“We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
T.S. Eliot
I’ve noticed this happen to me after traveling somewhere.
Live as if you had a choice.
These words poppoed into my head this morning as I was driving to my office. I’m not exactly sure where I’ve read them or heard them. I like to give credit, even though many of these thoughts and memes are like so many molecules that are being passed from generation to generation over the centuries.
Live as if you had a choice.
It really speaks to me about intentional living. About living on purpose, with meaning, with a sense of control.
It’s not some Western uber-control sort of message like “get control of your life” or “do thest 20 tasks.”
It sounds to me more artistic than scientific, more accepting than directing, more open than closed.
Live as if you had a choice.
“Choice” in itself implies that we’re taking some conscious action. With “as if you had a choice” it lets you push the pause button on wondering whether we do or don’t have a choice, and on getting stuck analyzing what sorts of choices we may or may not have in our lives.
It also reminds me of the presumptive close, a sales technique where the salesperson operates on the assumption that the sale is going to go through. Okay, this is a sales technique which is not entirely effective, yet it changes the posture of the relationship between salesperson and client.
Posture – yes, that’s it. “Live as if” is about posture, about stance, about leaning into the wind regardless of how hard or which direction it may be blowing. This maxim isn’t saying to deny reality and simply hope, it speaks to assuming control, direction, and choice.
Live as if you had a choice.
I’m going to try it. Why don’t you try it, too, and let me know if anything is different with this stance.
Posted in Personal | Tags: Acceptance, Awakening, Change, Choice, Life, Life purpose, Living, Meaning, Personal Growth, Purpose
When was the last time someone taught you how to dress and undress – in public?
Oh, and did they teach you how to change quickly!?
I just got back from a transition clinic. No, not a clinic like with doctors and nurses and stethescopes and stuff. It was a clinic as in a hands-on training session. And it was about special kinds of transitions – the transitions between sports in triathlons.
It was a triathlon transition clinic taught by pro triathlete Jim Vance.
It was about learning how to master the switch from swimming to cycling, and then from cycling to running. While transitions may seem simple enough, many athletes forget how long it can take to peel off a wetsuit and get wet feet into dry shoes. In multi-sport events like triathlons, the total race time includes the minutes and seconds between sports.
More importantly, struggling during the transitions takes away energy. Putting up resistance against some sticky swim cap can lead to frustration. On the other hand, I’ve had a good laugh at myself when I got a little rattled and forgot to take off my swim goggles before trying to put on my bike helmet. Ha!
It’s just the same with life’s transitions.
Ask yourself, how many of the following transitions can you say you’ve mastered?
I’m on the lookout for more ways to be more present and involved with all my life transitions.
I remember reading once somewhere about how differently we might act if we thought we were being televised. Some of us might just rise to the occasion and show a little style and grace, even when doing something as unglamorous as trying to catch a bus.
The three words I’ve been trying to keep before me during transitions: grace, style, and awareness. I’m finding that these help me focus on the moment in a way that leads me closer to mastery of the moment.
Learning how to master transitions in life with style, grace, and awareness makes all the difference.
What works for you?
Posted in Change, Efficiency, Mindfulness, Now, Simplicity | Tags: Acceptance, Awakening, Awareness, Balance, Change, Compassion, Dance, Grace, Growth, Living, Personal Growth, Presence, Quest, Relationship, Simplicity, Style, Suffering
Here lies, extinguished in his prime,
a victim of modernity:
but yesterday he hadn’t the time –
and now he has eternity.
Piet Hein – Grooks
Doesn’t he just put this into perspective? It makes you wonder what was so darn important that made that driver rush into his infinite rest.
Next time you’re driving and the light turns yellow and then red, try easing up on the gas and just letting that light go. Ease up a bit once in awhile, and see if it makes a difference.
in time of daffodils
(who know the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,
remember howin time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so
(forgetting seem)in time of roses
(who amaze our now and here with paradise)
forgetting if,
remember yesin time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek
(forgetting find)and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me,
remember me
e.e. cummings
Posted in Personal | Tags: Acceptance, Awareness, Balance, Beauty, Enlightenment, freedom, Growth, Joy, Life purpose, Living, Meaning, Mindfulness, Now, Openness, Peace, Personal Growth, Poetry, Quest, Self-Realization
“In and out…
up and down….
over and over….
she wove her strands of her life together….
patching hole after hole…
eventually she saw it was much more than the threads which gave her strength….
it was in the very act of weaving, itself, that she became strong.”
By Terri St. Cloud in her book “Honor Yourself” (page 48)
Posted in Personal | Tags: Acceptance, Choice, Compassion, Forgiveness, Growth, Living, Meaning, Mindfulness, Peace, Personal Growth, Phoenix, Poetry, Resurrection, Suicide