Do I want to know more about this than anyone else?

 The collision of finding your passion and being curious.  Do I want to know more about this than anyone else?  

The process of achieving an arbitrary goal is 99% of the time invested.  Neuroscience explains why any point in time is not going to have enough effect to be able to be enough motivation and celebration for the energy of the entire process.  Chose goals that align with who you are.  Ask and answer why.  Being true to yourself is much more practical than chasing the approval of an amorphous other being that is only an idea.

https://youtu.be/SYAmF_SzRxg?t=2253 Tom's Motivational speech, starting at quote 

Imagine the Bridge

What do you want to do when you grow up?  What are your dreams? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What would you do if money was no object? 

These questions have been a good way to make me burst into tears.  Granted depression has been a factor, but I think that being autistic is probably a factor as well.  Getting into something that I'm not sure about the process is extremely intimidating.  For instance I've never been skiing, so I don't know if it would be a bit like showing up at the skate rink, renting some skates, being pointed to the correct area, or what would happen. Would I need to wear the sort of poofy layers like I did as a child before playing in the snow or is something else more appropriate?   The details and the steps I wouldn't know where to get. Most of the searches I do are either too vague (Dress appropriately!) or start on the mountain in skis.  This tracks to things I've done before, like cooking.  There is so much between being able to prepare food to feed oneself and catering or bakeries or restaurants. So, trying to visualize myself in position G from spot B freaks me out.  There are things though that I enjoy doing that are useful, add value to the world, and stay in my perception of my core identity even when I am not doing them. 

 

“	A wizard's progress is frequently obstructed by rivers, gorges, and other such inconveniences. This spell allows you to build a bridge across such obstacles and proceed with your journey. The search for truth must go on, after all.	”
—Wizard's Companion

This is your life now.

I can't manifest myself into an end goal, only use that end to know which direction to build my bridge.  In Ni No Kuni there is a bridge spell, but it can only be used in a place where it looks like a bridge should be.  I'm not going to practice making the flakiest pastry dough and end up being a neurosurgeon directly.  That's not a place a bridge would go.  I might island hop for a while and move from being a fry cook, to several more dots, then end up owning a massive online marketplace, but it's not a one step journey. So, we have to imagine the bridge.  I don't know anyone that can see very far into the future, so it's a given that part of the bridge ahead of our immediate area will still be in the fog of war.  It will only show up in detail as we get there.  Using yet another metaphor, in Pixar’s film, Soul, there’s a parable in a story about a fish.

She says:

I heard this story about a fish, he swims up to an older fish and says: "I’m trying to find this thing they call the ocean." "The ocean?" the older fish says, "that’s what you’re in right now." "This", says the young fish, "this is water. What I want is the ocean!"

The process is what is important.  Reaching a milestone is but a moment.  In the journey of life even stopping won't hold still the ever changing landscape.  Like Mel Robbins explains, sitting and thinking about crossing the finish line doesn't train a body for a marathon.  If you imagine the processes, the problems and difficulties that come while training and practicing, it will mentally prepare you for what is coming.  Then oriented towards the goal by imagining the goal, we do.  One can't be discovered as an artist, if one doesn't make any art.  Eugene Soh became an accidental artist by making a piece of art. Then once people started talking to him, he did more.  A chef bakes, a landscaper transforms a landscape, and the action of doing as close to what the end desire is, is both the journey and the end.

I hope that helps someone.

Yes, and...?

 One of the best tools of improv is to acknowledge and expand.  It's actually extremely useful in trying to navigate life.  Life is hard.  It isn't fair.  It has never been.  I'm "clumsy" and if I had lived 200 years ago and needed to be washing clothes in a winter stream or chopping my own wood I would have a short life as I would have drowned or died from infection. Yes, and that leaves lots of room for human generosity.  Depression sucks, and emergence is often slow and always possible. Just don't opt out on yourself.  So many famous and rich people had hard times in their pasts.  Don't choose life on hard mode.  While someone else might be fighting poverty, loss, or abuse, don't fall into thinking that you need to survive the same struggles to be great.  There will be your own struggles and they will be most impactful because they are yours. Move.

Feelings aren't a choice.  Behavior and self talk are.

You need positive social interactions.

Your network is your net worth.  Humans are social creatures.  It's hard in the middle.  Stop hiding and meet people. Let some people opt out, but be authentic and gain authentic friends.  Even if it's small, move.  Do a thing that is scary, but beneficial.  Default to action. Once you're in motion it will be so much easier to get in the direction you want.  Starting is the hardest part.  It's slow.  Don't wait to do things, that's a backwards order.  No one knew how to fly a plane before the first plane was built.  Reading about exercise isn't the same as doing it.  Learning is beneficial, but doing is necessary.

Microwave Bread Crumbs

Hey!
So something really basic today.  Ever been cooking just to find that you're essentially out of breadcrumbs?

Why that's not nearly three slices worth of crumbs!

Making bread crumbs in the oven takes a long time.  Much easier and quicker to make them in the microwave.  I've seen others recommend cutting the bread into little cubes and other silliness.  Really, just decide if you want the crust turned into crumbs and remove it if you don't.  I place four slices of bread on a plate and microwave it for 1.5 to 2 minutes.  The bread should be all hot and steamy.  It is best to flip it over so it doesn't stick to the plate where it has become moist.  Put the bread back in for another couple minutes.  

So easy and crumbled by hand.

Usually I take it out of the microwave and go back to the rest of my cooking.  I crumble the bread by hand.  If there are any spots that are still slightly moist, they are easy to find that way.  Those can but thrown back in the microwave if you want or are making these for later. If you have the time, throwing the bread in a food processor will make fine crumbs fairly quickly.  I'm usually in such a rush, getting the thing out is a bother and I have the bread crumbed just as quickly as I can assemble the processor. 

So there it is.  If you're just trying to figure out what to do with a couple pieces of slightly stale bread, this makes quick work of it and then you can be out feeding the birds in the park without heating up the house.

Thanks for reading.