talkmagic.co.uk

Let things happen or make things happen?

As an teacher once said to me "Only dead fish go with the flow".

Are we talking about life in general, or magic (spec's perception of it at least...)?

life in general

You make your own destiny. Life is a series of choices.

The fact it was turned into a film has made people less interested but I highly recommend reading Danny Wallace's book Yes Man (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yes-Man-Danny-Wallace/dp/0091896746/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314092867&sr=8-2). In addition to being very funny it's also shows the power of being active in decisions.

For those not familiar with the premise, it's a true story where Danny Wallace was in a bit of a funk after the buzz of his previous book had died down and through a chance meeting on a bus with a guy and talking about what he was up to, the guy said "you need to say YES more". After all, YES opens possibilities while NO closes them. He sets himself the task of saying YES to everything for a day. No matter what he's asked, he says YES. And it goes on from there.

me_simon wrote:The fact it was turned into a film has made people less interested but I highly recommend reading Danny Wallace's book Yes Man (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yes-Man-Danny-Wallace/dp/0091896746/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314092867&sr=8-2). In addition to being very funny it's also shows the power of being active in decisions.

For those not familiar with the premise, it's a true story where Danny Wallace was in a bit of a funk after the buzz of his previous book had died down and through a chance meeting on a bus with a guy and talking about what he was up to, the guy said "you need to say YES more". After all, YES opens possibilities while NO closes them. He sets himself the task of saying YES to everything for a day. No matter what he's asked, he says YES. And it goes on from there.

I'm British. Between YES and NO there is always 'MAYBE' and 'lets just muddle through.'
I'm sitting on the fence on this one.

Discombobulator wrote:I'm British. Between YES and NO there is always 'MAYBE' and 'lets just muddle through.'
I'm sitting on the fence on this one.

How you guys controlled a quarter of the world at one stage baffles me.

me_simon wrote:The fact it was turned into a film has made people less interested but I highly recommend reading Danny Wallace's book Yes Man (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yes-Man-Danny-Wallace/dp/0091896746/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314092867&sr=8-2). In addition to being very funny it's also shows the power of being active in decisions.

For those not familiar with the premise, it's a true story where Danny Wallace was in a bit of a funk after the buzz of his previous book had died down and through a chance meeting on a bus with a guy and talking about what he was up to, the guy said "you need to say YES more". After all, YES opens possibilities while NO closes them. He sets himself the task of saying YES to everything for a day. No matter what he's asked, he says YES. And it goes on from there.

I read the book well before the film and it remains one of the best books I've read. Pretty inspirational to be honest.

Ste Porterfield wrote:I read the book well before the film and it remains one of the best books I've read. Pretty inspirational to be honest.

Hooray! I'm not alone. Whenever a friend was lost and down I would direct them (or in some cases buy them a copy) of it but as soon as it was turned into a film, everyone seems to dismiss it as some silly story. As corny as it sounds it's a book which changed my outlook on life. It got me taking chances, moving out of my comfort zone and experiencing new things.

So to everyone else - READ IT!

me_simon wrote:

Ste Porterfield wrote:I read the book well before the film and it remains one of the best books I've read. Pretty inspirational to be honest.

Hooray! I'm not alone. Whenever a friend was lost and down I would direct them (or in some cases buy them a copy) of it but as soon as it was turned into a film, everyone seems to dismiss it as some silly story. As corny as it sounds it's a book which changed my outlook on life. It got me taking chances, moving out of my comfort zone and experiencing new things.

So to everyone else - READ IT!

Yep, totally agreed. And, whilst agreeing that it does sound corny, I started going to many more events, parties, nights out, lunches and it's been a really positive experience. It's been all about thinking twice about saying "no" rather than saying "yes" to everything. I buy the Big Issue more, I've stopped in the streets to complete surveys and I've done a whole other load of things I probably would have ignored in the past.

Sincerely, I'm a much more positive person for it.

Ste,

Will you lend me £100?

Hmmm......

I really like Danny Wallace and his writing, Friends like these is my favourite but I just couldn't get to the end of this book and I read all the time. I also walked out for the film.

Good job we're not all the same huh?

The question is too broad for me to answer.

Most of the time you should try to make things happen if you can. But sometimes the best you can do is just to let things happen. As in the Serenity Prayer, wisdom is knowing which is the better option in the circumstances.