How to Learn Just About Anything

Do not let your fears anchor you down

But let your passions drive you forward

Do not compare

Unless it is you looking back to your early footsteps

Do not let your practice grow idle

And never think that your days of work will at some point be over.

Continue, new traveler

Down the beautiful road

Bond with others on the path

Learn from them and walk together

The joy must be found in the journey

For there is no destination

But the scenery is breathtaking

And every step makes you stronger

For in the end, you aren’t making a thing

Other than a greater you

How to Draw

First, let go of fear of failure.

Failure in this path is only true if you don’t try.

And you’re going to hate what you did eventually if you’re doing it right.

Now, decide what you are immortalizing.

It could be an important person, a meaningful idea

Or a drawing of a cat on a unicycle following his dreams.

Any of these will do.

Next, pick up a pencil

(Or a pen, or a marker)

And just push it across the paper

There are no more steps

Except

Repeat

Repeat until the lines make shapes that satisfy you

Repeat until the shapes combine into pictures you might not throw away

Repeat until your mom compliments you

Repeat until someone who isn’t your mom compliments you

Don’t stop because you could be better

Don’t stop because you’re not as good as Da Vinci

Or because you’re not better than you were yesterday

Keep going until years have gone by

Keep going until you’ve reached your last days

And keep looking back at the first graphite lines on the page

And then look at the ones you just made

How do you draw?

You simply

Draw

Ode to the Green Light

Subtle ruler of your glancing kingdom

A river of metal and rubber

Streaming below you

Commanding armies with the gleam of your eye

Leading charges toward freedom with your presence

Thin, bright leaf

Reflecting light on your glossy surface

Seen for a moment collecting the sun

Then lost in the chaos of branches and foliage

In the sudden summer breeze

Crowning emerald on the end of the victor’s sword

Bright lollipop, a gift to eager hands

Sun shining through a cresting wave on a crowded beach

Striking bird soaring up above, casting your dark shape on the ground

With freedom in your wide spread wings

The releaser of the imprisoned intersection

The silent monarch of the gas petal

Subtle ruler of your glancing kingdom