I think, to a certain degree, we all want to be original. Being original in whatever it is we do, seems worth pursuing. The word original in general terms means: ‘preceding all others in time’. That sounds like a competition doesn’t it? If you want to be original, you have to beat all others and be the first. Quite an exhausting rat race… A while ago I came across a note from film director Jim Jarmusch and interestingly enough, he points out that nothing is original. He encourages us to be authentic, rather than original saying: “Originality is non-existent, authenticity is invaluable”. Authenticity means: ‘the quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original’. Original in this case means your soul. He also quotes Jean-Luc Godard, another filmmaker: “It’s not where things come from, it’s where you take them”. In other words: it’s not about being the first, it’s about being genuine.

You know that situation where you expect an important email from someone but you don’t get it? At first you think the other person is busy, but soon you find yourself making up conspiracy theories. That usually doesn’t help so the next time this happens, keep the following in mind. I found it on Wikipedia and it’s called: ‘Occam’s razor‘, a principle from philosophy and named after William of Ockham, a Franciscan friar who studied logic in the 14th century (yeah, quite a long time ago). The principle says that if the only difference between two explanations is how complex they are, choose the simpler one, for the one that involves the fewest guesses, is probably the right one. Another way of saying it: the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is. Example: Two trees have fallen down during a windy night. Consider these two possible explanations: A) The wind has blown them down. B) Two meteorites have each taken one tree down, and after that collided and removed any trace of themselves. Even though both explanations are possible, the second explanation needs several assumptions to all be true and is probably the wrong answer. Occam’s razor also often comes up in medicine when there are many explanations for symptoms and the simplest diagnosis usually is the correct one. If a child has a runny nose, they probably have the common cold instead of a rare birth defect. Medical students are often told, “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras”. That’s if you don’t live in Africa of course.

Even when we’re frustrated with something, like our job or rude people in the streets, we tend to not really show it. For a large part because we are taught to remain calm, to keep our cool, to control ourselves and play it safe. So that’s what we do, most of the times anyway. And this can go on for years. For years we can have the job that we know isn’t going to make us happy. For years we can tolerate rude people being rude etc.. I recently stumbled upon this video. It’s called ‘Get mad as hell’. It’s a dialogue from the 1976 movie ‘The Network’ and a great dialogue it is. Although the story is set in the 1970’s, the dialogue could be about 2011. In fact it could be about you about you and I: to get mad as hell, to not take it anymore. To not take what anymore? Well, anything we’re unhappy with, but don’t show. And if you like, here’s the original footage (quite brilliant too).

What is philosophy? Wikipedia says: Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational arguments. The word “philosophy” comes from the Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means “love of wisdom”. Especially when emotions and feelings leave you numb, it’s reason that provides a highly effective framework to regain control. If you like to get a general view on philosophy and it’s history press here. And if you’re up for something stronger, I also found a website called the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. You can browse by topic (e.g. the ‘Philosophy of Sexuality’ or ‘God and Time’) or by philosopher (e.g. Socrates, Descartes, Goethe, Plato etc.). When you ‘love wisdom’, I’m sure this is interesting for you.

Some days I really feel like dancing and I throw myself on that floor to make some confident moves. There are also days I prefer to stay in the background, making just a little step, or two. I’ve had days where at first I wanted to be invisible, finding myself transformed an hour and a half later, making the craziest moves. There are days I just don’t catch the rhythm, no matter how hard I try. And there are days I really don’t want to dance, but I’m forced to anyway. And then there is style. Dancing comes in all kinds of styles, just like living. One style isn’t better then the other, it’s what makes you feel good that counts. And watching these people dance, reminded me of just that.

I think we can all relate to this situation: You’re up and about, living your life, minding your own business and all of a sudden… you meet someone else and you experience something that makes you think: the grass is always greener on the other side. In other words: I’m good, but that other person really has got it all together. That’s a normal response I guess, as we all want to feel like we’re on top of things. But the funny thing is (and this really is funny) it’s most likely that the other person feels the exact same (but opposite) way. He or she thinks you got it all mapped out, crystal clear. Yeah, people envy each other. Even about the smallest things. That’s what they do. I know I do. Until the moment I realize, that everything outside of myself (the way I experience things, the way I judge things etc.) is a reflection of myself. It’s me creating that image. It’s about me (focussing on my own imperfection) and not about that other person (being really perfect). So whenever I’m in a situation like this, I stick to myself and think: the grass is always green. There’s no need to pick sides.

Now this may be a guys thing. You know, a motivational speech in an American Football movie. But I felt like posting it because of the intensity of it: being vulnerable can be so powerful. The movie is called ‘Any given sunday’. The actor is Al Pacino. The speech is about winning or losing and that the difference between them is a matter of inches. To fight for these inches and be willing to die for these inches, that’s about living. Nobody can do that for you. Only you can – alone or with others.