Ardo Zubairu
09-04-2007, 10:03 AM
Passion.
Living your life on the edge - heart racing, palms sweating.
Obsession.
Intensity, like a flame, searing your insides.
Nervous energy.
Reaching higher, running faster, doing more, more, MORE!
Are you climbing the corporate ladder?
Are you motivated?
What drives you?
What is written on your "to do" list?
Are you on time?
Are you late?
Have you categorized your priorities?
Do you have a plan of action?
Are you DOING enough? Could you DO more?
If you're not DOING, you're not LIVING - or so we seem to think. We wake up in the morning and our feet hit the ground running. We live by clocks and watches and appointments and classes. Even fun is scheduled - or what we think SHOULD be fun.
We are taught from Day One, that we should think ahead. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is the standard question. You are supposed to know. Those who don't ... well ... we can't waste time on those poor unfortunate souls.
You push and pull and move and climb and win - a trophy, a grade, a part, a score, a diploma, a scholarship, another diploma, an internship, a job, a promotion, a wife, a husband, an award, a child, a new car, a raise, a vacation, a plaque ... the list goes on. Is there ever a time we don't look ahead? Is there ever a time when our feet or hands or mouths or minds aren't moving? What happens if we stop? We die?No.
We just stop. The momentum of our lives is reversed. Our brakes, sparking and squealing force us back in our seats. We are left standing, watching the blur of moving people, like time-lapse photography, rush by us.
We're still alive. We're still breathing. With all the unnecessary motion blurred, it becomes so easy to see. There are clay-colored buildings, and thick golden light. There are clouds that roll over the sky, and reflections in puddles. There are moments when the wind, warm and soft, moves past your cheek to kiss your neck. There are pebbles, in a semi-circle, tossed up by the waves. There is your shadow, a perfect mimic, forever sewn to you, shrinking and growing in the light.
There is silence - of a sort. A silence of thought. A silence of action. A silence that allows you to explore. Into your dreams, you walk, like through a misty forest in an indigo twilight. The thoughts that come here are not sharp. They do not pierce or control or demand.
We do not win by trying. This idea, brought to us by the creators of the Protestant Work Ethic, is a lie. We win by being. A river does not set out from the highlands with the goal of creating a canyon. By its nature, the river flows. And by flowing, during thousands and thousands of years, a canyon appears where the river travels.
There are numbers and formulas and graphs and experiments to explain even the most minute aspects of biology. Scientists can tell time as far back to fractions of fractions of a second after the "Big Bang." Lives have been devoted to the quest of KNOWLEDGE. We want to know HOW, and WHAT, and WHY.
We really, truly want to believe that everything we do is important. That every item we check off on our TO DO list, every diploma we earn, every rung of the ladder we climb up, every zero added to our salary, every pound that we lose, every goal we reach for has a greater purpose.
We run for the proverbial carrot on a string. We are all like strung-out Greyhounds. Used to running. Used to living in a cage. Used to letting others determine what we do. Used to others determining the rabbits we should race after. We are nervous, shaky, anxious, stressed, neurotic, cranky, angry, depressed, hyper, terrified, and especially lonely - not knowing how to take the time out to really talk to each other.
Do you know what it feels like to breath? Take a breath. Wait ... stop first. I said stop. Now, take a breath. Deeper. (I could explain to you all of the physiology behind oxygen, its chemical makeup and how it reacts in your body. But that isn't important.)
Take another breath and exhale. (Increased oxygen intake improves your ability to perform, resulting in raised test scores and increased retention. But who cares.) Breathe in. Breathe out. (Deep breathing strengthens your stomach muscles and will give you abs of steel. But is this really important?) Just breathe. This is what's important
Living your life on the edge - heart racing, palms sweating.
Obsession.
Intensity, like a flame, searing your insides.
Nervous energy.
Reaching higher, running faster, doing more, more, MORE!
Are you climbing the corporate ladder?
Are you motivated?
What drives you?
What is written on your "to do" list?
Are you on time?
Are you late?
Have you categorized your priorities?
Do you have a plan of action?
Are you DOING enough? Could you DO more?
If you're not DOING, you're not LIVING - or so we seem to think. We wake up in the morning and our feet hit the ground running. We live by clocks and watches and appointments and classes. Even fun is scheduled - or what we think SHOULD be fun.
We are taught from Day One, that we should think ahead. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is the standard question. You are supposed to know. Those who don't ... well ... we can't waste time on those poor unfortunate souls.
You push and pull and move and climb and win - a trophy, a grade, a part, a score, a diploma, a scholarship, another diploma, an internship, a job, a promotion, a wife, a husband, an award, a child, a new car, a raise, a vacation, a plaque ... the list goes on. Is there ever a time we don't look ahead? Is there ever a time when our feet or hands or mouths or minds aren't moving? What happens if we stop? We die?No.
We just stop. The momentum of our lives is reversed. Our brakes, sparking and squealing force us back in our seats. We are left standing, watching the blur of moving people, like time-lapse photography, rush by us.
We're still alive. We're still breathing. With all the unnecessary motion blurred, it becomes so easy to see. There are clay-colored buildings, and thick golden light. There are clouds that roll over the sky, and reflections in puddles. There are moments when the wind, warm and soft, moves past your cheek to kiss your neck. There are pebbles, in a semi-circle, tossed up by the waves. There is your shadow, a perfect mimic, forever sewn to you, shrinking and growing in the light.
There is silence - of a sort. A silence of thought. A silence of action. A silence that allows you to explore. Into your dreams, you walk, like through a misty forest in an indigo twilight. The thoughts that come here are not sharp. They do not pierce or control or demand.
We do not win by trying. This idea, brought to us by the creators of the Protestant Work Ethic, is a lie. We win by being. A river does not set out from the highlands with the goal of creating a canyon. By its nature, the river flows. And by flowing, during thousands and thousands of years, a canyon appears where the river travels.
There are numbers and formulas and graphs and experiments to explain even the most minute aspects of biology. Scientists can tell time as far back to fractions of fractions of a second after the "Big Bang." Lives have been devoted to the quest of KNOWLEDGE. We want to know HOW, and WHAT, and WHY.
We really, truly want to believe that everything we do is important. That every item we check off on our TO DO list, every diploma we earn, every rung of the ladder we climb up, every zero added to our salary, every pound that we lose, every goal we reach for has a greater purpose.
We run for the proverbial carrot on a string. We are all like strung-out Greyhounds. Used to running. Used to living in a cage. Used to letting others determine what we do. Used to others determining the rabbits we should race after. We are nervous, shaky, anxious, stressed, neurotic, cranky, angry, depressed, hyper, terrified, and especially lonely - not knowing how to take the time out to really talk to each other.
Do you know what it feels like to breath? Take a breath. Wait ... stop first. I said stop. Now, take a breath. Deeper. (I could explain to you all of the physiology behind oxygen, its chemical makeup and how it reacts in your body. But that isn't important.)
Take another breath and exhale. (Increased oxygen intake improves your ability to perform, resulting in raised test scores and increased retention. But who cares.) Breathe in. Breathe out. (Deep breathing strengthens your stomach muscles and will give you abs of steel. But is this really important?) Just breathe. This is what's important