If you were to try to hide away all that weird qualities of yourself from the public they wouldn't really find you an fascinating character they want to engage with. I believe the skill of carefully identifying and embracing the weirder/unique/quirky aspects of yourself, whether positive or negative, has a huge social benefit. Which can transform into a financial benefit down the line.

Whenever I feel lost in life, I take a few minutes in stillness, no distractions and just ASK...KNOCK...
answers start coming. ideas start growing. focus and clarity begins to come about.

I have never been disappointed with the results.

And thanks Tommy for offering your perspective, this is really what Dante and I wanted when we created this forum...I want to encourage this kind of atmosphere, no one has to agree with everything, no one has to bow down to anyone, we can all share our perspectives with respect. I really am enjoying singers like yourselves coming here that have deeper sides...into the "weird stuff" as I like to call it.

wabba_treads420 said

"You can do anything you put your mind to"

This was drilled into me in my upbringing. I started to believe it stronger in my late teen years though while learning to drive, sing, whistle, socialize better, be at least good enough at recreational sports to not ruin the teams efforts - skills that felt like I just wasnt meant for, I realized I could keep improving on indefinitely even if I started with no natural gift for them.

Haha you have even been more synthetic than me!

Almost a year from now, after being slightly depressed and dissatisfied about my life and the career choices i had done, i went through the same process.

Here are my own core principle that matter to me :

- Expressing one's uniqueness through creativity (for me, singing and writing)
- Helping other people by using the skills i am proficient in
- Being intellectually/politically active in order to improve what can be done on a larger scale

They sound rather vague but i think if one takes time to understand what they mean, he will find some sense to it rather than thinking its just another commonsense set of mantras.
I am glad to have somehow brought a synthesis between individual and sociological approaches. One basically says that you have to change yourself before you can claim to change the world, the other says that the individual alone has little power, and that what matters is social and political activity (note that how i understand "political" is a larger than politics per se).
I think both approaches are legit. You can do both of them, and make the world a better place while improving yourself as a person. About helping other people, it sounds like commonsense, but in my opinion, it is the words "using the skills i am proficient in" that are important. I have also acknowledged the fact that if i want to intervene, i am more inclined towards the intellectual side.

Okay, so, now, the actions i have done :
- Quitting a management oriented career, while i dedicated two years of my life full time to earn it
- Starting a new career as a teacher (social sciences and economics). Not sure where it will take me. I may consider also working on a thesis.
- Singing, singing, singing!
- Sleeping more and eating healthier
- Stop buying meat (although i still eat salmon)
- Improving a lot of daily patterns such as listening more to what people say, paying attention to my own emotional state etc

One thing is that you never take time to count what has been accomplished because once you are into this process, you discover each day the bulk of the things you have to improve!

I know its kind of cliche but it is very empowering phrase to me and keeps me from never giving up on goals, however big or small they are.

I came up with that wording as a result of several nights of "moments of stillness" or "thought manifestation" as Phil recommends.

Obviously it is vague and needs refining but it is a start and has been helpful for me to define my central life principle in exact words, memorize and reference it. Everything I do is now guided by that and I have something to align to.

Anyone else have a similar little motto or has done something simple like this that has helped direct their thoughts?