CtLife blog
CTLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY
CTLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY
One of my favorite inspirational speakers is Mateusz M. He is a 23 year old video editor from Lublin, Poland. He immediately got my attention when I read his reasoning for what drives him to make motivational montages, “I want the world to be better because I was here.” Here is my favorite montages that he has created: The background story Mateusz mentions at the beginning of the following link is about a lion and gazelle. He uses this parable to explain the vicious cycle society places on itself in order to motivate itself. Many of us use outside influences to push us to where we want to go but it can only push us so far. At the end of the day whatever we may be doing seems to suck the life out of us and pulls us towards sitting down next to the T.V. It seems like the only good thing to do until we jump on our feet and realize how much time we have wasted. I placed myself in this situation many times before whenever I got anxious or nervous about an assignment, social gathering, or anything that made me feel uneasy. Luckily, back when I was studying at BYU in high school, I met a professor who taught me how to reach pure enjoyment with my goals no matter how hard they seemed. First, he explained what another professor, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi had taught him- the difference between enjoyment and pleasure. Csikszentmihalyi wrote, “When considering the kind of experience that makes life better, most people first think that happiness consists of experiencing pleasure: good food, good sex, and all the comforts that money can buy. We imagine traveling to exotic places or being surrounded by interesting company and expensive gadgets…” My professor wrote to me, “He suggests that PLEASURE is a feeling of contentment that results from meeting biological or social desires. Csíkszentmihályi recognizes that pleasure is important, but he also recognizes that it cannot bring happiness and does not promote emotional or psychological GROWTH.” Well then what does? To be honest when I first heard this I scoffed at it. At the time when I heard this-prestige, power, and money were ALL my main motivators for why I worked so hard. And just like Mateusz tells the viewer in his montage, DESIRE, “It’s about character.” My teacher tells me the difference about enjoyment. By the way, here is a clip to know more about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Enjoyment comes from overcoming a task that made you venture out of your comfort zone. It is an event that pushed you beyond your programming. “Enjoyment is the result of learning something new or performing at a higher level than we once believed possible. We seek and gain inspiration or spiritual fulfillment from confronting mental, physical, and social challenge,” Enjoyable experiences may not seem “fun” or pleasurable at the time they are happening, but when they are over, we typically look back and are proud at ourselves. In return:
“These experiences help us better understand our abilities, our interests, and our personal characteristics. These experiences cause us to change and grow. Flow experiences are not necessarily pleasurable, but they are enjoyable. To produce flow, it is necessary to make considerable effort beyond what we are programmed to do. ” he said. To be honest I consistently feel ALIVE ever since learning this type of mindset. I may not be happy allthe time but I feel proactive and conscious about my day to day decisions more and more each day. I hope you decide to take the initiative to change as well. I leave you all with this comic piece by TruthSeekerDaily.com featured on ifunny.com (Click the picture to start the comic slide.) Much Love, CT |
Why take the time to read this blog? There is a high chance that if you are reading this you want to become inspired to
tackle a dream of yours. A dream you have been itching to achieve. Maybe even just trying to reach for it first since you haven't taken the initiative to start. You feel you need a push. I have been there. I'm still there. I'm consistently hunting for motivational gurus, video posts, links, and books to keep me fired up. So let me help you find them. In this blog I post about the latest inspirational thrills I've witnessed and learned from via the web & my own personal life. ArchivesCategories
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