simulacra & simulation

"The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth — it is the truth which conceals that there is none.

The simulacrum is true." 

Jean Baudrillard

www.anthonyburrill.com

Anaïs Nin

"Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls."

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

“From the backstabbing co-worker to the meddling sister-in-law, you are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead. Take control and choose to focus on what is important in your life. Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.”

Henry Miller

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him."

With Joyful Lips

Keith Vaz

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

"I think people believe in heaven because they don't like the idea of dying, because they want to carry on living and they don't like the idea that other people will move into their house and put their things into the rubbish.

...What actually happens when you die is that your brain stops working and your body rots, like Rabbit did when he died and we buried him in the earth at the bottom of the garden. And all his molecules were broken down into other molecules and they went into the earth and were eaten by worms and went into the plants and if we go and dig in the same place in 10 years there will be nothing except his skeleton left. And in 1,000 years even his skeleton will be gone. But that is all right because he is a part of the flowers and the apple tree and the hawthorn bush now...

...But Mother was cremated. This means that she was put into a coffin and burnt and ground up and turned into ash and smoke. I do not know what happens to the ash and I couldn't ask at the crematorium because I didn't go to the funeral. But the smoke goes out of the chimney and into the air and sometimes I look up into the sky and I think that there are molecules of Mother up there, or in clouds over Africa or Antartic, or coming down as rain in the rainforest in Brazil, or in snow somewhere."

Leo Tolstoy

"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."

"Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six."

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

"If you want to be happy, be."

"In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful."

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet."

"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well."

"The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

How to win at work

Taken from an improvement plan I created a while ago for work. A little sad maybe but my intention was to improve workers' outlook on their job in a retail business:

The key to having a successful organisation is to have a strong team of employees. We have been chosen to work at (?), a great company with opportunities for progress and promotion if we follow the brand values, have a positive attitude and work hard.

This is our job, whether its 8 hours a week or 40 hours a week, it is still a lot of our time spent here. In order to maintain a happy, successful environment at work for ourselves and others, we must all have a positive attitude. The following are the traits of a positive attitude:

1. Focuses on positive events and aspects

The words ‘positive’, ‘negative’, ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘right’, ‘wrong’, etc. are simply labels we place on things based on our environments and personal perceptions - we deem events good or bad depending on where we stand. For example; an exacting manager may be a nightmare to a lazy employee, but a star to a CEO trying to grow and improve the business. Put yourself in their shoes, think outside of the box.

We can change our views from negative to positive, for example: that last customer that we are waiting for to close - a possibility to get closer to target... That last hour before we finish - a chance to make things easier for the employee taking over when we leave... The 4 security tags found in the fitting room - a challenge to improve our security measures.

This is our time spent - looking at the brighter side of things will ultimately lead to happiness and well-being.

2. Focuses on solutions instead of problems

Here is an example of how people with negative and positive attitudes might approach the same situation.

Negative attitude: We’ve got an hour till we open and we’ve got so much to do with so little staff, this is ridiculous.

Positive attitude: We’ve got quite a lot to do in a short space of time so I will write a list in priority of what is most important and we can work our way through as quickly as possible.

Things don’t always go smoothly, sometimes our efforts don’t get noticed, unexpected things will happen, people will let you down, no matter how clever you are or how hard you try, these things happen and it is easy to feel demotivated, frustrated and discouraged.

BUT... Having a positive attitude will lead to the ability to move quickly from identifying a problem to identifying a solution for the problem. Don’t waste time dwelling on negative events or seeking out who to blame, i.e. “whoever did the rota is out of order”, “Jeremy should have done this last night”. Focus instead on how best to deal with issues and move beyond them to something more productive. If you show that you are capable of dealing with varied situations - this will benefit you in the long run. Responsibility - promotion - continuous improvement.

Into The Wild

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

- Christopher McCandless

"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society where none intrudes,

By the deep sea and the music in its roar;

I love not man the less, but Nature more."

- Lord Byron

Lonely London days

It's funny how even in a busy city, you can feel so alone.

The idea of going home to be in the comforts of my family is appealing but I know that once I got there I'd want to be back here. Struggling to get somewhere is better than not trying at all and accepting defeat. I don't want to just be a number within a population, living a tedious, average life. I want to be happy - waking up every day to serve a deeper purpose. Not just for money but for job satisfaction, personal growth, for love, for laughter, for progress, to help make a better world.

You can't just jump off the ladder because you're bored on the first step. Leap over to another ladder if you have to but the next step will be better, and then from there upwards better and better.

Once I'm at the top of the ladder I'd like to help the ones hovering near the bottom, climb on up.

Retail is making me feel so unfulfilled. Things will get better, just got to keep plodding on and working hard.

My friends dreams are coming true...