The Edge of Civilization

The Edge of Service

Happy Hump day from the Edge -  hope all your Hump-related activities go as intended.

Just a quick heads up to my readers. I will be away from my computer  and out of the service area for the first week or so of February. Turns out I have to get a job to support my new writing career - not an uncommon story from what I can gather - but hardly significant. I'm still trying to figure out if its: "hi my name is Sam what can I get for you today" or "Our specials are ... and I'l be your server Sam."

I should be able to figure this out.

Since I live approximately two and a half hours from the middle of nowhere internet service can be tricky.

The picture to the above and to the right is my Wife - Wenona walking along the Chilcotin Sand Dunes in Central British Columbia. Yes its as cool as it looks - and yes eventually I stopped the truck and let her in.

"No Cell Phones Dude"

Once I am done paying my dues, so to speak, I will be back - Edgy, Edgey and Authentic and ready to Post up a storm. Until then, keep your stick on the ice, your heads up and don't take any wooden nickels... or something like that.

I alway wonder if that was some kind of depression era problem - people getting convinced to use wooden nickels? Was this a WWII response to lack of Alloys for minting the 5 cent piece? For the record I would prefer to have a wooden nickel than a wooden leg or a wooden personality. At my age "wood", in general, is considered a good thing.

Respectfully, from the Edge.

The Edge of Significance

Photo from: www.phatstartup.com

Shortly after I started my Blog “Notes From the Edge”, I wrote a post on Success. In this post I touched on the idea that we move through the following series of stages in our professional lives (The Four S’s):

Survival à Stability à Success à Significance.

Success was not identified as an end - but a means by which a life of significance could be achieved. At the time I was sitting on a decaying throne of success and significance built on fifteen years of hard work and dedication as a Community Development Manager and Consultant.  It was my grand plan to transfer the significance I had earned in Community Development to the pursuit of my new career as a writer.

Apparently it doesn’t work that way.

I am pretty sure I knew that. Despite this knowledge, when you are used to a certain amount of recognition and acclamation in one field there is an expectation, or at least a hope, that this will follow you into your next endeavor.  It would be nice if we could skip passed the messy inconveniences of survival and stability and go straight to success and significance. There is a reason, however, why the road from survival to significance is set out as a progression.

The progression through the Four S’s is a Rite of Passage, of sorts, for Significance.

It takes a certain amount of humility to achieve true significance. Humility can be defined as “a modest opinion of one’s own importance, rank or position” or “the absence of arrogance.” I am not a particularly humble person by nature. I would prefer a stunning failure to a mediocre victory.

Humility comes hand in hand with the mediocrity and anonymity associated with new beginnings.

Trudging day in and day out, with determination and purpose, while building the talent, inventory and credibility required for significance is just like real work. I have always been an excellent builder and a terrible administrator. Over the last fifteen years I have spent ten years building significance and five years being significant … (and humble?)

Then I got bored, “reinvented myself” and - back to trudging.

My experience now shows me that the journey through the Four S’s is not a linear process but more of an upward spiral. The price of admission is lower and the path is less resistant now, as I work towards significance for the second (or is this the third?) time.  I am wiser and more efficient in spite of myself. I have learned not to make the same mistakes twice (definitely not three times). I now realize that it is in the trenches where I shine - slugging it out in the pursuit of something better. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Trudging towards Significance.

Respectfully,

Sam Edge

The Edge on God

I have been alive for 17001 days. 

I found this out from Robert D Smith, a Guest Writer on Jeff Goins' Blog. I don't follow many Bloggers faithfully; however, I do enjoy Jeff's writing on life, advice on growing my Blog and his network of talented Bloggers. A network I would be proud to add myself to Jeff ... if you're listening.

So that's enough shameless sucking up to Jeff.

I have decided that at the ripe age of 17001 days I should come out of the closet. 

When I started Blogging I decided I would try to stay in the Centre of most polarising issues as not to alienate one side or the other (this strategy tends to piss of both sides by the way). There is an issue that is a growing part of who I am that I have skirted around and managed not to come right out and own up to in my posts ...

 I'm a Christian.

How many of you thought I was going to say I was Gay?

How many of you wished I said I was Gay?

Photo credit: www.wellspringcounselinggroup.com/blog

Anyways there it is. This may not be as big a deal as I think it is but I come from a science background and there was a significant period in my life where I was either agnostic or atheist. In fact, the very mention of God, would have led me to believe that you were of a weaker and less intelligent species and sent me off on a rant on creation and evolution.

My road to becoming a Christian was slow and painful. I would not consider myself a traditional Christian by any means and my belief in God is the single most personal thing about me. So sharing it with you folks is as intimate as it gets.

I can't talk about this subject without talking about my wife. She is the reason I am a Christian and she is what I believe God had in mind when he made Christians. I am proud to be a Christian because of her. Other than my wife, there are two very important things that being a Christian brought to my life - Prayer and Community.

So from now on we will begin each post with a prayer... Just kidding.

I won't change the nature or content of my posts much. I am just no longer going to skirt around the issue. This is part of my commitment to being Authentic. But prayer is a part of my daily life. I pray with my wife and 5 year old.

My 11 year old has decided that being a Christian isn't cool and I am fine with that for now. I just put the information in front of her and let her make up her own mind.  Coming to grips with an understanding of God, or higher power, or whatever is a life time process.

So in the future when I refer to God that's what I mean.  If you prefer Creator, Buddha, Mohamed, or the Great Out Doors please, do whatever works for you. To close this post on God I will share a prayer I stole from the Alcoholics. My 5 year old says it whenever she is sad or misses her big sister.

God, 

Grant me the Serenity, 

To Accept the Things I Cannot Change,

The Courage to Change the Things I can, and 

The Wisdom to Know the Difference.

Respectfully, From the Edge

The Edge of Honesty

"I have always told you some version of the truth." Jack Nicholson, Something's Gotta Give, 2003

We all know there are no versions of the truth - the truth is the truth. That being said, no one holds the patent on being right. Two people can disagree and both be right ... but I digress.

This is a follow up post to the "Edge of Fear" posted a few hours ago. That post ended with the statement:

Photo Credit Disney

"The only way to truly overcome the defences we build up to protect our fears is through Psychological Honesty" (or words to that effect.)

It has always been a point of personal pride that I have identified and maintained a level of Psychological Honesty.To explain Psychological Honesty I will give an example of Psychological Dishonesty.

I don't like "Fred" because he stole a girl from me 15 years ago. My wife wants me to go a dinner party with Fred and his wife (my old flame). I pick a fight with my wife and stomp off and go to my buddies to watch football because we aren't getting along now she doesn't want to go to the party. I do all this without acknowledging that I picked the fight to get out of an uncomfortable situation.

So in order to overcome the fear I have of facing Fred I have lied to myself. It is a obvious ploy but my need to avoid Fear is so great I ignore the obvious and even blame my wife for the whole thing.

This may seem like a silly example. But I see versions of this type of self deception all the time. I like to think I am above these shenanigans - but the stronger the Fear, the more ridiculous stunts we pull to avoid it. It is often obvious and frustrating to the spouse, or whomever, you are pulling these stunts on.

Now if I would do that to avoid Fred - what would I do to avoid running into someone I really hurt or who really hurt me. This is how we become fragmented, and our Authentic Self becomes buried in a labyrinth of self-deception and denial ... all supported by our old frienemy - Fear.

We have to put a stop to this childish and pathetic behaviour if we expect to expose the Bogey man that is Fear. We must be Psychologically Honest and expose these ridiculous lies to the light that dissolves them and allows our Authentic Selves to shine through.

As Carl Jung puts it: "it is the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."

Its simple ... but not easy.

Respectfully, from the Edge.
The Edge on Strategy

The Edge of Fear

No one wants to admit they are afraid.

A little help?

A close, honest, look; however, will show that Fear underlies all kinds of more socially acceptable feelings and behaviours including: procrastination, frustration, anger, intolerance, greed, excessive ambition, idle indifference - even dieting and exercising can be driven by Fear ... the list goes on.

I have come to believe that in my life it is Fear that keeps me from relating to the other Humans as my uncensored, Authentic Self. That's the case with me - bonafide tough guy and misfit. Given this conclusion, managing Fear is the key to my happiness.

I will openly and freely admit to a zillion defects but rarely to their true source. Fear masquerading as other, more Manly, character flaws is deeply rooted in my psychology. So deep that in some cases the source of the Fear has been lost to memory and the only the Fear itself remains. An independent, soul sucking, force that no longer requires stimuli to sustain it's presence.

Efforts to find the origin of Fear has value but often ends up driving wedges between me and the other Humans, usually those closest to me. Luckily, it is the "What" of Fear that I must understand not the "Why". The "What" is:

Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real.  

Fear is the Boogieman, the monster under the bed that keeps me from getting up at night. Fear is a choice. When I peel back the psychological defences that have been protecting my Fears I turn Fear itself on its head and the "What" of Fear becomes:

Fear = Face Everything And Recover. 

By facing fear and acknowledging that Fear dies in the light I can stop letting it run my thoughts and actions and my Authentic Self can truly come out and play.  I can only eliminate those defences that protect my fears by practicing psychological honesty. Which I will discuss in detail in my next post "The Edge of Honesty".

Respectfully, from the Edge.

The Edge of Intention

I submitted this writing exercise as part of the Trifecta Weekly Writing Challenge. I have been following the contest for a few weeks now and the content is great and the writers are talented. I may make this a weekly feature to "Notes from the Edge." Contest rules outlined below.
______________________________________________

When I took on this writing challenge I read a sampling of other authors and thought "Wow. These guys are great I'm going to try that... "

This is my eleventh draft and I am starting from a blank sheet. I wrote a poem, a story about a mean ex wife, a story about a vindictive mother and list of things that rhymed with intention. 

So I abandoned their style and went back to my own.

Ironically, my writing style is very much tied to “Intention” (or what it is that I intend to do or bring about through my writing.) My writing is based on my experiences. My intention is to use my experiences to help others. 

Some authors are very good at subtly weaving the "Prompt" into their story and evoking all kinds of feelings and abstract thought.  Being a man of unremarkable talent and intelligence, I beat my readers over the head with the Prompt and try to make a significant point in the process. 

www.susanjanemarketing.com

Deepak Chopra wrote a book called the "7 Spiritual Laws of Success." I read this book about 15 years ago and it had a significant impact on me. The Fifth Law is the "Law of Intention and Desire." Intention in this context was something we were to set our sites on and lock into - very much in line with definition 3a of this exercise. 

Once fully engaged in, and attached to, our Intention and Desire we were then to let go, or Detach (Sixth Law), of this intention and put 100% of our “Attention" into the next right thing. By this logic we reach our Intention effortlessly as represented by our Dharma or Life's Purpose (Seventh Law).  

As I write this I realise that Intention is very much my writing style. It is by Intention itself, and loosely following these Spiritual Laws, that I was able to get through this post on Intention in my own unique way in complete harmony with my Dharma. 

(Word Count 333)

Respectfully, From the Edge

The Edge of New Ideas

Most of what we think we have thought before - they are old ideas. Some are incredibly old. Old ideas have extremely staying power. The don't go away easy,  and they can drive our actions.  For instance, I have an old idea that "I don't fit in." No one ever told me this it was just something I picked up while I was growing up. Subconsciously, this old idea has caused me all kinds of trouble and I have done all kinds of crazy things to overcome it.

When I became a husband and father there was no longer any question as to where I fit in. This little family that I built became the centre of a world that I was an integral part of. So the old idea that "I don't fit" was turned on its head with the new idea - "I am an important part of something."

When I describe myself today I say I am a "father of three and a misfit". When you shine light on lies they lose their power. Today being a misfit has become an ironic source of identity not a source of shame as it was for most of my life.

Old ideas affect the way I treat myself and the way I treat the other Humans. The word resentment literally means to re-feel. We can re-feel the same negative feelings about something or someone long after the circumstances that caused those feelings have passed. These negative feelings thrive on darkness and die in the light.

One of the comments I received over the holidays talked about Facebook and how it is more like "Falseface Book" because we post the image we want people to see. Here on "Notes from the Edge" I have tried to put my real Face out there in the hopes that people who can relate to me will be able to shine light on the lies they tell themselves as well.

My true face

As we move into 2013, a brand new year full of potential for brand new ideas,  what are some of the old ideas you'd like to let go of?

And what are the new ideas we can put in their place?

Respectfully from the Edge

Check out my Signature site: The Edge on Strategy

Edge of Perfection

If you have been checking out the site this week you will have noticed a number of changes to the page layout and features. I have been quietly obsessing over it the last week. I've been getting some great advice from some Blogging and Writing Forums I joined and I can't thank those folks enough.

I was rebelling against the "Black Font on White Background Paradigm." I find this is so accepted that all Blogs are taking on a uni-blog appearance with little ability to set your design out from the pack. That being said everyone else in the know about on-line print swears by this colour combo as the best to attract and keep readers. In fact, it is the first consistent thing that I noticed when I started cruising Guru Blogs.

I ended up with a little of something for everyone. I kept my bold colours and cool fonts but restricted them to the sidebars, backgrounds and headings. On the posting area I stuck to the white background with black font that everyone loves. I even have a little Celtic art looking background to help me stay connected to my Tribal roots.

There are so many good, free, templates at Blogger.com and once you get the hang of the Advanced Custom Design feature the combinations are endless. I get picky, anal, and generally difficult when it comes to what I want. Unfortunately, I am not good enough at website design to be that picky. With the custom CSS feature the possibilities are endless. I am not very good at CSS, or any code writing, so I got CSS for Dummies - its was over my head. So now I am looking for CSS for monkeys. If that's too much it may have to be CSS for Mollusks. 

I chose the "Picture Window Theme" I like the layout and the variety of configuration sidebar windows.  It is themes where you can make your individual mark on your page with picture windows. I went through many before finding the right one and landed on the flowers and hummingbird as I thought it captured how I see the Blog.  This is the template I started with, the top 1/3 is the Custom Design  so you can see how much room there is for personalizing these templates.

I am actually on a short holiday (48 hrs.) with the kids. I am writing this poolside.  I have managed to get in touch with some great support group for Blogging and Writing so I may be making changes as they review my site and provide input for improvements. I am urging comments from you, my readers, regarding:

1. Content - topics chosen, if you agree, clarification, what do you like, what don't you like

2. Design - Any Questions, does it look good? Does it read easy? What would you do?

3. Format - Posts  length, cursing, frequency how many per week, 

I just started this Blog and, for all my faults, the one thing I can do is write. I am committed to constantly improving content and will always give my best. If you are looking for a new Blogger that wants to build a community and exchange ideas with you - that's me. At your service. Let me know what you like - I will do more of that. Let me know what you don't like. I will stop doing that.  

Join the Information Entertainment Revolution, where content builds success and the viewer directly drives  content! 

The Revolution is growing on the backs of pinheads like me who can afford to spend 20 hrs or more per week and not get paid and who toughed it out through three years of University English before we realised we were about to get a degree in unemployment. Ugh. Too late! We already read all the Great Authors and not only were we stuck loving them and their works, we developed a passion for the Art of Writing Prose and Poetry, this love will never leave us.

Respectfully, From the Edge