Every little thing is magic, life is amazing. A child knows this, and shows this without any restraint. As adults however, we try to play it cool, not acting surprised anymore, not being curious, believing we’ve seen it all before, having an explanation for everything: gone is the magic. To bring back the magic, let us be open. Even to the tiniest details, so once again great discoveries can be made.
This image is not mine, I don’t own the rights and don’t know who made it. But I’d like to thank the person who did because I love it! Such an amazing visualization of ‘the impossible made possible’. Ok sure, taking a plunge in the asphalt may be a long shot, but in general: no matter how tough the situation, no matter how big the challenge: you can find the recourses to deal with it. If not now, then later. Who says you can’t? Who are they? Do they control your life? Do they possess the wisdom to know exactly what you’re capable of? True, they may have the authority, the power or the experience, but in the end: they are not you. So unless you tell yourself you can’t, you can.
Getting from here to there, transforming from this into that: it’s all a matter of change. Musician James Levine said: “A lot of people get impatient with the pace of change”, and I understand why. Because change can be an annoying slow process, right? But then change can also take us by surprise, forcing it’s way into our life too fast. Author Bruce Barton said: “Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress”. And whether it comes slow or fast: all change is progress. So let us be as patient as a snail, let us take our time for the rhythm of living.
In an instant, like a blazing force, a thought can take control of the way you feel and act. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said: “A thought can make us feel hotter than a fire”. By all means, thoughts are powerful: they manifest love and hate just as easily. Therefore knowing your own thoughts is essential. It’s the only way to make sure they don’t play with you, giving you the ability to play with them instead. And in knowing that ultimately you are not your thoughts, but that you only have them, you’ll find the door to peace of mind. Because thoughts will keep you busy, unless you tame them.
You know that feeling when you don’t want to go to the gym, but then you go nonetheless, and then afterwards you feel totally great? That’s what I was thinking when I read Leonardo Da Vinci’s quote you see in the image. I found another, similar quote by Da Vinci: “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a well-spent life brings happy death”. Now, I don’t wanna die or anything, but I think we can all agree with the following idea: ‘To feel good later, do good now’. So, the question for you is: what do you think will make you feel good later, and what do you need to do now, to make that happen? And in doing so, you will automatically feel good now. For now is then, and then is now.
Don’t let the road in front of you misguide you. It may let you think it is the only way, keeping you from exploring the infinite directions you can choose from. And it may let you belief that you need to go somewhere, while in fact you are always right where you need to be. If you don’t like where you are just follow your creativity, and wherever you decide to walk, a road appears. Your road.
The quote you see in the image above is by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). It touches a universal truth: to change the world, first change yourself. Universal, because it’s message was true in his lifetime, and still spot on half a century later, when India’s spiritual and political leader Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) said: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. And today, again over half a century later, these quotes are still as valuable as they once were.
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.
