Photo by: KitAy
Most people have odd stories of jobs they did in college.  I have more than most I think.  Much much material for my teaching and for my kid’s bedtime stories comes from the years I spent in my early twenties as a Pizza Hut delivery driver.  There is much to share but in this post I want to tell you a story about a can of anchovies and 5 bucks.

In between deliveries on slow nights, the guys and like one girl would hang out in the back trying to appear as if we were cleaning things.  I remember the freaks that worked there.  One guy would always feel the need to tell us about the drugs he was on, not to mention the fact that he had them for sale if anyone was interested.  A real “high brow” group.  Not much for inspiration but bucketloads for funny stories.

Tim bet me I couldn’t eat a can of anchovies and I called his $5 bluff.  I swallowed a whole can of those nasty salty raw fish and stuck my tongue out to the laughter and disgust of the onlookers.  I took my $5 and went on my run quite green I think.  Needless to say I never told the folks who got their pizza that I pulled over to the side of the road and let those fish swim right back out.  God, was I am idiot in those days.  Stay tuned folks, I’ve learned a lot about life from pizza and in this series I hope to share it all!

Album Photo by: kevindooley

Isn’t this a great retro LP cover?  No, my post today is not about dinner parties but it is about the genius of planning.  It can make you rich, famous, well-liked, and any other goal you might have.  It’s been said that if you do the right things long enough then the right things will inevitably happen to you.  I agree with that saying and that’s why I subscribe to the idea of startegic planning.  My greatest drive in life is to plan and do great things.  I don’t always accomplish them, but I will always try until my last breath.  Are you speaking my language?

I once heard a motivational speaker on the radio say that, in order to be successful we need to “stand in the spout where the blessings come out.”  It sounds corny huh?  After years since hearing that, I have come to understand it better than I ever imagined.  It means what I said: doing the right things. You may be rich, you may be poor, you may be nothing in this world at all.  A little allusion to my 80’s rock heroes the Alarm there ;)  The “Absolute Reality” we all live under is the truth that if we do the right things, the right things will happen to us.  Life will never be perfect, but we can aim at perfection.  Would Bill gates have made billions on his vision without doing what he thought was right?  Answer: no.

We will never be as huge as we wish we could be without standing in the spout where the blessings come out.  I make $200-400 a month off blogging and freelance writing.  I want to make $2000.  What is stopping me?  The only limitation is in my mind.  Watch me go!  I hope you’ll set big goals and come along with me.

FYI: You can read more of the “right” things I have done in my writing career at my online resume.  I am actively accepting freelance writing work.

How many times have you been working at a fast pace and couldn’t stop for lunch?  When this happens, wouldn’t it be great to have chips, popcorn, maybe some candy bars, sodas, even a few boxes of crackers with maybe some cheese (if you have a fridge nearby).

We all know that we perform better when we are happy and feeling well.  Treats we like can put us in that state.  I know it sounds a bit silly but taking the responsibility to treat yourself can go a really long way when your week goes South or even North with no time for a break.  I’ll tell you that as far as I am concerned, a little snack before a boring teacher meeting can make a world of difference to my mood.  You might even catch me taking notes and getting some inpsiration!

We are struggling this month with the holidays coming and all, I’ll write more on that later, but when we have enough extra to try this, I’m planinng on hitting Costco and making the best goodies drawer at work the world has ever seen.  Do you do this?  If so, what do you stock your work drawer with?

I am fortunate to once again have Dorian from “Buddha of Hollywood” as a guestblogger here today.  This is the second half of his thoughts on Relaxation Meditation.  Many thanks to Dorian for the 2 guest blogs here at Postcards from the Funny Farm.

I wish I could come up with another word for meditation since what we are going to learn and practice has a lot more to offer than the classical meditation techniques.  Let’s say that we are going to learn how to use our mind, brain if you want to call it so, at a higher level and capacity. We are currently using only about 10% of our mental capacity. That means that using 20% will double your brain output. Can you imagine what would be like to function at 100% mental ability?

The problem we are facing as human beings is not that we are not equipped to deal with our daily problems or that modern life has become unmanageable and our brains can not keep up with it. Our problem is that we are running our brain with both the acceleration and the brake pedals to the floor at the same time. The gains in performance and improvements that I’m taking about achieving are not some miracle supernatural voodoo trick. You are not going to gain anything that you already don’t have, just the knowledge and ability of mastering your own mind.

We will start today with the first step, the “Relaxation Meditation” After mastering this technique we will go to the second step the ”Contemplation Meditation” and finally we will master the “Guided Meditation” Each step is essential in mastering the following and I urge, especially the people that have already some experience and practice in meditation to practice diligently, don’t take any short cuts and don’t take anything for granted.

What is “Relaxation Meditation” Well it is just that. Relaxing your mind in a controlled, voluntary fashion. Sounds simple enough, but there are a lot of people that don’t make a difference between physical and psychical relaxation, there are a lot of people that just don’t know how to control and relax the brain.

Every one of us has experienced this relaxation. It is built in our being as a protective mechanism and it kicks in involuntarily when the brain needs time off. Have you ever work on a project so difficult so demanding that sitting in front of your computer screen or a piece of paper your brain just spaces out and you find yourself starring at the screen with your mind completely empty? Well, “Relaxation Meditation” is just that – spacing out in a voluntarily controlled fashion. To accomplish that we will use a defocusing technique called the OM chant. There are several defocusing techniques used for meditation like starring at a candle flame, breathing techniques, rhythmic body movement, even some unconventional activities like netting or watching TV fall in the same category.

The basic principle of the defocusing is that we brake the conscious train of thoughts by focusing at a mindless, random or repetitive stimulus. I have chosen the use of the OM chant for several reasons. It is very effective, it can be practiced any where, it doesn’t need any devices and the most important; it bridges seamlessly into the next meditation levels. There is a lot of metaphysical writings about the origin and significance of the OM chant but all that is more or less folklore. For those of you more scholarly inclined I suggest a visit to the local library or book store for more details. For the practice of relaxation meditation I believe that is enough information.

Proper position. Some sects or schools have strict codes in the practice of meditation. Some preach the sitting meditation, others the walking meditation. Laying down or standing on your head it doesn’t matter much. The important thing is to find a position that is comfortable to you. You can then proceed to practice the meditation wherever you are, office, home or in a plane – of course not if you are piloting the plane.
Time of practice. We will have at least 1 mandatory practice daily at a preset time, preferable before going to bed or first thing in the morning. That will be a 15 minute meditation. We can also practice it any time we feel like we need a brake or a boost in our mental stamina.

Proper practice. Remember the purpose of this stage of meditation is a blank mind. You start the meditation in a comfortable position, closing your eyes and focusing on the OM sound. If you have a partner or you are in a public place, like an office, I recommend you use a pair of headphones. The way the Buddhist monks chant OM is in a deeper register. I had a female student telling me “I can’t do it. My voice doesn’t go that deep.”

The way you chant is by finding a harmonic to the sound rather than copying the sound. So experiment a little bit with different tonalities until you find a relaxing comfortable harmony. Use the chant only to brake the train of thoughts. When the train of thoughts is broken do the chant only in your mind. The perfect state of relaxation meditation is achieved when even that stops and you are just contemplating the chant with your mind completely inactive, completely relaxed. That kind of mastering will come in time by practicing your meditation everyday.

Benefits. Even if you practice only this simple form of meditation the benefits you will incur are tremendous. From dealing with the daily stress to improve brain function to improved immune system, this meditation is essential in your mental and physical well being. The simple benefits like improved sleeping and improved energy will be apparent very soon after you start your practice. The more profound changes will take a longer practice time but your rewards will be worth the time and effort.

This week flew by really fast for me.  I didn’t post much to Postcards from the Funny Farm so I am glad to be putting out this podcast as scheduled.

I recorded my new song “American Day” in this part musical podcast.  I’ve never recorded music before on my blog so it was kind of exciting.  As everything in these early stages, this is only my third podcast ever, i appreciate your patience and your suggestions of how I can make it better for the average listener.

I am still working on this song and there were a few mistakes so try and hear what I’m getting at with the melody.  My friend Chris Gray of the band sepia is collaborating with me on this and one of his songs.  I’d love to do a podcast interview with him and some other songwriting friends I know.  Would you find that interesting?  There is a site called “Blog Talk Radio” that enables that sort of phone conferencing.  I’ve been meaning to look into it.

To close, I spent 3 days developing a resume online.  It’s more like a website than a resume as it has dynamic menus and multiple pages.  This was borne out of a few freelance writing job offers I’ve received that wanted a detailed website resume.  I’m not ready to reveal it yet since I’m using the basic template still but if you promise to be open minded, maybe you could recommend my services to somebody who needs them.  rileycentral.net Thanks a lot for reading and listening.  Tune in next Sunday for a new weekly podcast.

Podcast: American Day

This is a guest post from Chelle who writes about relationships on her blog itmightbelove.com.

Recently I noticed Damien asked a question in his post about what we want and what we need:

What is your “thing” you can do today to relax your body and awaken your creativity?

Having a similiarly hectic life to everyone else I try to at least once a day do something to help me relax and clear my head - otherwise I would probably be spinning in circles most of the time. Most of the things you can do to find inspiration and clear your mind don’t take a lot of effort or time to do.
Here are 25 Ways to Find Inspiration, Relax, and Clear Your Mind:

1. Music: No matter what my mood is or what I need to get done, music is a BIG source of inspiration. There’s music to fit any mood and sometimes just hearing certain songs can make you feel good. Playing guitar or piano (even if you’re not necessarily a rock star!) is another great creative outlet to find a little inspiration and/or clear your head.

2. Nature: The world is a beautiful place, and yet most of the time we’re too busy to enjoy it. Whether you decide to watch the sky or just go for a walk in the woods, it can instantly make you feel less stressed and help get that creativity going again.

3. People Watching: Sometimes its easy to be overwhelmed by the people we encounter daily through work or school or our families. But watching complete strangers can give you the opportunity to view life from someone else’s eyes. You can guess what they might be thinking or feeling or going through. You might find some ideas pretty easily by watching someone else for just a few minutes.

4. Take a Road Trip: A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to drive 2 hours in a car all by myself. No kids screaming – just me, my car, and the open road. It was amazing! It was the first time I had driven that long by myself – I forgot how much a road trip could instantly clear your mind and inspire you!

5. Photographs: Thanks to the power of the internet, there are millions of photos to take a look at and use for inspiration. If you like to take photographs, why not take a day sight seeing and snapping shots? Taking some time to go out and take pictures can be a great source for inspiration and relaxation.

6. Dreams: Dreams can be very powerful in giving you insight in your life. If you have problems remembering dreams, all you need to do is get into a habit of writing about what your dreams were – even if very hazy or foggy at first. You’ll start remembering very vivid details before long. Understanding your dreams is one step to understanding yourself better – and even if the dream is complete nonsense it may give you a few good ideas! A good night’s rest can do wonders as well!

7. Great Food: Inspiration can come from waking up your senses and taste is no exception. Maybe its comfort food or something exquisite. Sometimes ice cream makes everything all better too. If you tend to be overindulgent a lot, cutting back to healthier eating habits can also help improve your mood and help you concentrate.

8. Aromatherapy: Sure, a lot of people will roll their eyes at the thought of candles and incense and all of that. But smell is another important sense that when stimulated can help you instantly relax. Recently I used an old real estate trick to put a few teaspoons of vanilla on a pan in the oven to warm. The whole house radiated of a warm fuzzy baking cookies smell that put everyone instantly in a good mood. Lavender is also another smell that most people respond well too.

9. Touch: While we’re on the subject of the senses, touch is another that we often forget to nurture. Whether you hold someone’s hand, sign up for a day at a local spa for a massage, rub your dog’s belly, or just wear you most favorite worn out t-shirt– the things your body touches and come into contact with can have a big affect on your mood and your creativity.

10. Close Family/Friends: The people we are the closest to are typically the ones we take for granted the most. Take a time-out and really listen to them what they are thinking about or doing. You’ll be surprised at how inspiring it might be to see what they have to say or a different perspective on a situation you’re in.

11. Online Forums: If I’m ever stuck on a blog post idea or need somewhere to let off some steam, online forums are great for this! Complete strangers love to talk about their problems and listen to yours. One of the nicest communities I’ve met are the folks over at MyLot – but there are plenty of other great boards too. Sometimes listening to other people’s problems and trying to offer solutions can help you clear your head, give you a place to vent, and get new perspectives you hadn’t thought of before.

12. Magazines & Newspapers: With everything online anymore, we forget about the thrill of a magazine coming in the mail or opening up the Sunday paper and spreading it across the table or couch. I like magazines and newspapers because they are perfect for my short attention span and they are also full of recent events and opinions to help inspire you.

13. Brainstorm: Sometimes a good brainstorm can help you think of new ideas and thoughts. You can list pros and cons if you are trying to make a decision, or you can map it out with a list of ideas and cloud bubbles.

14. Paint, Draw, Color: I am lucky that by being a mom I have a full arsenal of crayons, water colors, and markers at my disposal. Anytime the kids get restless or I feel like we need to calm down we sit down and paint or color. Instant relaxation!

15. Hydrotherapy: A hot bath or shower, a soak in a hot tub, maybe even a few laps around a pool can all do wonders in relaxing you and helping you think clearly. Haven’t you ever heard anyone say “I do my best thinking in the shower?”

16. Break the Monotony: Most days follow a routine of some sorts. Routines are usually good – you’re more organized and better prepared to handle the stress that’s bound to come your way. But every so once inawhile, take a break from your routine. Do something entirely spontaneous. You’ll find yourself rejuvenated again.

17. Exercise: It wasn’t until about 6 months ago I realized exercise wasn’t a chore but an instant pick me up. I usually workout to my list of 100 workout songs - afterwards I always feel much more relaxed.

18. Do Nothing: Sometimes when you’re so caught up in the hustle and bustle of everything, what you really need is some do nothing time. Think about how much time you spend doing absolutely nothing – there’s a good chance you’re not giving yourself a break if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. Take an hour (or maybe even a whole day) and do absolutely nothing.

19. Clean House: Damien suggested this a few times and I completely agree. Clutter and disorganization can make you feel overwhelmed instantly. Whether you decide to organize the files on your computer or to clean out the garage or do dishes by hand in the sink doesn’t matter – sometimes just cleaning things out can help you clear your mind and give you a sense of order and control.

20. Write: Writing has always been an excellent way to relax and be inspired, unless you’re experiencing writers block of course! Sometimes keeping a daily or weekly journal can help you sort out thoughts and ideas and feel better – as well as take a look back at what you’ve done which can be inspiration. If writer block is a problem, I’m a big fan of “freewriting” – you set a timer for 5 minutes and just write non stop for that 5 minutes. Sure, you might find yourself writing a lot of nonsense – but you might also find a few great gems of ideas in there as well.

21. Add Some Greenery: You don’t have to have a green thumb to enjoy gardening. A few low maintenance house plants or doing some landscaping or even mowing the grass can all provide an outlet to escape the usual stress and help you clear your mind.

22. Meditate: Spending some time to quietly reflect and clear your head can work wonders as well. Learning how to meditate can really make a big difference on your ability to

23. Do a Puzzle: It doesn’t matter if you do a jigsaw puzzle or a crossword puzzle – puzzle solving is a great way to exercise your brain and help you get your mind off the more important things for a little while and help you relax.

24. Laugh: There’s been proof that laughter is perhaps the best medicine and even good for you – but it’s a good chance you’re not laughing enough. Next time everything goes wrong don’t start yelling – laugh. Make sure you find something funny at least once a day. I try to do this with my totally pointless blog about stupid stuff.

25. Get Your Frustrations Out: One of our biggest problems is we tend to bottle up emotions or feelings. It’s not intentionally usually, but the day to day aggravation can eventually make you feel like you might just snap. So go ahead and take some time at a batting cage or golf range, punch a pillow, or scream at the top of your lungs. You’ll feel better that you did!

Do you feel inspired yet? There’s a ton of things you can do that can instantly make you feel better and at peace with the world. Most aren’t hard to do - you just need to make sure you put things like these on your priority list right up there with “get dressed today” and “feed kids”. Giving yourself some space and time can help you move from feeling like you can’t get anything done to feeling like you can conquer all.

That title is a quote from Michael Stipe of the band REM in the song, Finest Worksong. Got two days off (post weekend) and I was thrilled about it.  I figured, here’s an eternity of time to get everything I need to get done, done!  Well, after the first day it hasn’t quite worked out that way.

A reminder that life is longer than we think sometimes.

I’ve done a lot today but a few things I did were really important and restorative.  Let me take you through them in hopes you find parallels for your next short time off:

Got up about 6am with the crying baby and the edgy 3 year old.  Took care of their needs.  Bottle, changed diapers, feed the older one, put their channel on.  The girls really wore me out this morning.  In searching for my “center” I found myself very distracted with their needs.  Not complaining mind you, just explaining that we can’t always get that time we have “off.”  I thought, maybe it is better to spend time with my girls that it is to space out in front of the computer all day.  So that wasn’t all bad.  Meanwhile, my 10 year old was sleeping in (LUCKY DOG!)

The rest of the day consisted in cleaning and preparing: preparing for lunch, dinner and cleaning the kitchen and TV room.  There is so much joy in a clean room.  All this stuff was like therapy for me.  Later on we went out by the pool and I pulled all the strange things out of the skimmer.  I came inside, had some pizza and watched a few shows on Rome.  Typical time at home eh?  I am sure it all was therapeutic, but my head still felt thick.  I knew my therapy needed one more step: relaxation.  I’d cleaned, prepared, read stories, made bottles, and much more but I hadn’t yet been able to JUST RELAX.  Do you ever have trouble just relaxing?  Well if that’s the case, remember to relax before it’s too late.  How did I relax?  I took a hot shower.  It revived my spirits.  When I got dried off I asked my wife to go out for dinner tonight … just us!  We spent all Sunday and Monday in the day with our kids and I figured we both deserved a break.

Point? My relaxing shower was great, but only after I had done the cleaning and preparation of the day.  I think one of the single most powerful tools of inspiration is cleaning.  Having said that, it should always be tempered with relaxation.  So what is your “thing” you can do today to relax your body and awaken your creativity?  Make sure you do that thing in concert with the other stuf “you know you gotta do.”  When you have that breakthrough, let us know!

When I ran across Dorian’s Blog “Buddha of Hollywood,” I was instantly curious.  Since I live so close to Hollywood and know a few “oddballs” that have come out of that town, I figured I had a tiger by the tail with this blogger.  Since then we have exchanged emails a few times and I have learned of his interest in meditation.  While I meditate and practice TM as well as the Relaxation Response in my life, I found out his knowledge was in some different aspects.  I was pleased when he agreed to 2 part guestblog on meditation.  I hope you enjoy his writing as much as I do.

When my friend Damien asked me to guestblog on self improvement, the first thing I did was to go to my book shelf and pull out my old psychology books. I ended up with a pile that would take me a year to research and I thought to myself “Well, this is not going to work.”  I’m not going to be able to train somebody to do psychoanalysis and therapy by writing blog posts.

Considering that 90% of the daily psychological bruises we are facing are small incidents, stuff not worthy taking it to a therapist.  (You wouldn’t go to a surgeon to put a band aid on your finger cut, would you?) Then only about 10% of our problems are of that magnitude that requires professional help.

Instead of getting too deep into the academic aspect of psychology, I thought that I could come up with something more practical.

The following posts are going to give you a series of tools to deal with the small stressors of the daily life. They will teach you how to be more relaxed, give you more energy, prop up your self confidence and optimism, and make you fell better and more enthusiastic about your life. Watch for the posts in this series, I hope they will benefit you.

Part I – The Concept of Relaxation Meditation

I wish I could come up with another word for meditation since what we are going to learn and practice has a lot more to offer than the classical meditation techniques.
Let’s say that we are going to learn how to use our mind, brain if you want to call it so, at a higher level and capacity. We are currently using only about 10% of our mental capacity. That means that using just 20% would double your brain output. Can you imagine what it would be like to function at 100% mental ability?
The problem we are facing as human beings is not that we are not equipped to deal with our daily problems or that modern life has become unmanageable and our brains can not keep up with it. Our problem is that we are running our brain with both the acceleration and the brake pedals to the floor at the same time. The gains in performance and improvements that I’m taking about achieving are not some miracle supernatural voodoo trick but they can be made.

You are not going to gain anything that you already don’t have, just the knowledge and ability of mastering your own mind.

We will start understanding the “Relaxation Meditation” in this post by examining the concept.

RM is relaxing your mind in a controlled, voluntary fashion. Sounds simple enough, but there are a lot of people in the field who don’t distinguish between physical and psychical relaxation, this is an important point to make.  RM means relaxing the mind as well as the body.

Have you ever worked on a project so difficult and so demanding that sitting in front of your computer screen or a piece of paper your brain just spaces out and you find yourself staring at the screen with your mind completely empty?  As I close this post, consider the benefits to RM:

Benefits. Even if you practice only this simple form of meditation the benefits you will incur are tremendous. From dealing with the daily stress to improve brain function to improved immune system, this meditation is essential in your mental and physical well being. The simple benefits like improved sleeping and improved energy will be apparent very soon after you start your practice. The more profound changes will take a longer practice time but your rewards will be worth the time and effort.  In my next guestpost here at Postcards from the Funny Farm I will dive right in and show the practice of RM.  So watch for it here next week!

In this, my second podcast, I got a great tip from my friend Jessica S. (I have to distinguish with an S. because my sister in law is also named Jessica and is also a blogger who reads Postcards) to go back through my thousands of archived posts and talk about one of those ideas.  Thanks Jessica!  As I took her advice tonight I ran across my quote page and thought it would be a great opportunity as I’m learning how to “talk to you guys” ;) to share some of these personal impressions I get from the crazy quotes I have collected.

It’s a bit longer than the last one, but I think I needed to make it longer this time.  I am actually somewhat happy with my voice.  Last time I sounded like I was out of breath thereby giving away my nerves.  There are a few pops on the microphone etc. that I apologize for.  But, I think I’m getting an idea how this should go and I hope you’ll tune in next week.  I promise to have a new concept.  It might have something to do with the amazing inventions of Rome, but nothing is set in stone yet ;)

Thanks for listening to this podcast.  Oh and one last thing, I wanted to say thank you to Nick for his encouraging comment about my podcast last week.  With wobbly legs, I am kind of learning how to do this as I go along so the positive vibes are appreciated!  We’ll see where it goes.

Last night I saw the Changeling and it caused me to pick up my reviewer’s pen again after a long time of no inspiration.  It was directed by Clint Eastwood, 78, and has several A-List actors the most memorable for me being: John Malkovich as Rev. Gustav Briegleb, and Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins.  It also includes producer credits for Ron Howard.  How can you miss with those 4 involved right?  Yes, indeed it doesn’t miss.  The Changeling is a story about justice amid corruption and left me feeling better about society and a little worse about serial killers out there.

The story takes place in the 1920’s in Southern California.  Many settings are places around where I have grown up and now live.  I was especially shocked to hear “Hesperia” mentioned since that is a hidden horse property city close to me in the High Desert.  Apparently there was a case that took place in Los Angeles at that time and the story sort of revolves around that case.  I’ve held back on the plot details because part of the enjoyment of this movie is letting it unfold.  The retro 1920’s costumery and cars, buildings, etc. is breathtaking on its own.  Everything from Angelina Jolie’s hat to the farmhouse sinks at the killer’s ranch is tailored suited to the time and theme of the movie.

Jolie is a great actress and her role in this movie is no deviation from that.  But Malkovich is by far the screen stealer.  Unfortunately, he has a relatively small role in comparison.  As I watched Malkovich play the reverend that speaks out against the corrupt police, I felt as if I was watching a trusted friend.  He is such an eerie guy that I wondered at first if he could pull off that character.  By the end of the movie I was giving him 2 thumbs up.

This movie is about society, injustice, faith, and psycho wards.  Sounds like the stuff I write about here every day.  I will tell you that this movie is a postcard straight out of the funny farm, speaking for all of us who remain here, baffled by the world and at the same time in wonder of it.

I recommend this movie whole-heartedly but with a caveat: There are graphic refernces to violence and a few short scenes that bear those out.  If you can just accept those as necessary to tell the story, the rest of it with have you marveling.

More pictures, Movies Stats, and more available at IMDB.