Hello friends and welcome to a new week. It’s monday morning, to some inspirational, exciting and new. To others the start of 5 days of boredom, stress or insecurity. Whatever your situation is, keep one thing in mind: nothing is impossible. So start dreaming and if you already have a dream, start making that dream a reality. If you need a kick start to get you excited, read this, this and this post.
I saw this text as a post on Facebook some time ago. And I’m guessing you did too, since we were all kindly asked to re-post it and so it probably went around the world. Still, it’s interesting to zoom in on it. It is amazing how our mind works and that we’re able to read this total mix up of letters and numbers, fairly easy. It proves just how creative and flexible our mind is when confronted with an apparent chaos. Take for instance this Cambridge University study that says: “Did you konw you’re a guiens? Jsut the fcat taht you can atllacuy raed tihs psot porves taht fcat. The huamn mnid is so pufowerl it can dcodee tihs txet eevn tguohh eervy sglnie wrod is slepled iocenrtclry. The one cavaet is taht the frist and lsat lertets are pervresed in erevy wrod. Cidrgbame Uitesirnvy cetoudncd a sduty and fnuod taht the biarn deos not raed eevry snlige lteetr, but wodrs as a wohle. To me, these two examples serve as a metaphor for life itself. It shows that when we permit ourselves to go beyond the guidelines, even when we face chaos, our mind is capable of bringing order almost instantly.
Imagine a ball and this ball is your goal. It represents something you wish for. It can be the tiniest of things and it can be a as huge as your life’s mission. Whatever it is: keep your eye on it. At all times if possible. Because whatever you give attention to, will grow. That’s the idea. Without your focus on it, the ball is just a ball and it won’t go anywhere until you play with it. Only when you play with it, it will go into a certain direction. It will bounce, it will spin, it will go fast, slow, straight and with a curve. It will be in your reach and sometimes out. It doesn’t matter. As long as you stay alert and pay close attention to what is happening and where it’s going, you can always get possession of the ball and ultimately score your goal. Come to think of it, maybe the ball is the goal. Just like the journey is the destination, as I’ve written about in this column. Then, keeping your eye on the ball always pays off.
Those who have traveled know it from experience: life is a road wide open. Just like imagination, it can take you anywhere. Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784), an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer, said: “The use of traveling, is to regulate imagination by reality”. When I came across his words, I was moved by their powerful, poetic encouragement to explore life. To see the world and get inspired. And to get inspired to see a new world. It is this interplay that lies at the heart of all progress. The definition of traveling is not only going from A to B. Traveling means exposing yourself to experience. Physically, mentally and spiritually. It means to explore and to go beyond the boundaries of all your senses. Or as I said in this post: Behind every door, a new new discovery can be made. It can be a scent, a sight, a sound, a touch or taste. You can imagine it, but only by traveling (or simply opening that door) you will regulate your imagination by reality. And only then you can manifest your inner world in the external world. Keep this in mind each time you open a door. Any door, really, for life is a road wide open.
If you ask me: “Do you love life?”, I will certainly answer: “Yes of course!” Maybe you have the same answer. But let’s zoom in on the definition of love. Wikipedia defines love as an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. It’s a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion and affection; and the “unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”. Love may also be described as actions towards others (or oneself) based on compassion, or as actions towards others based on affection. Well. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t meet all these criteria when it comes to my relation with life. Unselfish? Benevolent? Actions based on compassion? When I’m in a good mood, sure, not a problem. But I’m human, I’m not always in a good mood. And I can even get to the point where I despise life and, to be honest, myself. I can be narrow minded and selfish, I can be angry for the wrong reasons, I can act based on aversion. Until… always a moment later, something awakes me telling me to embrace that too with… love. And that’s the reason for this post. I would like to encourage you, like I encourage myself, to love it all. Good and bad, it all has meaning. Everything tells you something. It’s never for no reason. When you love life, love everything.
Life is a gift… I guess we’ve all heard that many times. And if you look beyond the hint of cliché that there is to this expression, and you take a minute to appreciate the finest moments of your life, I think we can agree that indeed life is a gift. But then, on a random rainy morning with a stressful day ahead, life is easily transformed from a gift into a burden. So, is life a gift yes or no? Yesterday, as I was pondering my day, it hit me. Life is always a gift, but you have dare to unwrap it. I mean, what good is a gift when you leave it unwrapped? We all know a sparkling diamond can be found in a dirty cloth. Just like a delightful experience might await you on a dreary monday. The wrapping may not be attractive, but it’s content can still be invaluable. So to experience life as a gift, you have to be willing to unwrap it. It’s the only way to discover what’s inside. If not joy, then certainly a learning opportunity. And maybe that’s what the gift of life is all about: to experience and learn.
Imagine a 4 year old wanting to ride a bike for the very first time. Having seen other people cycle seemingly without any effort, he thinks it’s going to be an easy ride. So he’s got it all mapped out. He made a plan and calls it plan A and it’s very clear: enjoy the wheels on steel! The possibility of falling and hitting the ground doesn’t even come to his mind. Until of course he sets a foot on the pedal and tries to make a move, he finds out he can’t cycle. Plan A: destroyed. Or… wait. No. His parents will teach their kid not to give up so quickly, for everything is learning process. They will tell him that it doesn’t matter how many times he falls down, as long as he gets up again. Easy to say, hard to practice. As we grow up, wanting to ride a bike turns into wanting to have a meaningful life. We want so many things. But we are easily disappointed when we don’t get what we want – or not in the way we want them. We’re lured into the belief of not being good, smart or beautiful enough etc.. We turn in this little kid that finds out that learning to ride takes time and effort. So when I saw this picture circling around the internet I just had to use it. And there must be a million ways (ok, 26 at least) to accomplish something. If not now, then later. Meanwhile? Enjoy the ride and… stay cool.
People are vulnerable as individuals and as a species. And fighting vulnerability is useless. No matter how hard you try. Simply because you can’t control everything and so your life can turn upside down at any moment of any day. You may be the King of the World, the Smartest Woman in the Universe or the Sexiest Man Alive; it won’t help. You can however hide from it. And most of us do. Behind a fancy job title, nice car or house. Interesting friends, a busy agenda, designer clothes or healthy hipster life style, but sooner or later vulnerability will find you. So what can you do? Well, it’s simple.
Simply face it and embrace it. Because when you embrace it, you no longer need to fight it. You no longer need to run or hide from it, by keeping up appearances and putting energy in this hopeless attempt to avoid the discomfort of feeling it. You can now be as you are, vulnerable, instead of pretending not to be. The way I see it: vulnerability is indestructible. So by letting it in and become a part of you, in a way that makes you indestructible. Daring to be vulnerable gives you power to be.
From time to time it’s good to ask yourself: “Am I alive?” Because it’s not uncommon to just be busy doing what you’re always doing. To be caught up in a routine. And that routine may very well result in hours, days, weeks, months or even years of living, without actually being alive. Because there’s more to living, than just breathing. Imagine someone in a coma and it becomes clear… I recently attended a re-birthing workshop and I experienced the difference between A) normal breathing: a mostly shallow, kind of mechanic and unconscious way of getting the bare minimum of oxygen ‘shots’ and B) breathing with full awareness, in a rich flow, organic and fully open to receive life’s energy in all it’s splendor. It let me experience the meaning of the phrase: “Just because you breathe, doesn’t mean you’re alive”. And so I challenge you, as I challenge myself, to wonder: am I really alive or mostly just busy breathing?
I guess you’re familiar with this sensation: one moment you feel great, and the next… well not so great. I sometimes feel like I’m nothing and sometimes I feel as though I’m everything. It’s a really fine line, much like it is with being crazy or brilliant. John Lennon had a nice way of putting it. He said: “Part of me suspects I’m a loser. The other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty”. I wrote a post about that one too. Anyway. A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon the “I, a universe of atoms…” quote by the American physicist Richard P. Feynman (1918 – 1988). And it’s stuck in my head ever since. Because to me his words are both mind blowing and heart warming. The thought of “I” being a tiny, stand alone atom – and an infinite, whole universe at the same time, blows my ego off it’s socks. Because “I” isn’t (only) the ‘earthly me’. “I” is a single atom and an entire universe, completing one another. Think about that when you’re looking at yourself in the mirror. So yes, it’s a quote I gratefully meditate on. It’s so simple and yet so deeply profound. It makes me feel humble and larger than life at the same time – it’s liberating. Look at us humans. Look at you, look at me. We are both nothing and everything. Again. That’s just… wow.
Imagine you’re looking for something, but you can’t find it. Annoying. Yes. Very. But then, maybe you’re not supposed to find it. Or maybe you’re just looking in the wrong place. Or maybe… you already found it, but you don’t realize it yet. Whatever the reason is, you might want to stop searching. Why? Well think about it: as long as you’re busy searching – you’re not… finding!
Dear friends, it’s been more than a year since my last post! Honestly, I needed the break but a lot of good things have happened to me in the meantime. Apart from a great time at Eyeworks Netherlands, where I worked as a Senior Creative with some great people at the Program Development Team, it were exciting times for me personally as well. Too much to tell you in one post. But I will share more in the coming months, because it’s been truly transformational.
I’m planning on a brand new start of focusNjoy at the end of April. And this time, I intend to actually make some money haha – because running an ad-free blog is great, but from a financial point of view it wasn’t a success and one of the reasons for me to get back to television. Later in 2014 I intend to finally start with my workshops in Amsterdam. I’m super excited about that but let’s see how things develop. Anway – I’m back and I’m feeling fresh. Hoping to hear from you – always feel free to send me an email and say hi!
Love, Stijn.
