Author Archives: James Pyles

Quoting: Enjoy Your Self-Talk When Doing What You Must

Sometimes you can find ways to actually enjoy doing something dull or boring. But when you can’t come up with a creative way to enjoy what you are doing, you can still talk to yourself in interesting and fun ways. Your hands will be engaged in an activity that you need to do, but your mind will be engaged in a running dialogue that is interesting and even entertaining.

How you feel at any given moment will depend greatly on your self-talk at that moment. Even if you start out with negative self-talk that creates distress, realize that your thoughts are the key factor in whether you will feel good or bad.

People who have learned how to talk to themselves in ways they find enjoyable find enjoyment when others find distress. They don’t procrastinate as much. They get more done. If you can’t think creatively when you’re doing something you don’t enjoy, you can always think thoughts of gratitude. Thinking gratefully lifts your spirit and is the basis of happiness.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – pages 69-70

Rewinding Time

the road

© Sue Vincent

Sixty-six year old Douglas Collier was shocked to find that he was walking out of the foothills toward Idaho State Highway 21 somewhere between Idaho City and Boise. In fact, he didn’t expect to exist at all, let alone be on his feet.

“What the hell just happened?” He stumbled across a low, grassy rise near some abandoned fence poles, gazing down at the asphalt pavement just below the hill.

“Are you talking to me?” The voice sounded like a snarky teenage boy, someone you’d find on social media flaunting their progressive values alongside their World of Warcraft online scores. The harness on Doug’s body, concealed under his faded blue jeans, tan, long-sleeved pullover shirt and dark blue jacket glowed a brilliant white and green as the AI spoke each word.

In a momentary burst of anger, he shot back, “Who the hell are you, Robert De Niro?”

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Quoting: Joyful Zrizus

Some people might take action, but with resentful zrizus. “I shouldn’t really have to do this,” they say to themselves. “Someone else should take care of this.”

There is a well-known idea expressed by the late Rabbi Chaim Friedlander: “If you are doing it anyway, you might as well do it with joy.”

This is so important and valuable that it’s worth repeating. “If you are doing it anyway, you might as well do it with joy.” We are constantly choosing our thoughts, our feelings, our words, and our actions. You can choose to feel distressed or joyful about taking care of the things that you need to take care of. When you take action with zrizus, choose joyful zrizus.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – page 60

Is SciFi Author/Editor Robert Silverberg Really Racist and Sexist (or has the internet once again lost its mind)?

robert silverberg

SF author/editor Robert Silverberg – 2005

If I hadn’t read a blog post at Superversive SF called The Cardinal Mistake With SJWs and Robert Silverberg, I probably wouldn’t be writing this.

First off, I’ll state for the record, that because I’m even mentioning Jon Del Arroz‘s (yes, he deliberately makes himself a lightning rod for controversy) name and daring to write something with a social and political perspective not shared (necessarily) by Democrats, leftists, and progressives (those words are not synonyms), that at least one person will be vocally upset with me here on my blog.

I suspect that a lot of other people who regularly read my fiction will simply not respond because A: they like me and what I write, and B: they think that I’m a nice enough guy not to be flamed for expressing unpopular opinions.

Thank you.

Anyway, I did read Del Arroz’s article which starts out:

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The Man Who Would Be God

railroad tunnel

© Dawn M. Miller

Fanatic time traveler Michael Robert Obe knew only murder could change the future. “Sorry, kid. This is the only way.” The eccentric (or insane) physicist held the bound five-year-old boy by the collar of his shirt while standing on the railway trestle.

“I loved this view when I was a kid. That’s why I brought you here. Too much at stake in my future world to let you live.”

The child looked up at his captor in terror.

“Good-bye, Freddie.”

Obe rolled Fredrick Christ Trump into the Colombia River to drown.

“Now to see what sort of world I’ve created.”

I wrote this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields photo challenge. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 100.

As you may have guessed, Fredrick Christ Trump was the father of our current President Donald Trump. I know this harkens back to the old time travel paradox of whether  or not you would kill Adolf Hitler as an infant in order to prevent the Holocaust. I’ve written stories like that before, but given that (at least in social media) any action that would inhibit, stop, impeach, erase, Donald Trump (or anyone conservative, or anyone suspected of being a Trump voter or at least not a Democrat) seems justified, I decided to take it one illogical step further. Would you murder Trump’s Dad when he was five years old to prevent a Trump presidency? In other words, would you kill an innocent little boy in cold blood because you think it’s the greater moral good?

Interesting question.

To read other (kinder, gentler) stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.

Quoting: Serene Zrizus

Some people become overwhelmed when they feel they have too many things to do and they don’t have enough time to do them. This overwhelmed feeling causes them to move more slowly than they usually do. Their minds becomes unclear. It’s hard for them to focus and concentrate. Instead of becoming more efficient at what they have to do, they act way below their standard competency level.

What is the solution? Serene zrizus!

What does it mean to have serene zrizus? It means that you take action, and you do so with full speed ahead while remaining calm and tranquil inside. You move as fast as is appropriate for the specific situation and circumstance. But you have peace of mind.

You might not have previously associated zrizus with serenity, but now you can. Your mindset acknowledges that you will do everything that you have to do and that you will have an inner calm. Although you might move quickly, inwardly you are at ease.

A key benefit of having serene zrizus is that you think clearly. You think about what you need to do, and you remain calm as you take action.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – pages 55-6

Marta’s World in Twilight

starry night

Image found on WeHeartIt

“Why did you want me to try to paint Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ on your back? No one will see it unless your shirt is off, and I told you, I can’t make a perfect duplicate of it anyway.” Nineteen-year-old Danny Cross was waiting for his most recent touches to the painting on Marta’s back to dry. The white glare from the snow-covered college quad streamed in through the window of his second-floor dorm room, as she casually lay upon an old down blanket on the floor between the two beds. His slender left hand, looking so much like a girl’s, poised over the waistband of her stretch pants, and he felt a persistent urge and swelling in his own, while wondering if his rail-thin frame was pressing down too hard on her.

“I told you, it didn’t have to be perfect. I just want you to capture the style. Inspiration will do the rest.”

To the sophomore, her voice sounded like a young Lauren Bacall from the old movie “To Have or Have Not,” which he’d just watched in his American film classics class. He watched his pianist thin fingers, slip slowly under her waist band, and felt a sexual thrill at the warmth of her skin and the roundness at the top of her ass.

“Hey, get your hand out of there.” In mid-sentence, Marta’s tone shifted from annoyed to playful, but he jerked his hand away suddenly. “Not that I don’t think you’re cute, but we don’t have time for that right now.”

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Quoting: The Benefit of Building Up Your Zrizus State

When you are in an energized and enthusiastic emotional state, you feel like doing much more than when you are a low energy, down state. Some emotional states are conducive to taking action, and other states aren’t.

Your emotional states are the sum total of your breathing rate, brain waves, blood pressure, energy level, heartbeat, hormones, immune system, muscle tension, physiology, and tone of voice.

Because every state you experience is stored in your magnificent brain, I advocate naming your best and most resourceful states. When you do this, you will find it easier to access those positive states.

The next time you find yourself in a “zrizus state,” say to yourself, “This is my zrizus state.” Be aware of your thoughts, mental images, and feelings when you are in this zrizus state.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – page 51

Quoting: Your Mind Can Choose to Enjoy What You Do

One of the most self-empowering ideas for a happy, fulfilling life is that it’s up to your own mind to choose to enjoy what you do. You have a tremendous power to develop this attitude.

If you need to do something that seems uninteresting and boring at first, ask yourself, “How can I find a way to enjoy what I need to do?”

Brainstorm. Enjoy the challenge of thinking of a number of ways to make the task more meaningful and fulfilling.

Ask yourself, “What are some of the ways that I can think about this task (or project, goal, or job) that will enable me to enjoy what I am doing?”

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – pages 47-48

Quoting: Plan Your Day

At the beginning of each day, ask yourself:

[1] What are my goals for today?

[2] What are the five most important things that I need to do today and what is their order of priority?

[3] What new Torah knowledge do I plan to gain today?

[4] What acts of kindness can I do today?

[5] What one trait would I like to excel in today?

[6] What positive change am I resolved to make or maintain today?

[7] If today were my last day, what would I make certain to do?

[8] How can I gain by looking at today as the first day of the rest of my life?

[9] What would you like written on my tombstone? What do I plan to do today in that area?

[10] What is important for me to remember today?

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Gateway to Self Knowledge,” p.188

I must admit to not being this organized.