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What Is Becoming Clearer To Me
Reflections on the meaning of Life by an 'Ordinary Joe'
Well, my mind has been wandering again, and here is where it has landed on its continuing maiden voyage.
During the course of a meeting with one of my clients awhile ago, we started discussing her belief system, not in the context of a specific religious philosophy, but in terms of lessons learned in the course of her life that consciously or subconsciously govern her actions, reactions, and interactions with others. I have come to think of this as "lessons learned, life to date."
It's one possible set of answers to the question,
"What do you know for sure?" We live life, many of us, serially, in real time, not processing our experiences into evolving learning, clarifying awareness, and guiding principles. We may make decisions based upon reactive responses to these "lessons", but typically we could not articulate a synthesis of our unique life experiences if asked. So... I'm asking. And challenging you to articulate what you know for sure based upon your unique journey through life. You can articulate this, you know. Why not take a qualitative time out and think about it. Leaders lead through a vision, which is forged largely upon the foundation they have established through their special pathway through life. What is yours? Let me prime your thinking around a particular set of guiding principles that have emerged for me personally. These lessons have been learned through synthesizing a combination of my life experiences and exposures, formal training, and informal readings, conversations,
leadership examples from significant role models and mentors, and my own native sense of what works and what is appropriate. I have distilled all of this into a set of conclusions which, though neither unique nor profound, hang together for me personally and guide how I intend to consistently show up in my business and life relationships.
I don't live or exist in a vacuum. I live always within the context of relationships to others, to nature, and the universe.
Money, fame and fortune can't buy happiness. For me personally, happiness is achieved only through connecting closely with special people in my life. And that group of people is ever changing and expanding the longer I live.
I am not the center of the universe. The sun, the moon and the stars are not my private property. I am neither dependent nor independent, but rather, interdependent on other people and creatures, and nature.
Anything worth having is not going to be given to me. In order to value anything, for it to have worth, I must have worked for it and earned it.
You don't see what you're not looking for. We need to stay awake and pay attention to what is going on around us. We need to live intentionally and pay attention and good will come our way.
We have only now. That's all we ever have. Time, as in days, hours, weeks and years is an illusion. There is no tomorrow. There is only an ever expanding now. I need to live fully in the present, not dwelling in the past, or anticipating the future.
Life is neither fair nor unfair. It just is. The events of life themselves are neutral. It is our reaction to them that interjects feeling, value and interpretation.
The concept of age is delusional. We, our intrinsic self, never age. We confuse the deterioration of our bodies to include the deterioration of self and soul. My self, my essence, has not aged, but has expanded. I view myself as an eternal essence that is truly ageless.
There are no absolutes in this life. There are only hypotheses that we choose to own. Information and knowledge are products of continuous evolution. If we lock on one belief or credo, we have died intellectually and have stopped growing.
If I ever win the lottery I intend to fund and manage a foundation dedicated to curbing violence. Though I am intrinsically opposed to violence, I would violently defend the lives of those I love. I would not die, however, in defense of a religious credo. Such credos are hypotheses and therefore debatable. Relationships, on the other hand, are absolute and the essence of the world in which I live.
I am a child of the universe. I am not God; ergo I am with flaws. I am not perfect, and therefore I will make mistakes, and won't have all the answers. But that's okay. We're in this together, perfectly imperfect. Accepting that, we can move forward together.
Each and every one of us is on the planet for an ever-evolving purpose. We are not here to be used by others, but to proactively, yet humbly engage our gifts for the benefit of our fellow travelers. We are all gifted, and thankfully, gifted differently. We need to put aside doubts about whether we are gifted, or about the scorecards the world will hold up when we light our little candle and humbly hold it up to the darkness.
We are the Chief Executive Officers of our lives, and we can make it what we want it to be. No person, place or thing, no situation or event, can control us or create negativity within us. What we believe in will be; what we think about will come about; what we will to happen will happen.
Good will come to us if we choose gratitude over resentment.
