We Are What We DO
Hi--
One of the so-called problems with being a magazine editor is all the reading you have to do. I've got stacks and stacks of books, just waiting for me to get through ... on top of the three newspapers, numerous monthly magazines and many websites I check out daily. I say this is a "so-called" problem because it's not really a problem at all ... reading is one of my favorite favorite things to do. My appetite for reading always rivaled my appetite for food ... and thankfully, reading is a no-cal activity!
Anyway, I have finally gotten to a book called Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart, by a psychiatrist named Gordon Livingston. I think it came out in hardback a couple of years ago, and was issued in paperback this summer. I have to admit right here ... I'm not a huge fan of self-help books. I like stories with messages, sure, but out of context advice? Not so much. Maybe that's why I wrote my book the way I did ... I felt like who would listen to my advice without knowing my story, where I'm coming from?
But I have found some nuggets in this book that resonate. One especially: We Are What We DO. Dr. Livingston (I presume! Sorry, couldn't resist) basically says that at the end of the day, our intentions, our justifications, our excuses, our words don't matter--our actions are what make us who we are.
As someone who walks around with a head full of ideas, only a fraction of which are ever executed, this hit me hard. It's not like I didn't know it before I read that passage, but the reminder came at a good time, I suppose. For instance, I think about this blog all the time ... but you all (if there is anyone out there!) know how rarely I post. YOU don't know that I think about blogging, that I actually compose posts in my head that never make it to the page. Just like my sister doesn't know that I have a card sitting here, waiting to be addressed, congratulating her on being pregnant with her third child. Nor does my friend Kim know that I've been thinking about emailing her to tell her where I am now since I've moved.
What is stopping me from following through? My son's homework, the housework, my workouts, my job, Project Runway, all those books and newspapers I read, I guess. It's not that I'm beating myself up about all this ... the book has just caused me to take stock, to look at WHAT GETS ON THE PAGE, and figure out from that if I am acting, in reality, as the person I want to be. If I am expressing what is inside.
I think not.
So ... what will I do with all this? I will DO. I will stop cogitating so much, and DO. Yes, I have a full life, and this doesn't mean I will be blogging every five minutes, or every day even. But I will try to DO more, all around. I will try to THINK, THEN DO, instead of THINK, THEN DELAY. Because time's a-wastin'.
Thanks for listening.
Lisa D
One of the so-called problems with being a magazine editor is all the reading you have to do. I've got stacks and stacks of books, just waiting for me to get through ... on top of the three newspapers, numerous monthly magazines and many websites I check out daily. I say this is a "so-called" problem because it's not really a problem at all ... reading is one of my favorite favorite things to do. My appetite for reading always rivaled my appetite for food ... and thankfully, reading is a no-cal activity!
Anyway, I have finally gotten to a book called Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart, by a psychiatrist named Gordon Livingston. I think it came out in hardback a couple of years ago, and was issued in paperback this summer. I have to admit right here ... I'm not a huge fan of self-help books. I like stories with messages, sure, but out of context advice? Not so much. Maybe that's why I wrote my book the way I did ... I felt like who would listen to my advice without knowing my story, where I'm coming from?
But I have found some nuggets in this book that resonate. One especially: We Are What We DO. Dr. Livingston (I presume! Sorry, couldn't resist) basically says that at the end of the day, our intentions, our justifications, our excuses, our words don't matter--our actions are what make us who we are.
As someone who walks around with a head full of ideas, only a fraction of which are ever executed, this hit me hard. It's not like I didn't know it before I read that passage, but the reminder came at a good time, I suppose. For instance, I think about this blog all the time ... but you all (if there is anyone out there!) know how rarely I post. YOU don't know that I think about blogging, that I actually compose posts in my head that never make it to the page. Just like my sister doesn't know that I have a card sitting here, waiting to be addressed, congratulating her on being pregnant with her third child. Nor does my friend Kim know that I've been thinking about emailing her to tell her where I am now since I've moved.
What is stopping me from following through? My son's homework, the housework, my workouts, my job, Project Runway, all those books and newspapers I read, I guess. It's not that I'm beating myself up about all this ... the book has just caused me to take stock, to look at WHAT GETS ON THE PAGE, and figure out from that if I am acting, in reality, as the person I want to be. If I am expressing what is inside.
I think not.
So ... what will I do with all this? I will DO. I will stop cogitating so much, and DO. Yes, I have a full life, and this doesn't mean I will be blogging every five minutes, or every day even. But I will try to DO more, all around. I will try to THINK, THEN DO, instead of THINK, THEN DELAY. Because time's a-wastin'.
Thanks for listening.
Lisa D
posted by Lisa Delaney at
7:31 AM
14 Comments
