I've been reading a bit lately. Which is good. It keeps me from having to sit down and write something. So it must take something to get be back to the keyboard typing stuff that matters.
And this time it's Lorenzo Dominguez's book “25 Lessons I've Learned About Photography.... And Life.”
I owe it to friend, all-around-awesome-guy and human behind TerrificYorkies.com, Terry Riffey for pointing me toward this ebook. He knows of my motivational background and he has been a photographer for many a year, so the 2 individual aspects of ourselves related to Lorenzo's book. (yes, I'm sticking with that as a reason).
Now, I know it's hard be believe that I haven't finished reading it, (meaning I'm pretty awesome at not finishing reading much of what I read), but it's not my fault THIS TIME. Lorenzo writes of having the option of staying home one night and reading a book or 2 on something he is interest in, or going out with his camera and DOING something, getting out, living. (So I've been busy shoveling snow and ice, tossing down salt to help with the ice melting procedures and doing a few other time-consuming / living life kinds of things instead of sitting back and reading more of his book (But I shall get back to it). Probably even before I hit publish on this post.
28 minutes pass
Oh, sorry. Was reading there. Ummm, where was I?
Ahh, the book. I am on lesson 7 of the 25.
The one which has stuck with me the most to this point is “Use Your Imagination”. I won't go into the details (mainly because I don't necessarily remember them as much as how they affected me). This was the first chapter to make me want to print small posters of quotes and paste them around the office.
Use your imagination is a reminder to use the creativity each of us has (and yes, believe it or not, we all have our own imagination. It helps make possible what we and others feel might not be possible. And it makes living just a bit more fun. Read the book. You'll see what I am saying.
As for me, I need to get back to doing something. Too tired to shovel more snow. (Yes, I should fight that lazy feeling), but right now, writing what I have in my mind right now is more important than just doing whatever.
It's Your Turn...
What will you do to get back to living once you are done reading this post?
David Stoddard
The Unmotivated Motivational Writer www.djstoddard.com
Follow me on Twitter twitter.com/imdavidstoddard or Facebook
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Wow.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you. Thank you for reading my book. I am ecstatic that it has inspired you (or rather reminded you, because you understood the importance already) to Use Your Imagination.
Ultimately, the lessons I learned, and wrote, weren't lessons I learned while at my stay at the Little Church. They were lessons I learned throughout my life and it was this life-changing juncture in my life that reminded me of all these lessons.
I think this is a vital point to understanding the book and its lessons. For it is and it isn't a "how to" manual, it isn't readily a manual for anyone to pick up and apply the lessons therein (but then again it is).
I guess what I am trying to say is that, like you, I hope my book inspires people to take some time to reflect on their life and the lessons they've learned, and in turn, be reminded to apply them.
For much like you, shoveling snow, tossing the salt, and generally doing all those "time-consuming / living life kinds of things" often usurps our mental, emotional and physical energy so much that we don't have the motivation to apply all those lessons we've learned.
With that, I will leave you with one funny anecdote.
As the reader readily discovers in the preface of the book, I ended up living at the Little Church in the middle Manhattan due to a marital separation. Since we had two kids, this was a difficult experience for me to go through, but I tried to look at it positively. One of the first things I thought was, "Well, at least now I don't have to shovel snow!"
You see, I was born and raised in sunny California, and so shoveling was foreign to me. Considering that I had married a Jersey girl, this was occasionally a matter of contention between my former spouse and I. Moreover, unlike others who only had to shovel the sidewalk in front of their house, we had a corner lot, which meant that I had to shovel the front, the side and the driveway. Ugh!
Anyway, relieved of these duties I smiled to myself, and try to find other ways of making the most of my situation (such as writing my 25 Lessons, which by the way, before it became a book it was a 25 page treatise, which is still available online for free and has been viewed by more than 100,000 people: http://lorenzodd.tripod.com/flickr/250.html).
Alas, about two weeks into my stay at the Church. It snowed and it snowed and it snowed. And part of the reason I was able to stay at the church was that I agreed to essentially be the caretaker and groundskeeper. Meaning, I was back to shoveling snow again...but this time it was almost an entire city block!
Irony abounds. Perhaps, it was God's way of telling me to be careful about what you complain about.
David, thanks once again for writing about my book.
Regards,
Lorenzo
P.S.
By the way, 25 Lessons is on sale for only 99 cents (text only) and 1.99 (for text and photos) for one week, through Monday, January 31.
25 Lessons is currently #1 in the following categories:
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Artists, Architects & Photographers
# #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Entertainment > Photography > Photo Essays
Click the following link to get to see the book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Learned-about-photography-ebook/dp/B00318D6Y0
Hi Lorenzo...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for stopping my my little spot on this World Wide Web Wilderness.
Sorry you had to shovel soooooo much back in the day. I guess there are some benefits of living in the middle of the blog instead of the corner. I sorta always thought that when it came to cutting grass. Didn't think about the snow shoveling aspect to things.
Sorry it's taken me so long to write back. What can I say, life and times get in the way of doing what we need to be doing.
Glad your book is doing so well. Keep up the great work and keep motivating and inspiring the masses.
Make it Great.
--David