Common Sense: Cover Your Mouth!

 

You’re in line at the drugstore purchasing rubbing alcohol and a Milky Way, and the old guy standing in front of you is hacking up a lung, arms to his sides as he holds a box of cough syrup in each hand.  He doesn’t attempt to cover his mouth, only turns his head slightly as though he’s laser coughing his contaminants onto the floor.  You can almost see the microbial vermin spraying from his mouth in batches of a million per hack so you take a few steps back hoping the person standing in line behind you catches on and does the same.

We’ve all seen this guy (and gal) and we’re pretty darn certain that at some time in their lives they were taught or told to cover their mouths while coughing.  So you wonder, what the heck are they thinking spreading their live cooties through common space? 

His hands were full.  Maybe that’s what he’d say.  You and I BOTH know this is why God made your arms long and bendable.   Cough into your sleeve… the back of your hand… heck, step out of line and hack it up away from everyone else.  We’ll save your spot!  Just don’t sicken us – literally or figuratively.

You would think that in this day and age of soap and penicillin that we would not have to remind able minded adults of this courtesy we are teaching our 3-year-olds.

Even the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has articles and flyers on their website (exclamation points included) telling people to keep their germs to themselves.  I’m paraphrasing.

When we see this violation of common sense, I recommend the kid gloves come off.  All politeness and reservation should be tossed into the contaminated air and someone needs to actually say it OUT LOUD:

“Cover your mouth!”

Joshua Dildine's "Solution to Your Resolution" - Review

Contemporary artist, Joshua Dildine, is currently represented and exhibiting at White Box Contemporary Gallery in San Diego. 

I'm a bit mesmerized by his abstract work, however, one painting that has some type of gravitational pull on me is titled, “The Solution to Your Resolution.”  Yeah.  Well, I’m not in love with the title, but the work itself speaks – not loudly – assuredly.

Perhaps it is the composition of layers and the almost ombre effect from the top to the bottom of the image.  Translating the picture through my personal filter, this painting appears as if we (the viewer) are out at sea, peering through the funnel of a huge wave looking towards a not-so-far-off shore under a possibly cloudless sky.

What I can especially appreciate about this work is that it has whimsy without the appearance of trying to capture it.  The tendrils of violet and indigo pulls the viewer back towards the bottom, as if the viewer in not human but a resident in these local waters.

Someone should write a poem or a short story around this painting.  It lends to so much imagination.   

I haven’t had the opportunity to interview Dildine, but reviewing his curriculum vitae on the White Box Contemporary website, it appears that he exhibits primarily in California.  Southern California in fact.

Digging a little further, I learned that Dildine’s technique is to paint on top of photographs.  On the Mark Moore Gallery website, Dildine’s biography states:

“With a purposeful cognizance, Dildine mines these runes for the underlying traits that forge our shared humanity: the humor found in the compromising, the endearment found in the aggravating, or the conflict found in the absent. His painterly swaths are as visceral as the family photos they conceal, his vivid palette alluding to the glaring absurdity of our incessant self-analysis and contemplation of the past. Through a carefully disjointed lens, Dildine creates experiences that are at once present and bygone, and whimsically harnesses the contemporaneous nature of our being.”

The statement above sounds like Dildine wrote this himself, so I think we can get a good idea about where his head is when he creates.

Though initially I didn’t see a photograph in “The Solution to Your Resolution,” I can kind of imagine one being under all the whimsical “painterly swaths.”  At any rate, I dig it.

White Box Contemporary Gallery is located at 1040 7^th Avenue, San Diego, California, 92101.

Give It Here (a poem)

 

On the Friday of recall vines are fastened securely

repairing faulty engines (the latest issue) in valve springs
that leaves vehicles stalling in motion.
 

Recalling the anchor out of a reputation crashing with

complaints folding open to strange noises
a relapse after sticking acceleration
 

Slapped in the states for acting sluggishly

on defects they whisper to the owners by letter and
recall fees repairing freely.
 

Vibration unusual motor sounds coarse

idling facing lawsuits they recall high resale
recalling rising stock.

Regulators recall the workload of scientists

to investigate a spiral.
Review is pending.

HELP: An Accident to Ponder

Yesterday, near a Walgreen’s in Georgia, a woman in an Envoy smashed into the driver’s side of a Porsche as she ran a red light.  The man who drove the Porsche was knocked unconscious while his leg was pinned in the door.

Without hesitation, by boyfriend, Elphamous, parked his car and went to the scene to assist.  He first aroused the unconscious man and then asked if the man wanted his help.  Once aroused and somewhat aware of the situation, the man agreed to accept help and Elphamous proceeded, with his hands, to pry the driver’s door open, grunting and straining against the crushed metal and ultimately releasing the man’s leg – broken, bloody, bone protruding.

Elphamous, noticing the man fighting against tears as he eyed his mangled leg, assured him that it was just broken and could be fixed, doing his best to calm his rising panic he struggled to hide.  He stayed with him until the paramedics arrived where his own hands were looked over due to injuries sustained while helping the driver of the Porsche.  The woman in the Envoy sat on her phone and never got out to check on the man she drove into.

The paramedic who looked at Elphamous’ hands – Elena Lopez, I believe – remarked that he looked tired and offered him a home cooked meal and a massage (along with her phone number; building she worked; and what time she got off).

“Most people would have been afraid to do what you did,” Elena told Elphamous.  “I could use a man like you.”

Recalling the story to me later, he told me that while he was there prying the door open, a crowd had gathered around the scene of the accident (as crowds tend to do) and no one else stepped in to help.  He recalled seeing two young men who had walked out of the Walgreens, standing by watching him struggle with the door – alone.  He said that one of them was eating chips and drinking a beverage - like a spectator at a sporting event.

He was deeply disturbed at the lack of initiative from capable adult men to lend a hand to someone, obviously in desperate need.

I’ve read the statistics that showed most people will not get involved even if someone is yelling out for help – waiting instead for someone else to get involved.  Not even the woman whose fault it was got out to check on the man she injured.  So though I understand the probability of receiving help when it’s needed (as does Elphamous), it still darkens my mood to think about how inactive the majority of us are.

After recounting the story in my head, I did my own self assessment to be sure I wasn’t one who did nothing when the opportunity was there to help.  Now, I probably could not have pried that door open (but you never know when adrenaline kicks in) however, in that situation, would I have done something?  Ran out to check on the guy?  Or would I let him sit, knocked out; too afraid to find him bleeding while I’m uncomfortable at the site of blood?

Would you have helped?  Do you help?

 

 

Outsider Folk Art Curator, Emily Branch

Today’s featured artist, Emily Branch, is one whom I’ve had a lot of contact with lately as she coordinates the exhibition of Circus Terminal, USA with Chutima Kerdpitak (better known as, Nok) Circus Terminal Worldwide founder and curator. Branch is an artist, teacher, curator and community activist.  Her energy is amazing.

How would you describe your own work?

I like to use what is at hand. I love texture but also the fluidity of oil paint. I studied mainly drawing/painting and photography.

Currently you're the director at Outsider Folk Art Gallery. What interest you the most about outsider/folk work?

I really knew nothing about this genre, but have a great mentor, George Viener, who has been active in the field for over 40 years. Learning from someone who has that much enthusiasm makes learning electric. He liked to have close personal ties with our artists which helped my understanding as well.

Do you have a favorite outsider work or artist? Who art they and why?

I love the works I have from many of our local artists, like Jim Bloom, Dave "Big Dutch" Nally and Sybil Roe Thompson. I have so much understanding of them by having their art and spending time with them. They are creative all the time. Very inspirational! If I won the lottery I would buy a work by Carlo Zinelli.

You've done marketing and development for the Humane Society of Berks County, and viewing your company website, Cage Free Design, I noticed you've captured the images of several dogs. Do you have a special interest in dogs or animals?

I was an only child so having pets was a symbolic bond. Most likely I will always have animals in my life. I am happy to be able to capture the true nature in a painting, and find pleasure in that. One piece is a dog that had recently died and it was touching to see the reaction of the owners--their joy I capture the right look.

What is the Million Bones and how did you become involved?

One Million Bones is a national project bringing attention to the atrocity of genocide. Locally a few artists approached me to conduct Public Relations for their effort. The bones travel this Spring to The Mall in Washington D.C.

You seem to be extremely active and accomplished. What do you feel has been your most challenging accomplishment and why?

During my post-grad years I moved many times in about 14 years. I was hard to create a network and get grounded (this was mostly before social media). I think some of my best accomplishments are happening now that I have stayed relatively in one place for the past eight years

What new endeavor would you like to pursue in the near future?

I hope to be working on curating a new show and also teaching a class at local college in the Fall.

How did you become involved with Circus Terminal? What is your roll in this exhibition?

It seems like a distant memory, but I was looking for opportunities for the artists represented by the Outsider Folk Art Gallery. I then arranged for Circus Terminal to have a "stop" at Studio B, Boyertown. I am coordinating many levels of organization with the Lead Curator, Nok. She really has made this happen!

What has been the biggest headache so far? You can be honest....

Public transportation in our area is not like it is around the world. All of our four visiting international artists did not have a license to drive in the US, so Paul Czainski volunteered to get his international driver's license so they could get a rental car to help with transporting the group. It was not a real headache and all the artists are understanding. It was more like I did not consider this might arise, which was pretty naive.

To view Banch’s work, go to: http://www.cagefreedesign.com

To view the Studio B’s website and Circus Terminal, USA activities, go to:  http://www.studiobbb.org/gallery/2013-exhibits

The Long Journey of “1” Could End at Your Doorstep Via Ebay

This weekend, I had an epiphany. 

Over the last nine months I’ve been working feverishly to get my work into new galleries so that new eyes can lay upon my creative efforts in exhibition.  But over the last few days I’ve had the sudden urge to put this aside and concentrate on creating (and finishing) new work… ideas that have gone neglected because of my pursuit of exhibition.

It’s really too bad my budget does not afford me to hire a personal assistant to do all of these submissions for me.  “Nancy, be sure to FedEx this package to the Smithsonian for me.”

Though there are some leads from galleries (after all I will be exhibiting next month through Circus Terminal, USA at Studio B next month), I’ve decided that it might be best to raise some funds for pending projects by making some of my work available for immediate purchase.  Or in this case, immediate auction – I’ve put seven paintings up for auction on eBay.

One of the paintings being auctioned, titled “1” actually took me six years to finish.  It’s not that the actual process took six years; it’s the procrastination of completing one project when you have a million others in your head.  I’m sure you know what I’m talking about here.

The excitement and momentum of ideas are sometimes hard to maintain when other ideas bump into your mind, competing for your attention, your excitement, your momentum.  It’s crazy!  How can a creative person get anything done?

“I” wasn’t the only incomplete painting, waiting in line were “2” and “3” (not yet up for auction).  The idea was to complete a number series from zero to twenty, and for God knows what reason, I started at one instead of zero.  I only got to three before I stopped. 

Six years later, inspired by physics formulas, I began the Kobiphysics series  in 2012 and showcased the series as part of a collection inspired by ancient and modern physicists.  In the series, I included “1” for its mathematical value in the formulas.

For a very limited time, “1” is up for grabs on eBay and it was a long journey this painting.  Now that it’s here, I’m hoping to give the painting a very happy home.

If you’d like to view or place a bid for the painting, go to:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Abstract-by-Kobina-Wright-16-x20-Signed-Acrylic-and-Water-Color-/261158614228?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item3cce4434d4

To view the six other paintings on eBay, go to: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=kobina+wright&_sacat=0&_from=R40.

The Thing About Luck Is...

 

I’m not a big believer in luck, however, I did get a different perspective from this essay I’ve reposted here for you.  It is an ETR contribution by Craig Ballantyne who discusses “luck” in a very different way.  One in which I haven’t articulated quite the same way but have ruminated on similarly.

If I hadn’t gone through my spell of trials and rejection, I wouldn’t have written “50” or “Raise the Red Teddy: A Single Mother’s Guide to Dating” or created the Hodaoa-Anibo language or painted the Kobiphysics art series or even applied for the artist residency in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Read the following essay with a open heart and open mind and perhaps you’ll be able to recognize your own bout with “luck” so that you can trace how you got to where you are.

Enjoy.

 

The Truth About Luck and Success

By Craig Ballantyne

Luck has been in my corner since day one back in 1975.

I was extraordinarily lucky to be born in Canada into a lower-middle class family. Lucky enough to have been educated in the years of the first home computer, to have come of age as the first Internet generation, and to have stumbled across the convergence of direct marketing and online e-commerce before everyone and their uncle knew about it.

When I was a child I was lucky enough to have an alcoholic, underachieving, embarrassing father who gave me the first chip on my shoulder, one that compelled me to work harder, achieve more, and go further so that I could escape his shadow.

I was also lucky that my mother had dropped out of high school and spent the rest of her life working for barely more than the minimum wage, never earning more than $28,000 in a year (an amount that I've made in a single day in my business on several occasions). I was lucky, because of her mistakes, that she would never let me make the same ones.

And boy was I lucky to have went to grade school with patches on my knees, for this caused me great embarrassment and instilled in me the drive to do better, to excel in school, to get into the best program in college, to make the Dean's Honour List three
years in a row, to get accepted into a Master's program, to study until 10pm on weekends so I could earn a scholarship to help me pay for 6 years of post-secondary education- and so that I'd never feel embarrassed like that again.

It's as though I've had a horseshoe made out of rabbit's feet around my neck for these past thirty years.

I've also been lucky to make friends with entrepreneurs like Bedros Keuilian, a real-life American Dream. Bedros was lucky to have been born in Armenia (then part of the Soviet Union) and to have a father that gambled his family's safety by bribing their way out of the USSR so they could arrive virtually penniless in America (legally).

Bedros was also lucky enough to arrive in America in 1980 without being able to speak a lick of English. He was fortunate that his family was so poor that he had to dumpster-dive behind grocery stores for food. Without this luck, Bedros wouldn't have the burning desire that has allowed him to succeed and create a better life, so that as he often tells me, "My kids will never have to spend an hour of their lives in daycare."

And I'm lucky enough to be friends with Matt Smith, another lucky young man from my generation who, like me, grew up with little more than an embarrassment of a father and a mother that spent the little money she had to take care of her children.

Among Matt's lucky childhood experiences was the night when his mother scraped together a few dollars for a special Friday dinner of take-out pizza. That night, the Smiths were lucky to have mistakenly left the pizza on top of the car as they drove away(but at least she didn't leave any children IN the restaurant, *cough*, *cough*, Prime Minister Cameron). Eventually, the pizza fell off the car's roof into the middle of a busy intersection - where car after car drove over it - and this was a lucky break for Matt.

Why?

Because the Smiths' had no money to go and buy a replacement pizza. And so Matt will forever remember that night - and that feeling - as something he will never want to experience again. It's just another lucky motivator in his drive to do better and succeed so that his children won't have to experience that great fortune.

That kind of luck leaves a burning desire that NOTHING - not even a life of iPhones, TV's in every room of the house, unending after-school activities, or 24/7 Internet and cable TV access - could ever top.

My luck continues. I'm fortunate to know Isabel De Los Rios, one of the world's most successful nutrition experts, who herself was lucky enough to spend almost a decade as a sick, unhealthy, overweight, and unhappy young woman, so that she could truly understand the troubles that her hundreds of thousands of female clients go through.

Isabel was also lucky enough to be downright broke when she applied to my Mastermind Group in 2008, having to borrow the money from her fiancé. It was due to her great fortune to be in these situations that she committed to working harder than almost any other person I've ever coached. This has allowed her to pull herself up from financial stress and into a business where today she has over 200,000 customers that have been lucky enough to get Isabel's help as they change their lives.

Finally, we've all been lucky enough to learn from Michael Masterson, our mentor that was lucky enough to grow up in a poor household of ten children. He was lucky enough to have so little that it drove him to become the entrepreneur and mentor that we all came to know through Early to Rise.

This is the luckiest group of individuals you might ever meet. We were lucky to have had the experiences we did because they taught us so much and drove us to great action. Without our setbacks, what would we have achieved? We have been part of the luckiest generations to have ever lived.

What about your luck? Have you lucked out and been fortunate to have gone through similar struggles? Have you been given the inspiration to work harder than ever, to explore new opportunities to take control of your future, and that drive you towards financial independence? Are you one of the fortunate ones that were not born with a silver spoon so that you could learn the importance of adding value to the world in exchange for a fair return? Have you been lucky enough to fail again and again?

Never forget that failure isn't bad. Failure isn't final. Don't let the fear of failure stop you from achieving the success you deserve. If you're struggling, keep hustling. Keep taking at least one big action step each day.

Failure is good luck. Just listen to these experts.

"Problems are in your life so that you can discover potentials that you didn't even know you had." - Barry Michels

"Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street." - Zig Ziglar

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit." - Napoleon Hill

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." -Winston Churchill

"Everybody in your situation has the same choice: you can rue your situation or you can dedicate yourself to changing it. Accept responsibility for your future. Refuse to complain, criticize, or condemn. If you want us to help you achieve your goals, then trust
in and follow our advice. Stop doubting it. Stop denying it. Have faith." - Mark Ford

I can only hope you've been as lucky as I have over the years. And the old saying is true, you know, "The harder I work, the luckier I get". So take that luck that you get and press it. Keep on pushing. It only gets easier from here.

Rabbit Holes Are (a poem)

Rabbit Holes Are   The fifth dimension that entwines wee pitfalls of urbane escapes lavishly equipped with antics Retailing dimensional space and bargain finds accruing an infinitely expensive rate snapping back leaving us frantic   Luring calls of fervor and fun Walls out present surroundings magnetized by the universe ahead menacing nebula may mar the sun though intrigue continues browning not burning but drowning instead

The Artist Known as GOLF - out of Chiang Mai

I met a very interesting artist in Chiang Mai, named Mahasamoot Aukkaradechosub.  A mouthful? 

Katie Hawker of Surface Arts (http://surfacearts.co.uk), told me, “His name is Golf.”

Golf?

“Yeah like the sport.”

Okay.  Golf then.  What I learned while in Chiang Mai, is that concerning Thai people, everyone had two names.  

What Golf exhibited at the Sangdee Gallery for Circus Terminal, THAILAND, was a display of vinyl graphic stickers in various sizes and slight variation in color of the exact same thing.  While he was placing the stickers on the wall in the stairwell I thought for a brief moment that the stickers were of alien hands (as if I’ve ever seen one) but in fact was, as the artist Jamjuree explained to me, a chicken foot!

I asked Golf, “What inspired the chicken foot graphic?”

Through his friend and interpreter, Udom, Golf explained that the concept was created to express that everything is simple – that we don’t have to make things complicated. 

Golf takes issue with what is taught in art school.  He says that he studied for a while and found that colleges teach you to paint and sculpt but nothing about art management.

The chicken foot (or finger – however you see it) is like a spoof or sarcasm on Thai art.  According to Golf, art in Thailand is the same.  Buyers are buying the same things. 

“It’s like cloning,” he says. “When you see the chicken finger you think of Thai food.”  Chicken fingers (I mean literally – the foot of a chicken) are extremely popular in Thailand.

The use of stickers in his conceptual chicken finger art is so that everyone can participate in creating a group work.

While Golf’s latest work may be pointing chicken fingers all over the place, his biggest efforts have been directed at organizing a three-day art and music festival called: Pig Art and Music Festival, scheduled to take place January 25-27 2013 at Doi saket Hot Springs.

So what’s with the pig?

Golf said that pig in Thai is mu (not the correct spelling of course) which also means easy.  He admits though that putting art and music together is not all that easy.  He sees it as a combination of very difficult and very easy as the festival combines the freedom for every culture to be mixed together in one space.

Golf’s philosophy:

Music + Art = a good man

(Does that apply to women too? Didn’t get the chance to ask him that. )

Check out the Pig Art and Music Festival promo video on YouTube.

Explaining "The Ko"

Currently, I’m working on finishing an audio project called, “The Ko.”  You wanna guess who it’s named after?  I’ve been working on it for two years - inconsistently, but I’ve committed myself to completing it this year.  It’s one of the reasons I’m writing about it… you know… the whole accountability thing…

BUT, before I get into the project itself, I wanted to first explain what the Ko is.  Please, don’t be offended by my explanation.  I’m not sure if it’s sort of like the printing on the side of the paper cup that says “CAUTION: Coffee may be hot.”    

The Ko which is the title of this project, is also a symbol that looks like this:

 If you’ve been on my website, www.dramaticpause.net (not a plug, I’m just saying…) you will be familiar with the symbol and may have even become hypnotized by them as they flash at you from the upper corners of my homepage.

If you look at the symbol closely, you’ll be able to decipher all of the letters in my first name.  K-O-B-I-N-A – in case you forgot who I am.  I’ve actually used this symbol before on The Wrighter, but never bothered explaining what it was, and since no one asked, I figured it didn’t really matter.  I’m only addressing this now because this symbol is not only the title of the project it will be the symbol of the project and a representation of me. 

I also appreciate that the Ko looks like a pregnant stick figure.  I’ve been a single mother pretty much my entire adult life, so this element of symbolism is especially meaningful to me.

I just wanted to get that out the way in case any question arises in your head about what it all means…  You’ll hear more about it soon.

Enjoy your week.

Defining Success

I think today’s repost is an excellent one.

Of course I do, or else I wouldn’t have posted it.

This essay if from ETR of course, written by Craig Ballentyne.  And while the title suggests that there is an ultimate definition of success (which there is not) he later corrects this assumption and refers to the subject matter of success as ETR’s Definition of Success (the punctuation is mine, not Ballantyne’s).

Someone on Facebook asked him to define success, the following is his response.

Enjoy.

 

The True Definition of Success

By Craig Ballantyne

"Success for me," John McAfee explained in Fast Company in 2007, "is can you wake upin the morning and feel like a twelve year old?"

That was before he lost 95% of his net worth. At the time he said that, as Robert Frank explains in his book, The High-Beta Rich, McAfee was living through a second adolescence, spending rampantly on grown-up toys and making poor investments. A yearlater, this definition of success had helped destroy his $100 million fortuneand left his net worth at just a few million dollars. The point here, however, is not that our view of McAfee's mistakes should be tinged with Schadenfreude.

Instead, McAfee's experiences urge us to look deeper into what the true definition of success is for Early to Rise readers. While I believe in "keeping the child within you alive" (after all, it's Rule #11 on my personal list), acting and feeling like a child is not how I define success.

But what is the true definition of success?

And who am I to define it?

Those were my thoughts on a recent sunny (early) summer morning as I enjoyed another one of our Facebook ETR QnA sessions. I'd even gone so far as to register the domain name, www.SuccessQnA.com that redirects to our Facebook page (because it's a lot easier than referring readers to Facebook-dot-com-forward-slash-the-New-Early-to-Rise).

Early in that particular session, a young reader asked, "What is your definition of success?"

I was momentarily stumped (one of the reasons I prefer the Facebook QnA to live in-person sessions - as no one can see the stunned look on my face when I'm asked a difficult question like this).

My first instinct was to rely on the definition from Dave Kekich listed in his Kekich Credo's that I review each morning. But, while interesting, it isn't exactly what I wanted to say. Kekich Credo #7 states:

"You're successful when you like who and what you are. Success includes achievement...while choosing and directing your own activities. It means enjoying intimate relationships and loving what you do in life."

After dismissing that option, my second reflexive response was to pull a cop-out answer and say, "Success is up to you. Everyone has their own personal definition." But that's not what our reader wanted to hear. They wanted a good answer. They came looking for guidance, and I had better deliver.

I quickly turned my thoughts to the many discussions between Matt Smith and myself about people we admire, about what we looked for in role models and great people.

Matt and I have had a long running debate about what makes a great man. We determined that first, in order to be a great man, you must be a good man. There are two requirements of a good man. First, a good man does everything he says he will do. He honors his contracts. He delivers on his promises. And second, a good man does no harm to others. That's it. Everything you can think of, from the Ten Commandments to every bizarre law passed by Congress, can be covered in these two simple rules for living a good life.

But those are just the prerequisites for being a good man. To be a great man, you have to be doing something great, something far out of the ordinary. As Matt describes it, "You must be 'unboxable'. You can't look at a great man and lump him in with all other good men. He must be doing something great that is outside the norms."

One of the components of doing something great is adding value to the world. And that brings us all the way back to our Facebook 'riddle', "What is success?"

So here's my answer, direct from the Early to Rise dictionary, on the True Definition of Success:

There is no one thing that makes you "successful". For some, it might be raising a healthy, happy, tight family. For others, it might helping dozens, hundreds, thousands, or millions of customers. I suppose if there is one common thread among all areas of success, it's the "Adding of Value". My definition of success is, "If you are adding more value to the world than you are consuming, then you are well on your way to success."

Create value. Help others. Our version of success also ensures a positive legacy...and if you build a positive legacy, you ensure a life of success.

The traditional definition of success won't make you a great man or woman. History is littered with the tragedies of people who have suffered from personal struggles as their financial success increased. What often brings them down is the other half of the success equation - consumption. While they might continue to add value to the world, they tend to get in trouble because their voracious appetite for consumption outpaces all of the value they create.

As John McAfee admitted after losing 95% of his fortune, "We have over time equated entrepreneurialism with the drive to accumulate wealth. It's a perversion of values."

McAfee learned this powerful lesson the hard way. While there's no reason to shed a tear for him (he's still a multi-millionaire), there's a positive post-script to his story.

Today, you'll find McAfee back living the true definition of success, as defined by Early to Rise. As Robert Frank reports, McAfee has moved to Belize to pursue new vaccines from jungle plants and has started a host of other businesses, including the nation's largest ferry company. He has returned to adding value to the world.

As Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism once said, "The wise man puts himself last and finds himself first."

Just as a byproduct of healthy eating is often weight loss, a byproduct of the ETR version of success (adding value) is often the accumulation of wealth (or some type of reward).

Problems arise when we focus on the outcome rather than the process. The outcome, for almost any goal, can lead to someone following the wrong processes. If the focus is only on weight loss, people try all sorts of unhealthy processes. Just as when we place the focus only on accumulating wealth, we can make all sorts of unrighteous decisions.

However, if you switch your focus from achieving traditional success to the process of adding value to the world, your chances of achieving traditional success will actually increase.

The lessons from Robert Frank's book and from the ETR definition of success should encourage you to do the following:

Be good, be passionate, and add value to the world. There are amazing opportunities out there for you because the world is full of problems that need solving. Be a value adder, not a value extractor. Focus on the process and the outcome - success -should take care of itself.

Sculptor: John Ed Nordin in Chiang Mai

By John Ed Nordin

 

While attending the reception of an exhibit of two local artists at SeeScape Gallery in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I had the pleasure of meeting the acclaimed sculptor, John Ed Nordin.  I was delighted when he had agreed to be interviewed for The Wrighter.

You're originally from Whidbey Island, Washington, in the US. What brought you to Chiang Mai?

About fifteen years ago I was in Sika, Alaska for the Herring fishing season and met a couple of herring fishermen that lived in Thailand. While at dock these herring fishermen guys and I struck-up a conversation. They told they live in a village in Thailand with their Thai wives and described their living situation, especially their Thai family connection, which they elaborated on for some time. After we parted, I remember thinking to myself, man, Thailand? Sounds very appealing.

Five years later, two long-time art patron friends of mine came by my studio for a visit and told me they were concerned about my health since I'd been struggling with a sour relationship for months. They thought I should get out of town for awhile, and take a break “before you keel over.” Anyway, they said they'd like to give me an airline ticket, round trip to anyplace in the world. After my patron friends left, I remembered what those fishermen said, but mostly I remembered their sparkling eyes. Next frame, I'm standing on the street in Bangkok with everything moving around me in a new and interesting way. I thought to myself, I've come to right place.

Before I left Whidbey Island I'd heard Chiang Mai was an art town and an easy place to live. And so it is, especially with an art store around the corner.

 You have a fascination with ducks. Do you find yourself equally fascinated with them here in Chiang Mai?

My answer to why I like birds is: "I like the way they look."

By John Ed Nordin

While riding train or bus in Thailand I'm always on the watch for wild ducks, especially in the flooded rice fields. I have only seen a few flocks of wild black-bellied tree ducks in ponds and flooded fields. Domestic ducks are nice, but they don't interest me.

 Your early influences were John James Audubon; Mark Tobey; and
Constantine Brancusi. Are there any living artists you find to be
exceptional or remarkable? If so, who and why?

The great bird painter, James Fenwick Lansdowne, but he died a few years ago. Fenwick was a friend of mine, and a big influence on the work I do, so I wanted to mention him. Otherwise, several artist friends I've grown-up with over the last forty years. Charles Krafft, Jeff Day, Tony Angell, Peter Jordan, Boris Spivik, come to mind, and I have to mention, Bob Dylan's poetry and music kept me alive from time to time.

 Your portfolio online is from selected work from 1971-2007. Have you
explored any new ideas or exhibited any new work?

For the last ten years I've been working on a larger that life-size bust of the French Painter/model, Susanne Valadon 1865-1938.
It's a long long story of success and failure and disappointment, and way too complicated to go into. Anyway, in my opinion, Valadon is the most interesting and compelling women artists in art history, but I was inspired to make a bust of her because I liked the way she looked.

 Do you still have family in Washington?

I have a beautiful daughter, 30 yrs. and an ex wife, both are very good artists, and we are indeed a close family.

 What is the strangest thing you've seen since living in Chiang Mai?

One day I was standing in this cave-like art gallery on Thai Pae Gate Road when I heard some yelling outside - curious, I walked outside to see what was up. Two guys in the street were furious with each other, yelling and shaking their fists until one guy went to his car, which was double parked next him, and pulled out a huge silver Luger-like pistol and pointed at the other guy, who had started running down the street. The guy with the gun quickly caught up with him and started shooting at his heels. I could see the cement chips flying. Then they disappeared behind parked cars. But then, down the street from me, on my side, another guy appeared with a gun. He ran in the direction of the fleeing man and disappeared behind parked cars, too. Then, I heard several rapid fired shots ring out, and that was it, all was quiet. Later I learned the guy running away was a drug dealer, and the cops will shoot hard drug dealers if necessary here in Thailand. After spending about six years here, that's the only violence I've seen.

To view more of Nordin’s work you can visit his website at: http://johnednordin.com/.

Loi Krathong Festival - Chiang Mai 2012

I won't ever forget this experience.

Loi Krathong:

A festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand and certain parts of Laos and Burma that takes place (usually) in November.  Although not an official public holiday, it is one of the most popular Thai traditional festivals.  The festival is held to pay homage to the goddess of rivers and waterways, Mae Nam.

I heard about the lanterns and the floating flowers in the water, but there was also a parade.

I didn't float a lantern but these are the two birds I set free...

The Festival was an awesome experience.