Collecting Your Words

I’ll be uploading entries from the notebook as soon as I get access to a scanner.

Also, a special thanks to DJ for the great chat, the food, and the book.

I'll be reading this next

I’ve had a chance to talk to about 24 people so far throughout this project. It might be too early to say, but one of the most connecting bits of humanity I’ve noticed in everyone’s story is that we’re all trying to get somewhere else, whether it’s physically, financially or emotionally.

I would think that at the root of it, most of what we do is an attempt to be happier than we were the day before. So then, what is happiness? Can it be pursued? Should it be? It’s not contentment. Contentment can lead to stagnation which leads to dissatisfaction. It’s not the absence of negative feelings.

 I’m thinking it may be tied to the feeling that you have meaning in your life. Meaning that has nothing to do with the values of others. That is to say, meaning in others, not of others. So perhaps meaning should be pursued, not happiness.

Children are happy, sometimes. They experience joy, weather permitting. Before they start thinking too much. Before the thoughts get too complicated. But thinking is important and rewarding too. I remain, at this time, undecided on the matter. I’m moving too, but I’m not sure towards what. Right now it’s towards people and their stories.

So, then, friends, what are you moving towards?