Scott Brightwell dot Org

This is a very entertaining rap about “Eastern Orthodox Easter.” Obviously the guy in the bunny suit has never attended a Paschal service.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtG4aA95twE

Watch this video!

I’m looking for the Grand Unified Theory of Personal Organization (GUTOPO). I’ve been experimenting (hasn’t everyone) with Getting Things Done by David Allen. It’s a great framework for controlling “stuff” as Dave puts it. I’m coming up short with his system though, and have been pondering a convergence of GTD with the Seven Habits book by Steven Covey. I’ll explore the benefits of each approach, the shortcomings of GTD, and how to combine them to achieve “GUTOPO-ia.”

We all have too much “stuff” in our minds, and the focus of GTD is to get all that “stuff” out of our heads, and into a Trusted System to get it done as efficiently as possible. Dave focuses on not losing track of “stuff” so that our brains relax and begin the natural creative processes they do so well. He calls this clear headedness having a “mind like water.” GTD offers a comprehensive system for getting the stuff out of our heads and into our system. It’s realistic, achievable, imminently practical, and applicable to many forms of organizational technologies, since at it’s heart it’s about keeping lists.

The problem with GTD is there’s not enough discussion on how to insert your own “stuff” into your life. It seems like a reactionary system to me. It’s all about processing those inboxes of our lives. My issue is, that’s not how I want to live my life! Sure, I have inboxes into which other people are constantly putting things, but when do I get to insert my own next actions!? How do I think about what I want and prioritize my own goals!? It’s not fulfilling to keep processing my inbox over and over and over. I might have a day job, but I AM NOT MY DAY JOB. I have inboxes that need processing, sure, but I’m more than a processor of inboxes, and I need help knowing what to do with a clear head and new and creative thinking.

There’s nothing within the GTD model that teaches how to dream, and make those dreams materialize into reality. To be fair to Dave though, he tells us as much in his book. He’s not here to teach us how to do that, he’s here to bring us to the threshold of being able to do that. He’s going to enable us to have a “mind like water” that flows and is creative and is unstoppable, but he’s not here telling us what happens next.

Steven Covey tells us how to bring our own vision into focus, achieve balance in the activities of our lives, behave attempting to find synergies with those around us, and distance ourselves from the busywork so that we can focus on the “Important but not Urgent” aspects of our lives.

Since my blog is getting hit with spam comments.Or maybe I’m just anybody, because everybody gets spam?  Or am I a nobody for not standing out from the crowd?

My wife got this one.

I’m sick of the question, “Are you saved?” My frustration with the question is that 90% of the people who ask it have never considered the responding question, “Saved from what?” You gotta be saved! Are you SURE you’re saved?! You gotta be sure! If you’re not SURE you’re saved, you’d better come to church with me this Sunday! Bah.

Are you saying I need to be saved from Hell? Who’s sending me to Hell? God!? Why would God be sending me to Hell? Was it something I did? So you’re saying that I should want a relationship with a God that is currently sending me to Hell for something I did to offend Him before I even knew He was there? Or are you saying that it was something Adam did… it wasn’t necessarily something I did, but what that Book says that guy did thousands of years ago that makes me destined by God to Hell? What the Hell?!

I’m on a roll now, keep reading…

(more…)

God is Love.  There are three Persons of the Trinity:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Father begets the Son, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father.  Each Person of the Trinity is in Essence (technical term), God.  Just like we are all in Essence, Man. 

Well, not “just like.”  We Men are individuated, separate beings.  We are finite, and divided.  The Persons of the Trinity are all infinite, because they are all in Essence, God.  In Essence, they are indistinguishable, though not confused.  They “are” and “exist” in the fullness of the Communion Relationship of Love.  God is Love.  And so we refer to them as Trinity or God in the singular. 

We can aim for this in our relationships of Love.  (more…)

I’ve had a fairly intense spiritual weekend this weekend. I watched a couple of movies that (regardless of how good the movies are) got me to thinking about deep topics. I watched “United 93″ and “Artificial Intelligence. ” Both have their good and bad points. The movies aren’t the point. The point is I came to realize the Meaning of Life this weekend. Seriously. I’ll tell you, just keep reading.

There are two aspects to the answer. They’re the answers to the questions “Why was I created,” and “What is my purpose?”

The first question is one of existence itself. What sustains us as living, real, vital persons? What defines me as being? What, if it were taken away, would cause me to not exist? I’ll give you a clue, it’s not “I think therefore I am.”

The second question has to do with the purpose of my existence. What am I here to do? What should I be working for? Why keep going?

And the Meaning of Life is… (more…)

Test of Windows live writer.  This is an image.

Wow.  This is actually fantastic.  I can insert images, play with text and fonts. 

this is a blockquote

more text of the quote