Learning Life's Lessons...even from the really bad movies, like....

NELLE...

I'm a Jodie Foster fan (sort of) and appreciate her risk taking in her movie making.

Some have become classics, others are the biggest 5 finger gaggers ever made.

One that was for me, in between, was NELLE...

the story of a backwoods woman who lived in seclusion and was "discovered" by the scientists and researchers.

It was in my opinion a bad movie, but not so bad I demanded my money back...as I've done with a few.

There is a scene in NELLE that I find relevant.

Nelle is in the courtroom, and a decision has to be made about what to do with her, what should the court decide her future would be.

On the one side were people who wanted to study Nelle, put her under the microscope, and keep her locked up in their institute.

The other option was to set her free, like some wild animal...

So, Nelle made the speech...

In that speech she stated that her world was a small one...and that most people lived in a big world.

She preferred the small one, the one that she had mastered.

She didn't object to people coming into her world, people she knew and wanted there...but she did object to the idea of her going into the big world.

Most of us are faced with a similar choice. We can go into the big world, or we can stay in our own little world, one that we have mastered, or at least have a handle on...and be happy.

Some people NEED to soar...to fly HIGH into the crowds...

while others prefer to fly low...beneath the radar screens of the big life.

And I guess it is an Individual's choice...once they know all the options...to either live comfortably in their little world, or to feel the discomfort of the big world and to try to take some peace into it.

I know of people on the Internet that you will NEVER know about, people that earn six figure incomes from their little corner of cyberspace.

They like to 'FLY LOW and COLLECT THE DOUGH' and it is good advice...for them.

They sell various things, from Vitamins to Books. THEY are not on the Internet, only their products. They are like Nelle in her own little world.

I guess it comes down to that old tired SQUARE ONE QUESTION again, What do you want?

But sometimes KNOWING the options gives you the ability to make an infomed decision.

WE want to stimulate thinking at sowpub. WE want to learn new things, new ideas, new concepts.

WE may be a small back woods web site, far off the beaten path, where only a few friends traverse to be a part of the WE.

That is up to Dien Rice, sowpub is his website. He gets to decide for HIMSELF what he wants this to become. Dien has to make the decisions.

WE all have to make that decision. What we want from our Internet and Real Life experiences.

Some may choose to fly high, to soar with the Eagles, to ascend the high mountain of achievement...while others may prefer a quiet pic-nic lunch in the valley...watching the Eagles soar above.

There is no right. No wrong. There is only choices to make.

But like Nelle in the movie, once the hysteria was over, once the common sense kicked in, once she had eloquently elucidated her captives...

she made her choice.

And being happy in a smaller life is neither good or bad, only as thinking makes it so.

I don't buy into the hype of the gurus. I don't lust for things in my life, but I have no problem if you do, as long as you don't impose your opinions on me.

As long as I'm not forced or coerced into your beliefs.

I get to choose, the same as you all.

It is the FUNDAMENTAL lesson that Square One Workshops teach...

CHOICE...

Your life is never about what someone else wants it to be...it is about what you want it to be...and you get to choose.

I'm amazed at how many people don't get that. You'd be amazed at how many people don't get it.

How many people BELIEVE they are trapped in their lives. They don't see a way out. They can't fathom the concept of choice/responsibility...

but prefer to blame, to accuse, to whine and to live their life thinking that somehow they got screwed.

Who here hasn't? Anyone not been betrayed? Anyone not have a friend that hurt them? That turned out not to be a friend at all?

I'd say we all have had that experience. And it is the HOW we choose to deal with it that counts.

It doesn't matter. If you want to whine, go right ahead, it is OK. It is right for you.

It is your life.

I don't have to listen though do I? That is my choice.

Square One Workshops is about accepting the responsibilty of your own life. Once that is done, the rest of it falls pretty much into place.

Acorns fall in untrampled woods and grow to tall oak trees...unseen, untouched, uncut by human hands.

Woods are chopped and shopping centers grow and spread across the countryside.

The little life...the big life...I'm not sure it matters...except to the person making the choices.

But I reserve the right to be wrong, and if you think so, don't hesitate to tell me...

Gordon Alexander