As another month passes in this fine new year of our new decade, I found myself taking a moment to reflect on the time that has already flown past. In my handwriting trance I fixated on something faint just out of my minds eyes reach, like looking at something through a rain drenched window or yourself in the steamed mirror after a hot shower. That thing just so happened to clear up as most faint memories do when you fixate your attention to them fully and have that aha moment in what seems like an instant and you suddenly find yourself remembering it as you had always known it.

This thing was this poem by J. B. Rittenhouse.

I bargained with life for a penny,
and life would pay no more.
However I begged at the evening
when I counted my scanty store.

For life is a just employer,
he gives you what you ask.
But once you have set the wages,
why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
only to learn, dismayed,
that any wage I had asked of life,
life would have willingly paid.

I recall reading it again recently from a book by Napoleon Hill perhaps you’ve heard of it, Think and Grow Rich. I may have even mentioned it on here before, I think it is a great book. If you google it you can find copies to read for free.

Like a veil of fog dissipating in a fraction of a second revealing thoughts buried by others for far too long(full of similes today or are they metaphors? Yes I’m going to google this because who really remembers the stuff we learn in school when we’ve been out of it 15+ years?) re-reading the aforementioned poem brings back the book and it’s lessons.

Let me start to share with you my random thoughts of what makes us…us. DESIRE as simple a word it is, defined by my favorite dictionary Merriam-Webster. At one point or another we find ourselves wanting something…more from life or more than we currently have. It can be what we once had or simply something that someone you know or saw has. It can be freedom from a state of mind or a place you feel you have to be, like the DESIRE to quit a crappy job.

I think that deep down we are all made of what we DESIRE and those who put their thoughts to work to fuel it are the ones who truly become happy; and you know being more grateful. If I can make you think about one thing, think back to your first romance. What was it that got you into it? Was it not a desire for that person? If you haven’t had your first heartthrob think about whatever thing your parents told you, you couldn’t have but eventually you got. I’m sure you found a way to save, beg, steal or “borrow it forever” and once it was acquired you felt a sense of satisfaction, gratification or accomplishment. All of which I correlate to happiness.

So ultimately what makes us us is the DESIRE to be and to be happy. You have every right to happiness and you are the only one stopping yourself from being happy. So do that hard thing you don’t want to do today!

What do you think makes us…us? Seriously I’d love to hear your thoughts, let us start up a conversation in the comments or send me a DM on Instagram. Now on to this weeks practice.

Minuscules u and s still comprised of the first three Spencerian principles, the right and left curves at 30° and the main slant at 52°. Practice makes perfect, yet I still find myself struggling with maintaining not so wiggly letters. I find that I can replicate them with ease writing with my hand as it has naturally been for many years, I only shake and skitter across the page when holding it proper according to the compendiums advice. I do notice that I can glide across the page with much less effort and arm fatigue holding it this way. However progress is something that still can be improved by proper drills at a much faster pace than with this practice book alone. Yet I find difficulty pursuing them as of late in exchange for the extra time to work on commissions and try to build my side hustle. Wish me luck and Happy Practicing.