I’ve used this Shakespeare quote in one of my earlier posts on the subject ‘Thinking’. I love it so much because it reminds of reality being completely neutral, neither good or bad. And that it is our own thinking that makes it good or bad, beautiful or ugly, full of potential or hopeless etc..
Many people try hard to spend their time effectively and constructively on doing ‘useful’ things. Because they’ve been taught that ‘time is precious’ and so it should be ‘well’ spent. In making that effort many people also experience some pressure. Because what exactly is ‘useful’ and what if they don’t spent their time ‘well’? The interesting thing is that it doesn’t matter what you do with your time, what matters is what you want to get out of it. And having accomplished that, makes it a time well spent. And so, because from monday to friday we are so focused on doing ‘sensible’ things, why not use the weekend for doing something completely pointless. Just because it will break the routine. It will be refreshing! It will lead to a crazy adventure! It will set you free from that constant pressure of having to do something ‘useful’. In fact, doing something pointless in this case, is very useful.
There are many ways to add color to your life, but what does it really mean? A quote by French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) inspired me to think about this. He said: “An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man’s entire existence”. Simplified it means that if you don’t do in life what you were meant to do, your life has no color. But Mr. de Balzac speaks not of your ‘entire life’, but of your ‘entire existence’ being colorless if you don’t find and live your purpose. That means your physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual being, everything you were, are and ever will be – and all that without color! Now, that’s serious stuff! It’s a call for real living! It’s an call to go out, search, find and live your purpose. Maybe you already know what it is. Maybe you’re already living it too, maybe not yet. Maybe you’ve just started to think, feel and wonder about what it might be. But in whatever stage you are, finding and fulfilling your vocation is not something you do once. It’s a life long process. And it’s being in this process consciously, that adds color to your life.
Speaking of focus and joy: this is an ultimate example! You can fall, sure, but you’re not going to!
This post will be short. The image (and text) tell the story. If you want me to elaborate, just email me!
Did you ever have one of those moments you wished you could just press a button and everything would be ok? Yes? Well, then I’ve got some good news because it’s finally here: the make everything ok button! Simply press the button and voila: everything is ok! If for some reason everything still isn’t ok, just follow the simple instructions. And if that doesn’t help: just let me know. Send me an email or give me a call: I’m more than happy to help. But start by pressing that amazingly awesome button!
Take nothing for granted, but wonder, wonder, wonder. To wonder means you’re curious to know things, and that’s the mother of wisdom. But then our daily, weekly, monthly even annual routines, leave little room to wonder. We may like to think we’re open and adventurous, but when it comes down to it, many of us do what we always do. And as I quoted Einstein in this post, “If you do what you always do, you get what you alway get”. So in order to avoid that, in order to live a rich and diverse life, let’s wonder. About everything. Let’s wonder and live a wonderful life!
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.
