We are all spinning caps. When we’re doing what we’re designed to – under perfect conditions – we’ll keep spinning forever. Living up to our potential.
When something is off, the cap will fall. We fail our potential.
The trick is reconfiguring ourselves to live up to that potential. To be our best selves. To be who we are designed to be.
There are moments when we choose whether to be consumers or creators. When we can write or read. Turn on the tv, or dream with our eye open. Listen to the radio, or sing to our own song.
There is a time for both – to be a consumer and to be a creator. But we are not here to consume. We are here to create.
Always remember that.
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. ~ T. E. Lawrence
A dream is a powerful tool, and one which, if fully invested in, will transform the lives of all who come in contact with the dreamer. The greatest results come from a full and unwavering commitment to the dream – I think of those who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of one thing (or at least a specific track) and climbed their way to that mountain.
Many books have been published on the subject, such as Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, or Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins. The fact is, the mind is the greatest resource we possess, and learning to harness it is a challenge. Especially in the world of cluttered lives and information overload that we inhabit.
Think on your one thing. Meditate. Maybe it’s more than one thing. That’s okay. Find your focus, and make forward motion.
Everything we do is a matter of finite resources. Some things may be abundant, and others may be scarce – but nothing is infinite.
To allow room into our lives for new possibilities, we must be willing to make room for them. That means not overextending our time, not collecting more than we need, and not encumbering ourselves merely to fill a void.
We live for all intents and purposes in a world where barriers have very nearly disappeared (the digital age), while at the same time many of us feel more need to keep doors locked or build walls for “safety”.
How can these two disparate realities exist at the same time? What does it say about us that the more information we have access to, the less safe we feel?
Statistically we are living in the safest time ever on this planet. And still, many of us constantly live in fear.
I challenge you to be fearless. Don’t let doubts and fears hold you back from being your true self. Be fearless.
Well, my Netflix was hacked. Not a big deal, and with as little as I’ve been watching tv over the past month, it was a while before I really noticed.
Now Netflix had been sending me email alerts, but the culprit was in Mexico and had changed the language preference to Spanish – and thus each email alert that Netflix sent was non-English and I mistook them for spam.
I’ve recently spoken with my friend and IT cohort, and he scolded me for not utilizing two-level authentication on all of my accounts. Now, I think I’ll have to be more diligent about my security.
No matter what you do, who you are, or how carefully you arrange your days, there will be people who will want your time. Emails, phone calls, text messages, to-do lists, etc.
Spouses do them, and kids, and parents. Bosses an coworkers. Companies you purchase from, and companies looking to sell you something. Reclaiming your time is paramount to living a fulfilled life. Because if your time is always going towards other people’s goals – towards their happiness – you’ve no time left to work towards your own.
When the alignment is off, even the smallest misstep can throw the system out of whack. Specifically I’m meaning my back which I tweaked just doing a bend to move something on the floor. But, it applies to all things if you think about it. When the system is working, we tend to ignore it. The car that starts at the turn of the key. The laptop that effortlessly connects to the wi-fi. Everything that flows in seamless connectivity.
But when something is off – a spark plug is dirty, the signal is shoddy – it just takes one moment to shut down the system. Now you’re left diagnosing the problem that, had you tended to some preventative task before hand, may never had occurred. It’s important to know how things work, especially the things that we take for granted.
You don’t need to be an expert, but a general working knowledge (or even regular visits for service at the mechanic’s) and you can save yourself a lot of headaches. And back aches, as it were.
“Continue to act thus, my dear Lucilius – set yourself free for your own sake; gather and save your time, which till lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely slipped from your hands. Make yourself believe the truth of my words, – that certain moments are torn from us, that some are gently removed, and that others glide beyond our reach.”
Being mindful of our time is the first key to freedom, to success, and to many other attributes we aspire to. It is a component of Zen, of meditation, of prayer, and of business. Being present.
Seneca’s assertion to gather and save your time is the fundamental principle of mindfulness.
“…if you will pay close heed to the problem, you will find that the largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose. “
He continues on asking Lucilius to pay close heed to the problem of time slippage. Stick to the purpose! Which means knowing the purpose.
And what is your purpose? How can you know if you’re wasting time not chasing it, if you’re not really sure what it is?
Or maybe the problem isn’t that you don’t know your one purpose – rather, your purpose is so complex and multi-faceted that you must proceed down several avenues at once to achieve it. And if that is the case, then your attention to time must be even more strict.
All human interaction comes down to two fundamental principles: listening and responding. Listening in this case can mean the receiving and interpretation of any stimuli coming from the other person and the environment around you. Responding is any method of reaction (or non-reaction) you have to that situation.
When we argue, we are missing a key component of one (or both) of the two fundamental principles – we are lacking empathy.
It isn’t that empathy means neglecting your own viewpoint – it’s only accepting that someone else may have a different one and acknowledging its value.
Michael's Musings 