Gratitude is underrated

Today I turned 26 years old. That's young, but it's actually kind of old. I remember thinking today that I'm not nearly as creative as I was as a child, and I never really elaborate on any of my novel thoughts or random musings in an intellectual way as I did in the past. When I think of something particularly interesting (or so I like to think) I adapt it to a facebook status but never really elaborate on it or give reasoning behind it. When I was a child I used to lie in bed and make out scenes from the shadows my night light cast on the ceiling from my bedroom furniture lines; I wondered if there had been other sentient life on planet earth before mankind as we know it existed; I wondered if Abraham had really been a selfish bastard when he was going to kill his helpless boy merely to avoid pissing off his God before I knew who Kierkegaard was. Now I don't really lay around and think of those things any more, and I realized that today. So I decided that once a day while I'm 26, I'm going to sit down and actually think through whatever random thought crosses my mind. I'm also going to attempt to do one new thing per day (we'll see how long this lasts) while I'm 26.

Let's start with why I think happiness is excellence is a good title for this blog.  I like it because throughout my life, I've kept a positive attitude no matter what came my way trying to be grateful for the great things I had in my life instead of dwelling on the things I did not. People who know me well know what the things I do not have are, and also know that I do not let their absence affect me and appreciate those I have and those I had and lost.  This has made all of the difference.  No matter what happens in life, things will always get better and that has proven to be true for as long as I can remember.  Right now, I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. Everyone is excellent if they're happy with what they have and who they are. We spend so much time pursuing an idea of excellence that we forget the wonderful things in our lives at the moment. Gratitude is underrated.

Second, I sat down and tried to think of my favorite things if I were taking a survey in some generic magazine geared towards 20-somethings. Below are the answers I'd give to the hypothetical questions I hope I would be answering. I did not really learn that much about myself except that I have different taste in music.

Favorite Albums:
1) Paranoid by Black Sabbath

2) Natty Dread by Bob Marley

3)Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York

4) Jagged Little Pill (still a product of the 90s)

5)Illmatic by Nas

The last 5 books I read

1)   Superfreakonomics

2)   The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

3)   Beyond the Paleo Diet

4)   Deep Survival

5)   The Hot Zone

Interesting things I did this year:
1) Started playing banjo
2) Started antiquing
3) Invented something
4) Wrote a Rock Opera
5) Sold my childhood home

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite food: any type of rare beef

Favorite form of exercise: indoor cycling