My Muse Mondays
Today, or the day this ends up being published depending on when you read this, is a bit of a special day. My mind, body, and general existence have humbly and gratefully gone around the sun a full 24 times as of the day before the post’s publication date, and I couldn’t be more blessed, especially given how the year 2020 has been.
For some, birthdays are a time for celebration and joy whereas for others, it’s the last thing you want on your mind when people remind you how old you are. Personally, I’ve been one for reflection and a heightened sense of introspection on this occasion. I guess it falls right in line with the entire Introspective Musings blog series that I started as a way to document my thoughts on this journey of self-discovery.
Since I started this blog a couple years ago, I’ve always spent Monday evenings to reflect and introspect. I don’t know why Mondays of all days - the day most people hate in the week - but it just felt fitting. Oddly enough, everything seemed to make sense instantaneously as to why Mondays were the day for my mind to go into overdrive when it comes to thoughts about life or self.
It’s no little secret - I grew up and will forever be a huge Kobe Bryant fan. I took a lot of my own life philosophy from his own ideology and methodology; the desire and ability to constantly keep learning, growing, and working to become as well rounded in a craft and in life as a whole was the common thread. Digging deeper into Kobe’s thought process, I found his interest in seeking out inspiration from muses in his personal documentary, Kobe Bryant’s Muse.
That’s ultimately where the genesis occurred for my Muse Mondays practice. The practice occurs during Monday evenings where I draw upon new or existing musings to try and expand my own existence for life. It can simply include something as simple as reading a couple of quotes to something more complex such as learning a particular perspective or practice of a human musing and trying to incorporate it somehow into my own life.
Regardless of what I do, I find this weekly act of checking in with myself and/or trying to improve myself to be one of, if not, the most valuable things I do all week. As I’m sure most of you can glean from the blog, it can provide both more answers and more questions at the same time, so I apologize for some abstract posts. I’m still just a confused mid-20’s year old.
As for the intent of Muse Mondays and the Introspective Musings, I am aiming to seek out greater improvement from myself and, in turn, hopefully within all of you. Balance, discipline, awareness, astuteness, mindfulness, etc. all make up the self-improvement process that is encapsulated in my Muse Mondays and this blog. This pursuit isn’t born out of the common adage that if you aren’t moving forward, you’re moving backward.. no.
Rather, it stems from a genuine curiosity for life, humanity, interconnection, art, culture, etc.
That’s ultimately what it all comes down to. The flame within is the only thing that can sustain the Muse Mondays practice. On top of that even, a wider, more general humanity-facing purpose is what can keep the internal flame burning.
At the root of this all is the idea of:
To be inspired by others and to inspire others yourself.
Not out of selfish desire, well I won’t go there for the philosophical folks out there, but rather out of the pure intent to carry on the growth and greater good of humanity. Muse Mondays is set up like a domino effect - I’ll learn from someone and hope that everything I learn can be of some use at all by those that come after me through stories and conversations of any and all types.
In a time like that we’re currently living in, this domino effect of inspiration has been lacking around the world for quite some time due to social, political, and economic disparities. As I write this on a Muse Monday, I look back to the great, wonderful lives we’ve unfortunately lost this past year:
Chadwick Boseman
Irrfan Khan
Kobe Bryant
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Sushant Singh Rajput
While not an all encompassing list, these individuals all have provided substance to Muse Mondays as a whole. They have all given a little twinkle of light to the world to cling on to and find greater purpose and meaning. What you do with the newfound knowledge is purely up to you, but to have the ideas and actions from the past linger on is is a form of beautiful justice in its own right.
I talk about it all the time, but it’s about falling in love with the process of the journey and not the end goal that’s more important. The process of Muse Mondays has always been fascinating for me, and I hope that it can inspire you all to seek out your own purposeful curiosities with a quiet ferocity unlike what you could’ve imagined before.
As much as I’ve made out Muse Mondays to seem like a deep, serious time and space, it has to have a playful, childlike quality attached to it at the core. Secretly, I guess Muse Mondays is a way to keep that child inside me from never dissipating.
Bringing this all back together, I’m fortunate to see out yet another Muse Monday. I’ll never get tired of the time spent in this mental zone, as I feel even more reinvigorated to keep up with it once I see out another full rotation around the sun and back. I don’t know how future Muse Mondays will change or look like going forward - who knows, the day, for example, might change, though I doubt it… - but I’m looking forward to the journey. Hopefully, you’d like to accompany me step by step on another year of Muse Mondays - happy musing!
“I liked challenging people and making them uncomfortable. That’s what leads to introspection and that’s what leads to improvement. You could say I dared people to be their best selves.” – Kobe Bryant
