Journaling is a habit that has helped tremendously as a personal practice to get the fleeting thoughts out of my head and improve my mental clarity but I was not consistent enough with it as it is not easy to document your thoughts in such a manner on a daily basis.
It is one of the practices I hope to get back to doing more often.
One of the best books that I read this year, Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey, reinforced that habit and it changed the way I look at writing in general. He has documented almost every important moment of his life for the last 35 years and shares his writings in this book.
In this piece, I am simply sharing the notes I made from the book of sentences that had a very deep impact on me.
"I never wrote things down to remember; I always wrote things down so I could forget. The idea of revisiting my life and musings was a daunting one; I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the company.
"The arrival is inevitable: Death
A unanimous end, a unified destination. A noun without regard. Our eulogy. Written. Lived.
The approach is relative: Life
A singular procession, our personal journey. A verb with regard. Our resume. Write it. Live it.”
“When we accept the given situation as inevitable, then how we choose to deal with it is relative.”
“One man’s appetite is another’s indigestion”
“A denied expectation hurts more than a denied hope, while a fulfilled hope makes us happier than a fulfilled expectation. Hope’s got a higher return on happiness and less debit on denial, it’s just not as measurable. My parents measured”
“Knowing the truth, seeing the truth, and telling the truth, are all different experiences”
“Create structure so you can have freedom.
Create your weather so you can blow in the wind.
Map your direction so you can swerve in the lanes.”
“There’s bullshitters and there’s liars. The difference is, the liar tries to hide his bullshit while the bullshitter lets you know he’s lying. That’s why I like bullshitters more than liars.”
“The first step that leads to our identity is not usually “I know who I am”, but rather “I know who I’m not.” The process of elimination.
Too many options make a tyrant out of us, so we should get rid of the excess in our lives.
Knowing who we are is hard, know who we're not first and we’ll find ourselves where we need to be.”
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”
“DNA and Work.
Genetics and Willpower.
Life’s a combination.
Some get the genes but never the work ethic or resilience.
Others work their ass off but never had the innate ability.
Others have both but never rely on the first”
“We are not here to tolerate our differences.
We are here to accept them.
We are not here to celebrate our sameness.
We are here to salute our distinctions.
We are not born into equal circumstances,
or with equal abilities,
but we should have equal opportunity.
As individuals,
We unite in our values.
Celebrate that.”
“one in a row.
Any success takes one in a row.
Do one thing well, then another.
Once, then once more.
Over and over until the end,
then it’s one in a row again.”
“Less impressed, more involved.
The sooner we become less impressed with our life, our accomplishments, our career, our relationships, and the prospects in front of us- the sooner we become less impressed and more involved with these things- the sooner we get better at them. We must be more than just happy to be here.”
“Dirt roads and autobahns.
The road less travelled may not be a dirt road; for some, it may be the autobahn. Robert Frost was right, taking the road less travelled can make all the difference. But that road isn’t necessarily the road with the least traffic. It may be the road that we personally, have travelled less. The introvert may need to get out of the house, engage with the world, get public. The extrovert may need to stay home and read a book. Sometimes we need to get out there, sometimes we need to get in there. Some days our road less travelled is a solitary dirt trail. On others, it’s the subway on the 7 line.”
“If only.
Means you wanted something but did not get it.
For some reason, either by your own incompetence, or the world’s intervention, it did not happen.
Sometimes this is just the breaks and we need to bow out gracefully.
But more often than we can care to admit, we don’t get what we want.
Because we quit early or we didn’t take the necessary risk to get it.
The more boots we put on the back side of our if onlys, the more we will get what we want.
Don’t walk the “it’s too late” or “it’s too soon” tightrope until you die. “
“A man addicted to ideas need be intervened with starvation. A man addicted to truths need be fed.”
“Loose lips sink ships”
“ Just because the seats are empty, doesn’t mean they’re not taken. Sometimes the guest list needs to be for one.
You.”
“I’ve never cared much for destinations. The idea of landing is too finite for my imagination and sense of song. Give me a direction and sixteen-lane highway with room to swerve and explore along the way. Like jazz, I prefer to see life as a river.”
“To agnostics: Just because it says anonymous, doesn’t mean it has no author.”
“Sometimes which choice you make is not as important as making a choice and committing to it.”
“Life. Like architecture, is a verb. If designed well, it works, it’s beautiful, and it needs no directions, it needs maintenance.”
“If everything we did was right, we would never know what is wrong.”
“Truth’s like a jalapeno, the closer to the root, the hotter it gets.”
“There’s a difference between art and self-expression. All art is self-expression but all self-expression is not art.”
These are the top 10 goals that he documented in 1992 and pretty much achieved all of them, writing reinforced his goals.
I encourage everyone to take a shot at this book and I am quite certain that you will gain something from it in your own way.
It becomes an even easier read if you are a Matthew McConaughey fan or a fan of Hollywood cinema in general as he documents his journey through various films and his life as a Hollywood actor.