-DA!!
Annie. I'd never have chosen to be called Annie in a million years.. I didn’t like it. My Aunt Annie Laurie was beloved but not a shining example which I would have chosen either to emulate or as a namesake. My Aunts Nellie and Anna. for whom I was named, were both admirable women whose examples and light I was glad to embrace and to take as my own starting point. But it kept getting remade - and I kept allowing it to be!
I was extremely embarrassed by the grand flourish announcing me as someone else, a figment of someone's imagination, a "thing" or a possession. And being a shy, quiet person who was just beginning to break out of her shell to begin to feel entitled to her own personhood, it came as a deterrent at best. But it was well-meant (weren't they all?) and I tolerated it. Again, I failed to assert my basic responsibility and right to claim myself and to get on with growing up. And I was in my 40s! I very much needed to!
Well, I’d only just learned to drive!! I was still a mere neophyte due to my own lack of assertive backbone! And it would be several more years before I gathered my Courage To Be.
After graduating from that 6 year ‘education’, I resumed my original surname, for starters. But It would be another couple of years before I dumped “Ann’ and progressed to another step. Of course, the name issue was just the tip of the iceberg. My bootstraps neglect went much deeper.
Then I combined my original first and middle birth names into a single name in order to keep my original surname as a middle name. I had finally met and married an equal who had no need to possess or to take over. We both intended to respect our own and each other’s individuality and space, although we were physically inseparable. Fact is, I wouldn't have married then if he’d had other intentions, and I feel sure that neither would he, if I’d had other intentions. As it was, it was mutually supportive and encouraging, along with being fun and delightful.
The name thing was merely symbolic, I suppose. But as a major symbol, it played the part of a major step for me, the, first by laying claim to my name with any alterations being only those of my own choosing, rather than passively accepting whatever others deemed appropriate, even in the guise of "terms of endearment". And more, it was in taking full responsibility for all my past, present and further actions and their consequences. Until and unless one does that, the gains possible are extremely limited and the victim-mentality is highly likely to continue to undermine one’s full person-hood.
How much simpler it could have been to have started off free to BE and to be response-able! But in that case, perhaps its value wouldn’t have been so fully appreciated or – hopefully – as judiciously exercised.
Soothing Textures Created By Light From the Window
Yes, FP - it does seem a bit frightening to go with the flow. However, I've become convinced that it's the way it is and that 'control' is an illusion anyway. I think that knowing it and going with it allows one to exercise whatever 'control' one has - which is only over oneself, and once it's understood how illusionary that is, using the illusion when needed is OK. Example: I'm elderly. Fact. BUT I take good care of my health (diet, exercise, practice good posture & moderation, no smoking, push myself sensibly, avoid running to the doctor with every little twinge, avoid meds as much as possible, etc), -- things I can control myself. But now I have shingles anyway. I can't will it away. I took the week of meds (which I surely would have been better off starting as soon as symptoms appeared but I avoided seeing the doctor till I'd figured out what it was, and then I learned that immediate treatment is many times more effective! - backfire!) I'm doing everything I can to promote healing, but there it is. Not my plan. But beyond my control, at least now. I refused the pain meds so I'm managing that with over-the-counter aspirin-containing stuff, but not at the first twinge when it begins to wear off. I may have to tolerate it for an unknown time, so I know I need to learn to. I'm not going to take cocaine or whatever the prescription med would be. (and I did read that is one pain med usually prescribed for shingles!)
I'm less concerned about the name thing than I was when I first realized what a clear indicator it had become that I'd allowed others to usurp my one and only real possession - my identity and were into infiltrating my being. Few folks now can believe how close I came to that, but it gives a whole new meaning to 'identity theft'.
That's in the past now. But I don't call myself any nickname other than an occasional Nellita but I'm not offended by Nellie or Nell. I understand what a long name it is, especially to type, & we all use various shortcuts when we communicate on the net a lot. But I have to confess that it warms my heart when someone chooses to use my full name. It feels like being truly perceived. I know - who could know that? Some folks may feel better & more perceived if their preferred nickname is used and who would know?. But that's sort of what perception of another person is, isn't it? Being asked what form I prefer is wonderful too. Thank you!!
Well now, Since I have been calling you Nellianna (mostly) you have now imposed a barrier to that name, so I shall call you AF :D
OK. No oblgation was meant and no imposition is desired. ;) You've been omitting one of the e's in my name anyway. :)
So am I to be filled in what AF is?
Coincidentally, it was my Dad's initials of his first and middle names which many people used in lieu of either name the iniitials represented! haha!! He must be smiling. Smooches.
oh lovely name hehe, what form do you prefer mam, Mam Ann, Maita
haha, Maita - just call me Nellieanna, M'am. You're so cute!
Now you see, this is what causes me to be firm with you at times. You do not pay attention, you do not follow the conversation!
I am dyslexic, so I am bound to leave out letters and/or jumble up the words. It is what dyslexics DO!
AF stands for Angel Face and I have told you this before, Tsk, tsk, this girlsih absent mindness just has to stop!
Oh dear. May I play the elderly card? You're so swift and bright that it challenges the semi-absent-mind to keep up with you. I'm relieved to hear AF = Angel Face. I'd imagined all sorts of terrible possibilities! Whew. . . .
Dear Ann,
You made me laugh out loud.
Love and light,
Michelle, ripplemaker
Oh, that's sly, Michelle. I see it as a kndly "get over it" (if I'm not) and I appreciate it. Be assured, I am over what you refer to. Now Ann just sounds like someone else to me now. It's definitely not an offense.
Your perceptive depth is outstanding! I appreciate your sharing it with me.
Thenks for coming by and reading my hub and deteccting the humor in it, which accompanies its serious messages. You're a gem!
Nellie - this is a wonderful Hub and a very good reminder to stay focused on the present moment. Thanks for sharing this intimate insight.
Love and peace
Tony
Ny pleasure,, Tony - and thank YOU for stopping in and reading it - and your favorable commnents! It's not always so simple to focus on the moment, even though, actually, it's the only moment we have a chance to influence. The past moments are merely reference material and the future ones are as yet non-existent - if anything, they'll be the results of how we live the present one.
Let's be here now! Thanks Nellieanna!
Thanks for checking out my hub and your good comment, Micky. Absolutely - I am!
Regardless of the name - you are who you perceive yourself to be in the context of your true self at any given time. Beyond this, you are eternal - an ever changing entity that remains the same within the Oneness of creativity.
Blessings Nellieanna :)
Hi Nellieanna, you made me laugh out loud because I also saw myself in you. And your journey to the discovery of being is a delight as I walked in that path too. And I am still learning as I read hubs like yours:) Hugs and blessings!
Loved it - laughed all the way through .... but you leave us with something profound to think about! I'm so glad I read your comment on Sabu's hub and came by for a closer look!
Mark - though you leave no tracks I can follow to your site, I can tell you that I appreciate what you've written on mine. You're absolutely right - I know I am who I am by any name and that it's within, as you describe it, the Oneness of creativity. But it was a journey of self-discovery nonetheless. Each of us has our own journey. We just do it in our own ways.
Thank you!
ripplemaker -Michelle - I appreciate your response to my hub. I love your story too, and relate so much to the sense of fulfillment you get from working with the young children - each having his or her own personality and sometimes struggling with hsi/her own challenges. What a fulfilling, gratifying work! Thanks so much for the visit and the connection. BTW - I had to refresh my brain to fully get your message this time - when you'd jokingly called me Ann on an earlier comment. ;) hehe
Shalini - I'm so pleased you enjoyed it - both the humor (I'm not so much a humorist but like it when it comes through) and its main message. I guess it is profound to find the courage to be oneself, however a winding path it takes!
I'm glad you read my comment on Sabu's site too! Thanks a million for following up!
(I've become your follower as well, by the way!)
I read somewhere that it's called "the curse of intelligence." If it is so, and I believe it can be, then you are cursed indeed. But you seem to have recovered nicely. :D
It's funny, I confess to reading through this and empathizing with you, the narrative voice, so much that, when you got to the naming part, when you first pointed out the Nellie, the Nel, I was like... NELY, of Wuthering Heights... SHE was a powerful woman, totally controlled the destiny of everyone and they never knew! But then, reading on, I was like, "look, even I am doing it to her as I read her hub." Some kind of reflex. Perhaps not ill-intended, but clearly stifling. Never would have thought of it that way. What a fascinating piece of introspection you have spawned with your fascinating piece of introspection.
I'm glad there are still a few of your hubs I haven't read. So I have them to look forward to.
Aw. . . well - I feel that way about your hubs, Shades! I'm always glad there are more of them for me to read.
And your comments on mine are so refreshing. You manage to take me vicariously through the reading (ordeal) of my long-winded pieces as though it were a pleasant stroll! I must admit that I've written much in my lifetime, but mostly quite privately, almost as a record or reminder of who I am and what I thought or think, especially at times when it seemed possibly under attack. I'm all past that but still it's ever so nice to be both perceived and enjoyed! And come to think of it - I think I have recovered nicely! What a great thought! (Though any controlling of any destinies, except possibly mine, is too far-fetched for words!) ;)
Thank you for visiting again and leaving your delightful comments!
Less is more. Perhaps the wisdom is understanding the core: What is... Perhaps the state: "Keep it Simple Silly" is appropriate !
hahaha - so true, Dallas! So true! Thanks for the visit and wise counsel!
"Soothing textures created by light from the window" - oh my goodness. Perhaps it's my overly analytical mind or runaway lyrical vision getting in the way but for me, that photo sums up everything you said above it. Perhaps it's fitting in some ways that the name changes according to the shift in light as a way for others to recognize their connection to the texture that is constant, but for the effects of time and tide. Or not. Alexandra (aka far too many, as well).
I can't tell you how pleased I am for you to see that photo like that, Alexandra or SilverGenes - YOU are YOU.
When I saw that brief moment when the light from the window with with morning sun having its way with that old urn, creating an illusion of its reflecting the light onto the brick fireplace wall next to it (though that was direct sunlight on it too) - and then slithering on across a bit of the floor and vanishing into the darkness beyond - I couldn't grab my camera too quickly.
I've loved other images the sun and shadows create and occasionally have been quick enough - so I was motivated that time.
I've snapped long streaks of light across a plain ceiling, too, because they were so magnificent!
So when I went looking for a picture to post there, that one grabbed me. I have fewer of my pictures on this laptop than on some of my other computers, so it's interesting to find the 'rght one' on it!
The urn and the brick and terazzo are always there - but that moment was so fleeting! As you say, but for the effects of time and tide - that picture would never have existed. But it did. That time. Perhaps other times it's available too but at times when no one sees.
I ruminate at times on the role perspective plays in the observance of beauty. We look out at a mostly horizonal stretch of our yard or the view from the highway driving along. It's so limited and what we're seeing is not even horizontal at all - but a long arch of a large curved survice which vanishes over a horizon somewhere from our perspective. Just think how many otherwise infinitesimal and otherwise unnoticeable objects we get to bring into the larger scale of our retina's interpretaions than they could ever be from any other perspective & we along may be unique in noticing their minute detail, because of our perspective positions at that moment relative to this planet, its solar system and galaxy and - universe!
It's mind-boggling!
How fun all of this is. Great Hub and I'm glad I've wound myself through the brambles to find you. Looking forward to reading more from you. :) Light and Love.
Amazing! Yes, it's fun and delightful to discover an heretofore unmet friend! Glad you came along!
Nellie Anna I just reread this wonderful piece of praise. I have to confess I am a little partial to your name though - One of my Grandmother's first names was Nellie :) A great name it is too! What awesome and beautiful hub :)
Aw - thank you so much, Billt!! I'm most pleased you enjoyed and re-enjoyed it! By chance, my maternal grandfather's name was William and he was called Billy. :-)
The breathe of fresh air. Now I know and understand the history of "Nellieanna." Seems all of us have life paths that provide opportunities to learn about ourselves. To be, or not to be.. We have chosen to be! I had an epiphany when I understood the importance of "Being true to thine own self." It must be tempered with compromises and having the wisdom to know when and how much in the dynamic process of life... You should sell grandma something.. You could package your wit, humor and positive outlook on life to be a guaranteed success in terms of money... A definite "Up" and awesome.
Thank you, Dallas! I appreciate that coming from you! I may get commercial before I'm done. I'm living at least to 100 and in tip-top health, so I have a few years to plot and plan! ;-)
Yes - maintaining a workable balance of self with the rest of the world involves some tempering, but I find that even there it can and must be done with one's own style rather than with any kind of defeatist mentality. In fact, one's style should include that area of interacting, I think and should bring to it a vivid and shining quality!
Great hub!
Thank you, lemondrop - and welcome to HubPages! Hope you have a great time here!
Great Hub - for some reason it brought to my mind the line in Neil Diamonds song "Be" he wrote of the soundtrack "Jonathon Livingston Seagull" - "Be as a page that aches for a word that speaks on a theme that is timeless"
Be who you are here and now. Full speed ahead one inch at time.
Thanks for the smiles and message in a great hub.
Love - Light - Laughter
Neil
Wonderfully uplifting comments, Neil. I confess, I recalled & was inspired to write this by the book by the same title by Paul Tillich, which caught my eye on a friends' bookshelf in about 1966. I asked to borrow it & read it. It wasn't all I hoped for, but the idea of having courage to be oneself - all oneself, even the good or outstanding parts! LOL - sounds funny, I know, but I admit to being afraid to be all I could be, plus I'd allowed a personna that wasn't who I was to be imposed on me to a dangerous extent, too lacking in courage to just say no & assert my own, probably partly for fear of having to measure up to it, once I found out what & how much it was. Growing up the young child in my family of two brilliant parents & 3 older siblings, all powerful, definite folks - well -. So I wasn't accustomed to asserting much but listened mostly, wondering who I was & how I got there.
Sounds convoluted, I know. But I guess we all struggle with some kind of resistance to, fear of, or ignorance of who we really are. Realizing it as a sacred responsibility helped me to begin to come to grips with it.
I'm so fond of Neil Diamond, but unfamiliar with "Be". I must find & hear it. Jonathon Livingston Seagull is another inspiration for me, but I only read the book, didn't see the movie. Now there's another on my wish list!
Thanks for all this & especially for your kind words about my hub.
I love Neil Diamond too. The soundtrack for Jonathon Livingston Seagull is in my opinion his best work. (although his least known) You will love the album/cd.
Love - Light - Laughter
Neil
Another great read! Nellianna. I especially liked the art work along with it.
Thank you, agaglia!! So happy you visited it and liked it!! :-)
Have you checked out Neil Diamonds Jonathon Livingston Seagull album yet?
How kind of you to check back and see if I've checked it out, Neil!
Yes - I have and I saved it. It's magnificent & totally awe-inspiring, though for deep sensitivity I like "Fly" sung by Celine Dion. Do you know it?
Yip I do know it...
Nellianna - If you like rock music with a lifting message you will enjoy the Joys singing "Tryin to try"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnaUcb4PTTA&p=4E953
.
I wish I could say I liked it but it didn't grab me and the message wasn't uplifting enough to sustain four minutes of the monotonous sound. But thank you for suggesting it anyway.
LOL - a rock lover you are not!
That's not necessarily so. I don't love all of any genre of music, but actually find many different genre quite nice. If I had to pick one favorite it would probably be classical - but not ALL classical! I like music from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s (more my 'heyday' - but I don't like everything that was done then either), 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 21st century.
I respond to music a bit as I do to people - as individuals rather than types or categories. If it "rings true", pleases my ear, touches my emotions, makes me laugh or crave chocolate or seashores, - I'm probably going to like it! LOL If it is tiresome, insincere, contrived, or agonized (or comes across that way to me) - I probably won't prefer it. I guess it's how my personal taste buds work.
I do happen to like a lot of rock music as well as some that was initially classified as rock but when another form of more tedious, frantic rock came along, it seemed to have been reclassified as 'soft rock'. Even so - some hard rock suits me at times too & a classification as "soft rock" is no guarantee it will ring my chimes. There are plenty of tiresome, cloying, vacant soft-rock numbers.
The thing I sense as pleasing MUSIC is something shared in common across the genre where it shows up & what lacks that element - isn't very pleasing.
When I write a poem, the 'thing' I want to find it has is some of that kind of 'music' - - not a sing-song kind or rhyming kind especially, but an intrinsic harmony with the spheres which tends it toward an "ah" kind of response rather than an 'ugh' kind. I dunno - but if it's missing - I won't like it even if I wrote it - and I know I can't contrive it to be there. It either flows or it just jostles along trying. The idea of "Tryin' to Try" is diametrically opposite my idea of a lifting message! I'm not even into trying to do things that must be spontaneous to be real & valuable, much less into trying to try. Hmmm. . .
Oh well - so be it. We both like Neil Diamond - that's a great connection & it is a lovely spontaneous mutual appreciation!
hugs -
Hugs right back my friend!
My traditional Native American name would literally take two paragraphs to state! Well ... I'd hate to go through life telling everyone my name/family history upon every greeting! This name thing is soo paternalistic and robbing in many ways. Our ties with words and names and formulation of the meaning by context is mind boggling! however, I really loved the impact of: "Try to not make/Your sense/Out of another's Inspiration;/And let him/Tell you/ What it is".GREAT! and also: "Denying one's truth is emotional suicide". We're bombarded with all sorts of projections! I once had a hearing to attend and the investigators were very serious and wanted to address me in a "pre canned" manner. Just for fun, I dressed up in 'drag' as a woman! Well, it set everyone off balance and turned their argument out of whack! They couldn't put a name on me that fit! along with their name or brand of ownership of my identity to project their intent for the corporation ... didn't match up. I think we all can have fun with this topic and take it to fit our own meanings. I really love your writings and am grateful that you had the tenacity to endure with elegant grace to shower us with your words of wisdom. Thanks.
PE - a wonderful response here. I love your perspectives.
How vivid is the picture of being called upon to recite family history as though necessary to explain your name! It really is mind-boggling how automatically most of us humans begin a mental process of associating names with whatever facts we may have to associate with our impressions of an unfamiliar name on first meeting it! We wonder about names which are not very everyday to our experience and try to make "links" in our mental notebooks to familiarize ourselves with them for the immediate purpose and future use. The internet has done a large service in this area, in fact. On my list of contacts are names from all over the world, though some are represented by innocuous nicknames. Getting acquainted further usually produces an introduction to our real names.
Nellieanna is my real name and it's been simpler to just put it out there. I started off with an actual real-ilife nickname - Nellita - which represented another imposed name on me. haha. My elder siblings gave it to me and would vary it to reflect their approval/disapproval. In the first case, it became Nellita the Sweeta & in the other, Nelita the Stiinkita, usually earned if I got into their stuff or neglected a duty or service to them they'd demanded. I was pretty gullible, though, so I was more often the Sweeta. When I signed up for the inernet and chat and was asked for my nickname, I provided the one I knew. Once I tried making one up (LeavNtrax with a profile pix of a shaggy dog) but I wasn't really comfortable with it, though it was not unlike your episode with dressing up in drag and observing the differences in reception in that guise. It was revealing - of them, though it hid me. Of course, unless they checked into it, they just accepted it as another person joining in. But feeling the difference in reception was quite an eye-opener, knowing that I was exactly the same as before other than the name and avatar.
There is little doubt in my mind -and experience - that there are MANY people more than willing to supply one with their own projections and concepts rather than looking into one's own being for clues. It is evidently difficult to lay aside preconcepts and preferences to openly risk finding there are really other people than themselves walking around! I've learned that there are only one valid goasl for me in it. To extend benefit of the doubt to others and to be an authentic person walking around and leave them to their abilities or limitations of perception. It's a full time job to tend to one's own abilities and limitations, anyway . hehe (though at the same time, it can be amusing to ascertain what others' do think or choose to think, as you point out.)
Thank you for your very astute - and perceptive -words and evaluations! Hugs.
Wonderful hub. You show how we never stop learning about ourselves and others. You are a good thinker and I enjoy reading your take on things, it gets my mind working. Thanks.
toknowinfo - That's a great comment. I am always thinking about things. It's fun to exchange ideas with others who enjoy it, too. In fact, it's how many new knowledge breakthroughs happen. THANK YOU!
Good Hub, (to partially answere a question that you asked in a Comment in another place), toknowinfo in the previous Comment has said it best, ..."it gets my mind working".
I have written Comments to friends' blogs describing their blogs as, 'a virtual gym, a place to got to stretch and get exercise...not necessarily to a specific end, but just for the joy of working of a sweat'. (metaphorically speaking, of course)!
appropos of nothing, the strategy I employ to find (other Hub writers) to read/follow, is fairly simple; I follow followers of people I follow. I scan those listed as following a person that I enjoy reading, read a hub or two and then move on.
The blogosphere does tend towards the ephemeral...
Ah - Clark, thank you for the compliment AND for the good explanation in answer to my question about why you chose to follow me. It's something I wonder about at times when a new follower appears seemingly spontaneously! I've thought it is surely from the networking character of HubPages, which your explanation confirms, I think, though you tailor it in a special way.
Then one sees someone who just started on HP in the last half-hour who has followed oneself; - and if one happens to look at the person's Hubtivity, finds that there are 123 others being quickly followed in the same first half-hour of hublife, some of whom have already returned the follow, almost robot-like.
I also prefer to read someone's hubs, and certainly the person's profile, and to want to follow the person's progress and feast upon it, before deciding to follow. Usually what clues me to check them are good comments they've posted on a hub I am reading or one I've written. I rarely follow unless I genuinely want to write a fan message, which limits any tendency to follow out of a sense of obligation.
"Good", as applied to a person's comments, could be good humor, challenge, knowledgeability, depth, sincerity, obvious quest for understanding, a gift with words - - or just goodness itself. You probably know what I mean: - having value.
I like your wording to describe a blog as a good workout, so to speak. It's a wonderful experience when one encounters such writing. It just FEELS good to read those. And it truly does feel almost like physical exercise. A great metaphor!
Anyway - from whatever impetus it starts, it's nice to meet interesting people and that is a big bonus of being here. I read your profile enough to conclude that you are interesting people! So thank you for reading my hub here and for the follow!
Hugs.
Feline Prophet Level 5 Commenter 2 years ago
I know how painful an over-analytical nature can be - my husband tends to analyse everything and more often than not, it doesn't bring him much joy. To 'go with the flow' is good advice indeed, but not many are brave enough to do that - it means relinquishing control, and how many are ready to do that?
Nellieanna, I've been wondering what you shorten your name to, too! :) Most of us with names of more than one syllable end up with shortened names, whether we like it or not. I answer to all kinds of versions of my name, just because I don't have the energy or inclination to correct the person yet again!