And life.

“You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.”
― Henry Nouwen

Though all is contained in one collective space, the mind, heart, body and soul can vie for preeminence over each other or become independent of one another. At least that has been my experience.

The mind has its intnetions in the right place, but yet, if it cannot interconnect with its teammates, there will be little if any change in course. It can generate great ideas and stimulate a new vision, but if the heart doesn’t buy into it and the spirit is not willing, well, you know how the state of the flesh.

Talking oneself out of great beginnings has been one of this author’s highest acheivements. The sensation is akin to rolling oneself out of a deep snow drift. Rev it up, rock it back, rev it up more, rock it back. You get the gist. Laying out vast schematics within your mind as to why things just won’t work the way you wish. Then avoiding the revision that points out the straightest path.

All the while, your heart retains an unfulfilled emptiness, your soul untested and a body stuck in an idle neutral.

Yet, if you overcome the urge to reinvent and rationalize, and to paraphrase, “do it”, then all heck breaks loose. The heart begins to engage and fill with a sense of joy brought on by the actions. Your soul begins to align and see an incumbent purpose in the undertaking. Your body generates an energy and momentum to carry moment and those to come. And your mind, quips, “why didn’t I think of this?”

When all four work in concert, they collaborate not just to maintain but to elevate their game. Rallying to overcome adversity and challenges that may attack a specific aspect of your being by acting as one. Smarter overcomes harder. Joy inundates sorrows. Purpose replaces purposeless. And a new found stamina energizes the entire enterprise.

Thinking about it does have its place. But that may only serve to restrict you to a highly confined area. Living it invites you to an ever sprawling world. Embracing all there is about you. Open to adventure. Learning. Growth. Connection. Purpose.

And life.

…as it is meant to be.

“The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real!”
― Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

Funny how thoughts initially shared seventy some years ago have a stinging revelance even today. Even more comical that I chose to employ this mode of sharing it with you all. Perhaps in the hope of attaining opinion and applause. But I digress…

Speaking as one who knows well of the cunning nature of social media, it is stunning that he phrased this the way he did so long ago. Perhaps back then, a similar quest for “perfection” was driven through the papers and radio.

A weird life it is.

Attempting to live always in another’s imagination. As if that were the only place one could become real.

Now I came to be roughly a decade after this was written. And to be honest, I do like to share my thoughts and myself via this mode of interaction. Perhaps I need to engage in some discernment regarding the imagination and becoming real aspects of his insights.

But then again, whether it be business or personal, an actual conversation is the best way to achieve and maintain that sense of reality. Even better? Grab a cup of Joe and sit face to face. Take a walk together. Sit in a park and talk. But there I go showing my age.

Don’t get me wrong, stimulating the imagination is a great thing. Potentially a truly genuine source of inspiration, aspiration even affirmation in some sense. Yet in some way, we need to close the gap, reduce the space and make us all less remote to one another.

That way we can be truly present.

Really there.

And totally real.

Not so much a weird life.

Just life as it is meant to be.

Your choice. 

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”      ― Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

Well said. 

In the grand scheme of life, things happen, and all we can do is our best during, throughout and thereafter.  Now that being said, we can elect to be defined by those events – or – we  can choose to define them. By standing up to the challenges, looking them in the eye and telling them without reservation;  “I got this”. 

Whomever I tend to,  many may have tended to reflect the same line of thought and being: that though things happen, you must rise up to meet them head on. They might get the best of you at first – a function of  surprise, fear and diffidence. 

And yet, you still retain the right to respond in your fashion, via choice. 

So, you can decide to be reduced.  

Or, not. 

Your choice. 

And love.

“We need to be angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation. Because only when we fully realize that the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow but also a cup of joy will we be able to drink it.”

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Being an angel has little to do with the supernatural or in this case, the divine. It is all about loving another to get them out, through and on to the life they deserve. Sure, in the moment it may feel like all there is, is to endure or withstand. And accept disappointment and defeat.

But in reality, when you are an angel to another you are bringing joy. To them, because they know they are loved. And to you, because you now know you can love in that manner.

So be that angel.

Give them and you the joys of strength.

Consolation.

And love.

Love.

My partner and I were discussing “investment” some time ago.

Not so much in the sense of IRA’s, mutual funds and the like. But more so, what we choose to expend on those that should mean the world to us.  Whether it be strangers, friends, coworkers, parents, grandparents, siblings, sons, daughters, grandkids, kids or spouses.

Now don’t read into the order presented prior as it is merely meant to set the stage. Because in our own way, we do invest and expend a great deal of personal capital – in all terms – on those around us each day, in all ways.  And hopefully, always.

Whether it be monetarily. Personally.  Physically.  Emotionally. Or, spiritually.

So being  a prudent investor in this market, there is never going to be a short game when it comes to those within the orbit of your life. It is, and will always be, the  long game. As investors on such a personal level, we may never witness, experience or realize the fruits of our endeavors.  We simply have to trust that what we expend in the now will profit those that receive it in their time.

That is all that matters.

So just trust in your investment.  Believe in the dividends that they will reap for others.  And let love guide your giving in all ways.

Always.