Welcome

Hello, and welcome to my blog - The Jibber Jabber Machine!

Jibber jabber is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as rapid and excited speech that is difficult to understand. Those of you who know me well know that I tend to slip into this pattern of speech pretty easily when I get excited about something. Sometimes when my wife is driving and having a hard time staying awake, she'll ask me to fire up the jibber jabber machine to help keep her awake. It only takes a bit of a prime and a couple pulls on the starter rope, and I'm off pontificating on any number of wide ranging topics. I am very seldom at a loss for words.

I've kicked around the idea of starting a blog for a long time now. Conventional wisdom in the blogging community holds that a blog should have a single focus or topic. The problem I've had over the years is trying to hone in on something specific. I have a lot of different interests over a wide range of topics. The problem, it seems, is that I lack a single passion that is the driving force in my life. I used to think this lack of passion was a weakness or fault, but as I get older, I'm starting to believe that having one true passion that drives you is probably rather rare. The saying goes that if you follow your passion, you won't have to work a day in your life. However, when I look around, most of the people I know definitely work for a living! I'm not sure following your passion is the best advice I have ever heard. In fact, it can probably even be a barrier to living your best life.

A few months ago, I was listening to an episode of Oprah's Super Soul Sessions with Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame. After the success of that book, Ms. Gilbert became a guru of sorts. People wanted to tell her their stories and ask for her advice. For a long time, she encouraged people to follow their passion. After all, writing is Elizabeth Gilbert's passion, and look how it worked out for her! One day a woman who had heard Ms. Gilbert speak wrote to her and let her know that advice was both hurtful and rather unhelpful. What are you to do when there isn't one single force that drives your every action? It is a tough question for sure. Now, instead of encouraging people to follow their passion, she encourages people to follow their curiosity.

That advice, that simple shift in perspective, has been quite helpful for me. It spurred me to believe that my blog doesn't need to have one narrow focus. Instead, this blog will chronicle my journey simply following my curiosity. I'll write about books I've read, music I dig, movies that inspire my creativity, and also include snippets from diaries that I've started keeping during my various projects around the house. It'll probably cover some other stuff too. I get distracted by shiny objects very easily! If you are interested and amused, I invite you to come along on the journey. I don't really know where I'm headed, but I'm determined to have a great time getting there!