Motivation

“Centered” – A Skald’s Life – Self Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day. 

Journal Entry:

To be centered and balanced is much of the goal of my Self Virtues.  Fidelity, Discipline, and Perseverance are virtues that draw upon things for strength that come from within.  The principles regarding these virtues reflect that.

This issue is to bring discipline and routine to every area of my life that needs it while at the same time learning and getting up from each and every failure.  I draw strength from the relationships in that I am loyal to those who have shown themselves loyal to me.

Discipline:

“Discipline is the willingness to be hard on oneself first and then if needed help with the development with others, so that greater purposes may be achieved.”

Principle: Apply discipline to every aspect of life that it can be applied.

Goal: To be following a full Paleo Diet by March 31, 2020.

Bucket List: Do a rebellious act on April 30th, 2020 – Beltane.

I have to say the main challenge here is jsut to have one week where all my routines are done and effective.  It hasn’t happened yet but when it does it will be my standard of discipline.

Perseverance:

“Perseverance is the ability to stand up and return from defeat and failure”

Principle: Keep getting up after every defeat or failure.

Goal: To engage in an exercise program that involves weightlifting, hiking/walking, and stretching/ yoga an average of three days a week from April 1st, 2019 to March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: To get at least one tattoo by March 18th, 2020.

Perseverance is natural to me except I need to learn from each failure, more so there are fewer of them.  Being stubborn is OK, but it needs to be a strength that builds strength from learning as well.

Fidelity:

“Fidelity is the will to be loyal to one’s moral philosophy, to one’s family, one’s friends, and most important to one’s self, and loyalty to one’s friends is valued as highly as loyalty to one’s family.”

Principle: Be loyal to those who have been loyal to me.

Goal: Celebrate my wife and I’s 30th anniversary (June 10th, 2019) with a mini-vacation (achieved)

Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.

Perhaps if I was more loyal to myself I could be more loyal to myself. 🙂

Higher Virtue – Wisdom:

The point is to draw new wisdom from life from the self virtues and then apply it.  Learning without applying is almost useless.

Rest Day Routine: 

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time
  3. Blogging – Organize, revise, write a new post for the next day, 15 min. work on fiction.
  4. Cleaning – varies but one room of the apartment at least.
  5. Reading – 1/7th of a book
  6. Writing – 3000 Words

Good relaxing and yet gets a few things done.  Can’t complain.

Goals and Bucket List Items Achieved (Since Summer 2018):

Goals Achieved: 5

  1. Graduated College with a BS in Political Science and minors in Economics and International Business – December 2018
  2. Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019
  3. Celebrate my wife and I’s 30th anniversary (June 10th, 2019) with a mini-vacation – June 2019
  4. Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).
  5. By March 31st of 2020, to be the leader/participant in a group of some kind.

Bucket List Items Achieved: 0

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Business – Broadly Defined” – A Skald’s Life – Business Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day! 

Journal Entry:

Business for me is much more broadly defined than career or about monetary transactions.  It is about my relationships with others. My business is probably more defined as being humankind and how I deal with it.  In the end, I keep my circle small for this reason.

The principles n business are to be my own master, work hard for that end and then share my prosperity with others as I am able.  Not difficult to conceive but right now a struggle because I want more and some better opportunities to do more.

Self-Reliance:

“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”

Principle: To walk in the spirit of independence by being my own master and no one else’s

Goal:  Find a new, better paying job by March 2020.

Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029

No gods, no masters – It is more than just a slogan to me personally.

Industriousness:

“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”

Principle: Work with the enjoyment of work itself.

Goal: Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019 (achieved)

Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.

I do enjoy working, I just don’t like my current job and want a different one.

Hospitality:

“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”

Principle: To share out of my abundance to help people where I can with their life’s journey.

Goal: By March 31st of 2020, to be the leader/participant in a group of some kind.  (Goal Achieved

Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.

Need more abundance to share which means things need to change for the better soon.

Higher Virtue – Justice:

This issue in business overall is to act justly toward others as much as possible.  To be fair to everyone as much as I am able.  Challenging but necessary.

Work Day Routine:

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time
  3. Blogging – Organize, revise, write a new post for the next day, templates
  4. Weightlifting: Gym time – 1 hour after work.
  5. Writing: 1000 words/day.
  6. Reading – 1/7 of a book a day
  7. Personal Business: record financial transactions, savings plan actions, budgeting, appointments, job search, other actions, etc.
  8. Check Communications and Email after 2 pm but before 4 pm.

I like this, it works well when I do it.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Principles – Moving Theory to Action” – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Journal Entry:

Virtues are good and all but they mean nothing if they are not put into practice.  To help facilitate this I added principles that are designed to take the noble language of each principle and boil it down to a simple statement of active action.  Once every five weeks, I go through them to check myself against the trap of having noble virtues but doing nothing to put them into practice.

The foundational principles are simple but in truth like all simple things harder to master. This is where feelings become more than feelings becoming passions.  Those passions move me from thought to action.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

Of all my principles this one keeps me looking to the future to that day when I look in the mirror and see an honorable man. It also causes me to evaluate people in the light of honorable things rather than the superficial looking at jsut what they do for me. What people say and do is not the truth, but the patterns of behavior and life that lead to honor is what I  look for now. I suppose it is one thing about my trust issues that have caused me to grow in a positive direction.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

This probably the most constant principle I deal with every single day.  The constant evaluation of what is the bravest thing to do and when to do it. It is the principle that motivates most of the others.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

I guess the shift in principle is to move from admiring truth and seeking it to its proclamation.  To this end, I have started a Youtube channel.  I guess I miss having a pulpit and so I made one.  You can check it out at – The Rabyd Atheist

Higher Virtue: Love:

Love of self and others is an active thing.  Love has a lot of parts of speech but my principles take it from being a noun that I talk about to being a verb that I act on.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Update To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

This actually can be done very quickly and has stabilized my mornings and gets my head into a better frame of mind.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Routines and Other Notes” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day!

The Purpose of Routine:

The idea is that much of life is unpredictable so to get things done you need to make part of your life at least predictable because you make it so.  It is about putting order to chaos and making that order work in your favor. In my case, I have a Morning Routine that I do every day.  I also have a Work Day Routine and a Rest Day Routine which are only differentiated by the fact of whether I work that day or not.  The issue today is to look at all of them and makes some changes.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Update To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

If there is a significant change I am making here it is that my paper journal will be don at the end fo the day now for the next day as far as creating my checklist and To-Do List for each day so in them orning the only thing that might happen is when I check my email and stuff I might have to add to them but I want to do the actual lists at the end of the day for the next one.  In the morning I jsut want to be able to start doing what I need to do and start checking things off. the end of the day provides a better time for preparation for all this.

Work Day Routine:

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time (first opportunity)
  3. Blogging – Organize, revise, write a new post for the next day.
  4. Weightlifting: Gym time – 1 hour after work.
  5. Writing: 1000 words/day.
  6. Reading – 1/7 of a book a day
  7. Personal Business: record financial transactions, savings plan actions, budgeting, appointments, job search, other actions, etc.
  8. Check Communications and Email after 2 pm but before 4 pm.
  9. Paper Journal: Double Check and Create To-Do List for Next Day

With days I work I want to make progress on things like reading and writing as well as a personal business.  I am trying to come to terms with the idea that on workdays there is little time for anything else and I need to be Ok with that.  The other thing is my gym time needs to fill the whole hour which means I need to do a little more lifting and then perhaps hit the treadmill for a bit to fill the rest. Of find something interesting to do.  The point is to stay active and fill the whole hour.

Rest Day Routine: 

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time (first opportunity)
  3. Blogging – Organize, revise, write a new post for the next day.
  4. Cleaning – varies but one room of the apartment at least.
  5. Reading – 1/7th of a book
  6. Writing – 3000 Words
  7. Paper Journal: Double Check and Create To-Do List for Next Day

The trick here was to focus on being a writer and then relaxing the rest of the day.  The Cleaning part is actually about making my environment relaxing so I can relax in something clean and organized.

Blog Posts – Weekly Order:

The order of posts for the blog this coming year (or whenever I change it) is as follows:

Sol’s Day: The Pagan Pulpit – Weekly written service for you pagans out there like me.  Currently, I am doing a long series on Asatru but that will change once I am finished.

Mani’s Day: Of Wolves and Ravens – My life philosophy in action.

Tyr’s Day: A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues – My first weekly journal post dealing with the virtues of Honor, Truth, and Courage.

Woden’s (Odin’s) Day: Odin’s Eye – My various thoughts on spirituality as an atheist with pagan tendencies.

 Thor’s Day: A Skald’s Life – Business Virtues – My second weekly journal post dealing with the virtues of Self-Reliance, Industriousness, and Hospitality.

Frigg and Freya’s Day: Freya’s Chambers – A weekly post on my thoughts regarding sex, sexuality, nudism and related issues.

Sif’s Day: A Skald’s Life – Self Virtues –  My third weekly journal post dealing with the virtues of Discipline, Fidelity and Perseverance.

The Rabyd Skald: These posts can appear at any time any day.  They usually regard things that don’t fit into the rest, or my struggles with depression in the posts subtitled – The Grey and The Wayfarer.

All posts will now drop at 4pm – Eastern Standard Time.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Bucket List Prioritized” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day!

Today I am simply putting all my bucket list items in one place and prioritizing them. The first thing is the time table so things that are due before others are simple to put in order. the second thing is what value I place on all of them.  This is only really an issue in 2024 and 2029.

Bucket List Prioritized:

Bucket List: To get at least one tattoo by March 18th, 2020.

Bucket List: Do a rebellious act on April 30th, 2020 – Beltane.

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.

Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.

Thoughts: 

I suppose the endgame of all this is to be standing on a river cruise ship pulling into Budapest having memories of a successful writing career. Having done many successful hikes by that time and remembering that first tattoo day.  That last stop in Budapest being of a European tour where I visited every country of my ancestors and then ended with a city I wanted to see and experience again. There is a vision here that is progressive and I like it very much.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Five Goals, Three Months” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day!

I set my goals in March which is the month my birthday is into more coincide with years of life.  For me, this beginning of the new year is nothing more than a good reminder that I am coming to the end of the year I set my goals and I have three months left to complete five of them.  Thankfully, three3 of them are simply a matter of self-discipline.  There is really only one goal that relies on others and that is finding a better job. The rest is all me.

Five Remaining Goals: 

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Goal:  Find a new, better paying job by March 2020.

Goal: To be following a full Paleo Diet by March 31, 2020.

Goal: To engage in an exercise program that involves weightlifting, hiking/walking, and stretching/ yoga an average of three days a week from April 1st, 2019 to March 31st, 2020

Three Months:

Time limits are important. and with only three months left I am facing a little pressure. What I need is to take a deep breath, and get on with it. The clock is ticking in the fourth quarter for these and things need to come together soon.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Happy New Year” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Woden’s (Odin’s) Day!

I am not one for New Year’s resolutions and that is because the results are usually bad.  The right time to make changes at any time you are motivated to make changes and that can be any day of the year.

I do however have a task to engage for the next three days of reviewing my goals, bucket list items and some overall thoughts on 2020.  I will be using the next three days to do that.  Then Sunday will be the Pagan pulpit and then the rest of the normal schedule will follow which I will review on Sif’s Day.

Today’s post is short because I got surprised by a visit from the grandkids after work, so I am putting this post out quickly because I still want to chill before I go to bed and do it all again tomorrow.  I just need the next few days to clean up things, organize a bit and focus.  Thanks for your patience.

I wish you all a happy new year.  Thanks for reading.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Some Special Announcements” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sol’s Day!

I have to apologize for no The Pagan Pulpit this week,  but I have been wrestling with a question all day and it involves identity. The specifically is: What have I always been?  Today has been a day of thinking on this question and watching the Marvel Superhero Movies. Sometimes with my wife and sometimes alone. I was still wrestling with this question when my Facebook feed had this memory from a year ago today.  I don’t believe in fate or destiny or anything but this a remarkable coincidence and I think I have found my central answer to the question of what I have always been and always will continue to be. It is summed up in the threefold point of this quote above.

  1. To be a person who pays homage to the facts no matter where they lead him.
  2. To be a person of free and clear thinking – no gods, no masters – just reason and free thought.
  3. To be intellectually decent at all times which to me is being comfortable with “I don’t know” while at the same time saying “I am going to try to find out though”.

I have been all these things regardless of form, belief or persuasion all my life.  I strived to be these things and a believer in Christ and now as an atheist. In large part is was these things that lead me to atheism when answers could not be found in my faith.  Or when I painfully concluded that my faith was a glorious fiction or worse completely false.

These three principles have been my core since I first picked up a comic book and saw representations of heroes who despite all the powers they were granted tried above all to be true to the ethics and morals that made them into heroes. Get past the special effects and you get a very human core.

Today I have decided to continue to follow them and remind myself of them more often.  The Virtues remain because they are reflections fo these central tenents of life. But I also have always been a preacher and teacher and this is something I wish to be again.  The pulpit, lectern, and message may change; but to proclaim what I feel is factual, true and right remains a passion.

With this reminder of this continuing commitment I have a few announcements:

  1. The Grey Wayfarer will continue much as it is except I am pretty much breaking it down to be a journal of my progress.  The Pagan Pulpit, Of Wolves and Ravens, Odin’s Eye, Freya’s Chambers, and my three Journal Posts will remain with the occasional The Rabyd Skald thrown in. But this is going to be it here because I want to turn my attention to my writing for publication and another project I will announce shortly.
  2. The rest of this week will however not have journal posts or the normal slate of posts, rather I want to finish out all my ficitonal series on this blog. I am doing this to clear my slate and give myself a little philosophical downtime.
  3. I want my family to know that up till now I have been very passive with my anti-theism and my conviction that belief in God or gods or whatever as a means to base your life is nonsense.  That changes today where my anti-theism, while it will remain compassionate, is going to turn active. Very active. All of you are free to believe as you see fit but understand I will be working hard to show that Christianity is false, that the Bible is just a book and a bad one at that, and that we would be better off without religion in our lives.  I am sure some of you will not like what I am about to do as you are believers, but I feel compelled by reason and intellectual honesty to do this.
  4. By active I mean I will be writing books to this effect, I will be blogging here with the desire at times to show how any person can live without god very well; thank you, and I will be joining organizations that oppose religion in politics and government.  I also am about to start at least one new project devoted to this task.
  5. That project will be to start a YouTube channel as a new more vocal pulpit for my viewpoint.  I don’t any specifics yet, or if it will even work, but I feel compelled to convince anyone who will listen to give up the make-believe and start living in the real world.   I am particularly focused on young people who are considering the ministry as a career and being apologists for the Christian faith.  All religion is poison to me and I want to tell people why using this platform.

If I can convince one young person to not follow my mistake, give up the ministry and embrace doing something truly useful for humanity, then I will consider my mission a success.  Of course, the more I can convince the better.  I also hope to make some money with this to at least justify my time doing it.

My main goal is to get back to being a preacher and proclaimer of what I feel is reasonable, factual, truly free in thought in a spirit of intellectual decency.  That “I don’t know” is a good thing to say when it is true and yet maintain that insatiable curiosity I had since I was old enough to read and look at the word with inquiring eyes. I am simply a pilgrim on this journey we call life, and I don’t think I can enjoy it as much if I don’t take the opportunities presented to warn people of my mistakes and false understandings of the world.  To tell people what are dangerous paths to take and the dead ends seem like a decent thing to do from this traveler of life to others.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Yuletide – The Original 12 Days of ‘Christmas'” – Odin’s Eye

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Woden’s (Odin’s) Day.    

Discussion:

I think it is no secret that what is celebrated as Christmas these days was originally a pagan holiday known as Yule. Yule differs from Christmas in that it has twelve days of celebration whereas Christmas centers on Dec. 25th.  In contrast, the twelve days of Yule were all about celebrating the end of the year and the welcoming of spring although it will take some time to fully materialize.  The Winter solstice is the focus of Yuletide along with a lot of drinking.

Considering that in Viking lands, this time of year is basically hunkering down and waiting out the winter.  One did have to keep oneself both alive with stored food and firewood but also entertained and safe from the Wild Hunt.  Yuletide is a twelve-day long party and the Vikings loved to party.

The 12 Days of Yuletide are:

  1. Mothers Night – Dec 20
  2. Night of the Wild Hunt – Dec 21
  3. Manni – Dec 22
  4. Freyr and Nord – Dec 23
  5. Feast of Community – Dec 24
  6. Eir – Dec 25
  7. Thor = Dec 26
  8. Skaldi and Ullr – Dec 27
  9. Odin – Dec 28
  10. Sunna – Dec 29
  11. Valkeries – Dec 30
  12. Oath Night – Dec 31

 

All of these days either have a feast associated with an event or gods/goddesses.  A lot of the traditions we see at Christmas are still associated with Yule – the yule log, mistletoe, decorating trees, etc.

Time to Look Through the Eye:

“To see the truth, change one eye for another”

Meditation:

Year’s End seems to have significance for all of us in a more meditative level.  For me, 2019 has been a ‘meh’ year for the most part.  It has had its high moments but there have also been some downtimes. Mostly though it was just the dull drudgery of existence that I don’t like thinking about as it depresses me, Mostly through meditation I am thinking about what my oath should be for 2020 which I will give on Dec 31st.  It is not wise to make oaths and not complete them.  Even ones given to yourself.

Mystery:

There is a mystery to my future that hits me at this time of year.  I have less and less connected to my past career and life and that is both wonderfully freeing and at the same time frightening as I don’t really know what I am going to be other than being a writer. The mystery of the future seems more prominent at a year’s end.

Spirituality:

If there is anything that hits me as far as spirituality, it is a sense of community. Introvert though I am, I fully conscious that people affect my life for good or ill and that means working hard to be true to those who have been true to me.  I guess in that sense as well, communion with my fellow man is important as well.

Conclusion:

Yuletide will probably grow more important to me as time goes by.  It does provide a platform to celebrate various holidays with people and that is a good thing.  For me, the reflective moments of the past and future are far more significant.  For me, this year is about Oath Night.  last year I did a very minor and safe oath, I need to take it up a notch this year.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Discipline, Atheism, and Asatru” – Of Wolves and Ravens – Discipline

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Mani’s Day

Discussion:

Right now discipline is difficult because of two reasons.  Firstly my thoughts right now are a jumbled mess.  Secondly, the holidays are so different than regular life and I am struggling to stay above all that.  I hate the chaos at times because it is a people chaos, not regular life chaos.  I can handle a lot of things but not a jumbled situation where I have to say ‘hi’ to a lot of people which I haven’t seen in a year. This weekend was a prime example of a weekend that is just not me.

I spent Saturday driving somewhere to spend the day shopping with my wife.  Lots of travel in a car and people being everywhere is not my idea of a great time.  The time with my wife was good, but I felt pressured all day and I certainly did not have time to do what I like to do. Then yesterday afternoon was two family Christmases back to back.  Not a fan. It was my wife’s family so I also get half of the family that is cool because they are outcasts like me and the other half that still seems to hold something against me.

From a discipline standpoint, this all combines to make December a difficult month to keep mental focus for me and thus difficult to be disciplined.  The negative effect is a lot of things are slipping and I am going to have to double down as soon as all this shit is over.

To the Wolves and Ravens:

“Feed the Wolves, but Listen to the Ravens first.”

Needs (Geri):

Discipline is a needed thing.  It is what is the machine that drives success and I need it so much to do what I want to do.  The issue is my own thoughts being jumbled because of depression, being put in situations that are uncomfortable.  These all just drain me and my discipline suffers as a result.

Wants (Freki):

What I want is a focused life that is getting the results I need.  As an atheist, I am not waiting for some divine white knight to come and help me out.  I need and want to be the warrior that gets it done for myself. Discipline is the key.  That starts with saying “I can do better.”

Reason (Huginn):

I think I am at another crossroads in my life.  They happen quite a bit, but 2020 seems more pivotal if I am going to get anywhere near my goals. There is no achievement without discipline and I am looking forward to a time where discipline brings about results.  But it is also just a rational nod of the head if there is no action that is disciplined behind it.

Wisdom (Muninn):

I need to find a wise way out of all this jumbled mess.  There is a part of me that just wants to wisely withdraw from it all and start somewhere else.  But this is the struggle of burning bridges sometimes – do you have the discipline to keep them burned and lying in ashes.  No regrets.

Conclusion:

The only master I want is me. The mastery of my own life is key here and I am starting to feel worn out with all the chaos of thought and life.  Some order needs to be brought to it. In the meantime, I endure the holidays and wait for the storm to subside.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!