Creators of any kind must find their voice.

We are writers, musicians, designers, programmers, parents, builders of anything. But we are not truly expressing ourselves, and speaking the truth, until we’ve found our voice: the tone, style, tenor, pitch, personality we use to express ourselves.

Our voice is our essence, writ plain for the world to see.

A reader and fellow writer asked me how I found my voice. And I have no easy answer — I’m not even sure I can say I’ve fully found my voice yet. It’s a quest that doesn’t seem to end — not a Grail quest, really, but a constant retuning as the essence of who I am neverendingly changes.

But I feel I’ve found something that has the texture of truth, even if only a tactile approximation. I’ll share some of my thoughts, but keep in mind I don’t hold the answers firmly at all.

I’m learning, and I hope my learning helps yours. This is written for writers, but the ideas are the same for anyone who creates anything.

Write a lot. This is almost all I need to say, as nothing else matters without the constant practice of writing a lot. Write blog posts and letters, booklets and diatribes, letters to the editor and book reviews, love poems and short stories, novellas and manifestos. The sheer mass of your writing becomes the raw matter from which to chisel your voice.

Experiment boldly. Rip off the greats, and the goods as well. Mimick and make it your own. Try and err.

Learn to hear yourself. My writing voice is really the voice in my head. It’s not how I talk aloud, but how I talk to myself, in the noisy cavern of my skull. I listen to myself talk, inside, and that’s the voice I try to get down in writing.

Getting that voice from your head to the virtual paper — that’s the trick. It’s not easy, but again, do it often, and you’ll get proficient at it. It’s a rewiring of the synapses, so that your head-thoughts shoot down into your fingertips and come out as typing motions, as bits and pixels. Most people don’t do this enough to get good at it, and so there is low fidelity.

Find what feels true. You’ll write a lot, and most of it will be bullshit. You need the bullshit if you want to find the truth. Sort through the bullshit until you learn to recognize the truth, by feel, not by any logical criteria. The truth looks remarkably like bullshit.

Find clarity. Good writing, it’s been said often, is clear thinking. If your thinking is muddled, your writing will be. I’d recommend a self-taught course on logic, but really I’ve found it’s a matter of simplifying. Practice removing extraneous ideas and words until you have only what’s needed to express a simple thought.

Remove the noise. It’s a process of subtraction more than addition. Most people end up with too many words, because they never subtract. The noise gets in the way of your voice, so pare it down, trimming the noise from the bush until you’re left with truth. I subtract in my head, these days, but that’s from years of practice. After you write, edit, and remove the noise.

Most people also have too much noise in their lives to hear their own thinking. Too much is going on around them, and online, and they have no time for solitude. You can’t hear your thoughts, your voice, without solitude. Remove the noise in your life as well.

Use your voice. You don’t embark on a quest for your voice just for the sake of beauty — a noble pursuit, but it’s not enough.

You must use your voice. Use it to express yourself, to help others, to change the world.

I write of simplicity in a world that’s needlessly complicated.

I write of minimalism to stem the tide of consumerism.

I write of contentment because too many feel a lacking.

I write of veganism because my heart breaks at the cruelty of our food system.

I write of unschooling to show kids they need no teacher but themselves.

I write of anarchism in a world increasingly totalitarian, especially in the growing private sector.

This is how I use my voice. How will you use yours?

Permission to re-post kindly given by  Leo Babauta  of Zen Habits. 

In my search for great resources, I have uncovered this real gem, Buddha In Blue Jeans An Extremely Short Simple Zen Guide to Sitting Quietly by Tai Sheridan. 

I love how it has been created with the intent to enrich the lives of people, completely free of charge.
It is so beautifully simple, easy to apply and uplifting. I hope you find it as inspiring as I have. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------From the AuthorThis is an extremely short, simple, and straight forward book.


It is a universal guide to the practice of sitting quietly and being yourself, which is the same as being Buddha. Sitting quietly can teach you many ways to accept life, meet pain, age gracefully, and die without regret.

I wrote this book for one reason: to encourage you to sit quietly every day.

Please enjoy being Buddha in Blue Jeans: a person of presence, openness, love, and benefit.

Tai SheridanKentfield, California 2011

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" There can be no step-by-step guide to simplifying your life"

I really love the simplicity of a well thought out and creative manifesto for living an authentic life.


Leo Babauta: Simple Living Manifesto
 
Creator: Leo Babauta, author of the popular blog Zen Habits and the book The Power of Less

Purpose: Zen Habits is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives. It’s about clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, find happiness.

Simple Living Manifesto. The short list For the cynics who say that the list below is too long, there are really only two steps to simplifying:

1. Identify what’s most important to you.

2. Eliminate everything else.

Of course, that’s not terribly useful unless you can see how to apply that to different areas of your life, so I present to you the Long List.

The Long  List There can be no step-by-step guide to simplifying your life, but I’ve compiled an incomplete list of ideas that should help anyone trying to find the simple life. Not every tip will work for you — choose the ones that appeal and apply to your life.

1. Make a list of your top 4-5 important things.

2. Evaluate your commitments.

3. Evaluate your time.

4. Simplify work tasks.

5. Simplify home tasks.

6. Learn to say no.

7. Limit your communications.

8. Limit your media consumption.

9. Purge your stuff.

10. Get rid of the big items.

11. Edit your rooms.

12. Edit closets and drawers.

13. Simplify your wardrobe.

14. Simplify your computing life.

15. Declutter your digital packrattery.

16. Create a simplicity statement.

17. Limit your buying habits.

18. Free up time.

19. Do what you love.

20. Spend time with people you love.

21. Spend time alone.

22. Eat slowly.

23. Drive slowly.

24. Be present.

25. Streamline your life.

26. Create a simple mail & paperwork system.

27. Create a simple system for house work.

28. Clear your desk.

29. Establish routines.

30. Keep your email inbox empty.

31. Learn to live frugally.

32. Make your house minimalist.

33. Find other ways to be minimalist.

34. Consider a smaller home.

35. Consider a smaller car.

36. Learn what “enough” is.

37. Create a simple weekly dinner menu.

38. Eat healthy.

39. Exercise.

40. Declutter before organizing.

41. Have a place for everything.

42. Find inner simplicity.

43. Learn to decompress from stress.

44. Try living without a car.

45. Find a creative outlet for self-expression.

46. Simplify your goals.

47. Single-task.

48. Simplify your filing system.

49. Develop equanimity.

50. Reduce your consumption of advertising.

51. Live life more deliberately.

52. Make a Most Important Tasks (MITs) list each day.

53. Create morning and evening routines.

54. Create a morning writing ritual.

55. Learn to do nothing.

56. Read Walden, by Thoreau.

57. Go for quality, not quantity.

58. Read Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James.

59. Fill your day with simple pleasures.

60. Simplify your RSS feeds.

61. But subscribe to Unclutterer.

62. Create an easy-to-maintain yard.

63. Carry less stuff.

64. Simplify your online life.

65. Strive to automate your income.

66. Simplify your budget.

67. Simplify your financial life.

68. Learn to pack light.

69. Use a minimalist productivity system.

70. Leave space around things in your day.

71. Live closer to work.

72. Always ask: Will this simplify my life?

SourceBlog Post: http://zenhabits.net/simple-living-manifesto-72-ideas-to-simplify-your-life/

Website: http://zenhabits.net

The other day I was reading a few articles on the human quest for life purpose. Now I am the first to admit that my life has been a journey to find exactly what my purpose is in the cosmos.  Since my early 20's I have been attracted to career choices that were meaningful,  worked towards the greater good, and which were leading me towards my 'Life Purpose'.  Sound familiar?

So the question going through my mind while reading was, if I have been following my Life Purpose, then why is it that I am no clearer on what it actually is? The answer it seems depends on how you view the purpose of human existence. for example if you believe or have a sense that the universe has order, and that there is a kind of divine energy that flows through everything, then Life Purpose looks a particular way. It is this chain of thinking that most interests me.

 The idea that our quest for life purpose is driven by a self centered need to control our universe makes complete sense to me. Our ego seeks to create meaning where there is none. Fair enough right? After all consciousness equals search for meaning. One of the common themes while researching the role of ego in life purpose is that ego more often than not leads us up the metaphorical garden path. After all, does our ego actually know anything about the universe, or is it in fact like a child who fills in the blanks when there is not enough information about why the sky is blue or why  dogs have wet noses.   

Anyway the conclusion that I have come to is that if you want to live your life purpose, then let go of having to know what your purpose actually is, and start living. By living, start living in the moment and hearing and seeing the opportunities that the universe presents to you, both good and bad. It is by letting go and trusting, that our true purpose is revealed to us.

If you are searching for life purpose then I encourage you to embark on a journey by googeling 'Ego and Life Purpose ' and see how far down the rabbit hole it takes you.

By Gino Maresca     

"Just like finding habits that can be useful for you it’s important to find habits that are holding you back" 

In my ongoing quest to find inspired and practical articles and resources on the web I came across this gem written by Henrik Edberg creator of the Positivity Blog, Sweden. 
                                 -----------------------------
With a twist to the common list of habits that are useful to establish, here are 7 habits that you do best to avoid.

Just like finding habits that can be useful for you it’s important to find habits that are holding you back.

Most of these 7 habits can easily become such a normal, everyday part of life that you hardly notice it (or how it’s affecting you).

I’ve dabbled with all of them quite a bit. Not surprisingly I didn’t get much of the important stuff done.

I’d also like to add that these are just 7 broad habits you can establish to become highly ineffective in most parts of your life. I pretty sure there are several more.

Visit the Positivity Blog for full article

About Alina Tugend | 

Alina Tugend has written about education, environmentalism, and consumer culture for numerous publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and Parents. Since 2005, she has written the biweekly consumer column “Shortcuts” for The New York Times business section. She was recently awarded the 2011 Best in Business award for Personal Finance from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

http://www.alinatugend.com/ 

" Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort. " 

Written originally as part of a design exhibition, yet is so much more. A creative manifesto for living an authentic life.

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
Author: Bruce Mau (1998)

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5. Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6. Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

7. Study. A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

8. Drift. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

10. Everyone is a leader. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

11. Harvest ideas. Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

12. Keep moving. The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

13. Slow down. Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

14. Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

15. Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

16. Collaborate. The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

17. ——————————. Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.

18. Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.

19. Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

20. Be careful to take risks. Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.

21. Repeat yourself. If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

22. Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

23. Stand on someone’s shoulders. You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

24. Avoid software. The problem with software is that everyone has it.

25. Don’t clean your desk. You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

26. Don’t enter awards competitions. Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

27. Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our “noodle.”

28. Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

29. Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

30. Organization = Liberty. Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between “creatives” and “suits” is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'

31. Don’t borrow money. Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

32. Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

33. Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

34. Make mistakes faster. This isn’t my idea — I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

35. Imitate. Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

36. Scat. When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else … but not words.

37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

38. Explore the other edge. Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.

39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces — what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.” Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference — the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

40. Avoid fields. Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.

41. Laugh. People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

42. Remember. Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

43. Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free. 

Have you ever stopped to consider how many people are saying "hello" to each other today, and in how many different languages? If you want to say "hello" to everyone on the planet, you would have to learn at least 2,796 languages and greet at least 6,500,000,000 people. Here are some of the ways of saying "hello" around the world. Hola in Spanish, Ciao in Italian or bonjour/salut among peers in France, and many more! 


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Source: wikihow.com