A daily rule, pt. 1

I'm not discounting what Paul has said of his current effort, so really I'm talking about me here. 

Our efforts have to be real. The other day I was thinking of somebody who writes a book. We know there are different I's in us. We decide to do something with one I, then another I has us doing something else. So I was thinking that it is inarguably impressive when a person writes a book to completion. He has to go to the task with the same I, or group of I's, each day. (Maybe he has a strong worldly third force. Make a living, impress his colleagues, etc. Still... It's still kind of impressive.)

That's the consistency we have to have day to day. 

One rule would be, and O. mentioned this, to self-remember first thing upon waking up. Just like some people exercise first thing in the morning because they know if they don't they never do it the rest of the day.

I think then intentional acts of external-considering would be another rule. Especially toward people we might currently be negative towards. It could just be in our mind. Not necessarily an event that happens in real time. Let's say 6 intentional acts of external-considering. This makes us emotional and increases the depth of self-remembering. 

Why emotional? Think of a movie or television show where everything on screen is real time and the actors/characters are being themselves. Then........freeze frame into a photograph. Maybe an old looking photograph like sepia. It immediately evokes emotion. It suggests passage of time, and it strips all the real time shallow thoughts and resentments and presents the person as another human in this sad world, going through it all. Or maybe other thoughts but similar in the emotion evoked.

French filmmaker Truffaut (sp.?) did that at the very end of the 400 Blows. The child going through all kinds of crap finally escapes some reform school soccer field and just runs and runs, through a town, a field, and finally to the ocean...and then on the beach with nowhere else to run turns around looking back at the camera and *freeze frame.* Arguably the greatest ending to a film. Could only be done once though. It evokes immediate emotion. It was so long ago I might be remembering it wrong. I don't think so though.

But anyway this is the same emotion evoked when we externally consider other people. See them as toddlers walking on grass for the first time, I use to say. This external-considering deepens self-remembering. Like when Jesus looked out on mankind and said the harvest is big, but the workers are few. 

So that's two things. Self-remembering first thing upon waking up; and doing a specific number of acts of external-considering, even if just in our mind.