The Journey: 2011

How many times have we heard, ‘It’s the journey, not the destination that counts’?
How can that be? Surely in the achievement of the goal is where our happiness dwells.
We are, for the most part, a goal driven society.
It is not hard to understand how we have become so destination obsessed.
Goals draw us toward accomplishment and that is a good thing. Much is produced through goal setting.
However we begin to believe that once we drive this, wear that, live in this neighborhood or have $X in the bank that our lives will be complete.
But is that where the real joy is waiting?

I have long tried to comprehend what was meant by the ‘journey’ statement.
I may have, finally, gotten a partial grasp.
I watched a movie called Peaceful Warrior. ( I highly recommend it)
In it a young man, Dan, is taken on a hike up into the hills.
His mentor, Socrates, has promised him ‘the secret of life’ once they arrive at their destination.
For hours they hike and climb, climb and hike all the while conversing, breathing, watching, pushing to the summit.
Laughter, anticipation, joy, weariness, and wonder, absorb the lad as they persist.
Abruptly, Socrates stops and says: “Here it is”, pointing to an ordinary rock at the young man’s feet.
“That’s it? I came all this way for a rock!?”
Bewildered, almost angry Dan questions the significance of the rock.
He learns that the rock, the destination, is of little importance.
“Oh, I never know what I’ll find on these trips.” Socrates interrupts.
”But for hours you have been walking, laughing, guessing and enjoying yourself as we journeyed,
only to be disappointed with what you found, once you ‘arrived.’”

Once we have arrived we may experience less satisfaction than we had imagined.
At times the goal itself holds little contentment, minor reward.
If we take time to reflect on the journey we find that, that is where the real joy resides.
That is where our lives are really spent, in pursuit.
Dan learned that; 'there are no ordinary moments, there is never nothing going on.'
Now, right now, is all we really have, it is a gift; It is called 'the present'.
The most significant purpose of a goal is not what we achieve, rather who we become.
Our goals help us to grow. Choose them with care.
Of course we are pleased with our accomplishments.
Yet that pleasure can be fleeting. The new-ness of 'things' quickly fades.
Our human need is to grow, develop, and become our best and then to use that growth to enrich the lives others.
Whom will you help? What charity do you want to support, what cause to champion?
Perhaps, there is your joy, your continual, growing, living, self-perpetuating delight! Service to others.
We are either growing or dying. We are designed to press forward, to become all we can become.
There is more to do. We can accomplish more, much more. There is more to give, to share. But you can't give what you don't have or share what you don't possess. Through consistent growth we can always become more, so that we may do more.
Somewhere deep inside we recognize this and that yearning, that discontent is our hearts way of saying,
‘Come on; let’s really pour it on this time.’
Those hedonists' in our society who have found fame, only to be lost in drug use, violence and things which sell the
tabloids…..they each were certain that the money, the cars, the jewelry, the celebrity, the destination was where they would find bliss.
They are baffled when they arrive to find emptiness once again and then attempt to fill the void in unhealthy ways. Sadly this path leads to an emotional black hole..
Perhaps this emptiness, this discontent, if understood, could lead to even greater achievements. We each have in us what it takes to be great in our own unique way. Our choices determine which path our Journey will follow.
So, I think I may get it, at least in part.
If we have reached a point, attained a goal, if we have arrived and it’s not as sweet as we had dreamed, maybe, just maybe your heart is saying…
”Come onnnn! You’ve got more than that. That was good, but really….”
If we desire something in this life that we have never had, we are going to have to do something we have never done.
Is it time to pursue some goals that really stretch?
Is a new adventure in your 'present'?
Is someone searching for your inspiration?
In what ways can you enjoy your journey, each day?
How will you share your 'present'?
What’s your heart saying to you?
Mine is saying:
"Keep going. Sure it's hard, I know you want to quit, but you are more than that. You don't yet see all that I have planned for us. Press on. I'll be with you all the way."
I wish, for each of you, a happy, healthy, new year of personal achievement;
A year of contribution of the Gift of You to all your fellow journeymen.

ps: 'Self sacrifice is not noble!'
Be on the watch for:
"Follow Your Heart"
Are you confused? Do you think I may be?  ;-)

What Can You Do Really Fast?

Recently there was a contest online. You were to answer this question:
What can you do really fast?
Here is my non-winning entry.

What can I do really fast is an interesting question and rather easy to answer when you are young. Back in ‘the day’ I could sprint with the best. When working as a rodeo clown & bullfighter being fast and light on your feet was more than just a handy skill. It could be lifesaving. But what about when the speed of youth has faded, what is your claim then?
As a natural progression and with very little special training I have become one of the worlds quickest at (drum roll please) ‘forgetting what I was doing’. (Cymbal crash) Please hold your applause until the end. Yes, it appears that my great talent lay dormant for years only to recently be discovered along with the gray hair that had been hiding, just beneath my scalp. Uses for my new found endowment are currently being researched. Thus far little value has been found in the questions at the bottom of the stairs, ‘Did I just come down or was I going up?’, as with the refrigerator query, ‘Putting something in or taking it out?’ My investigation for methods to successfully apply my new found skill will continue. But please excuse me, I must stop for now. I have to write an article about: What I can do really fast.
Where did I put my pen….?

Quotes: Imagination and Thinking

“Everything you can imagine is real.” ~Pablo Picasso

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” ~Albert Einstein

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!” ~Dr. Seuss

The Sky's the Limit

When I used to think of discipline, it brought up feelings of dread, of punishment. I think most will agree those are also their first thoughts. If we look a little deeper into the definitions in Webster’s we find:
Discipline: self-command, self-control, self-discipline, self-government, self-mastery, self-restraint, willpower.
Notice how many times ‘self’ is used? So discipline then is something that we can have control over, and when we have control over something, that is a very good thing, if we make the very best use of that control.

Discipline, I have come to believe is the master key to what we wish to gain, become and accomplish with our lives.
So what can we do, be, have? Are there limits?

It was a mostly clear day, just a few scattered clouds in the mid-west sky. Chris had never been to this community before. His job had brought him here, and he had to work on Saturday! As he peered out of his office window he noticed a railroad yard. Chris had always loved trains. Perhaps tomorrow before work, (yes, he had to work on Sunday too) he could drive down and check out the rail yards.
And that is where I met Chris.
It turned out this young man was the embodiment of self discipline.

Now here is a guy hundreds of miles from home, in a place he would never have been, had his work not taken him there, and he was working weekends. So how do I figure him to be one of the most disciplined people I may ever meet?
You see when Chris caught sight of our rail yard that Saturday afternoon he was mere feet from his co-workers, but four hundred feet above the city, traveling about 300 miles an hour in his F/A 18 Hornet. Just moments before they had been pulling a little over 7 G’s as they performed as a part of the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, The Blue Angels!
We spent almost an hour together, talking railroad and (whenever I could get him to stop talking about trains) flying.
What type of self-discipline do you suppose it takes to become one of the nation’s élite pilots?
Were there days when he wanted to quit, times that he was afraid, that it all seemed just too hard?
My guess is yes. But Chris persevered, he did not quit and his self-mastery has taken him to places he would never have gone to meet people (me) he would never have met. The discipline he has employed over the years now pays him dividends beyond what he could have imagined and memories to last, a lifetime. And most important of all is, who he has become, because of all he was willing to do.
So are the struggles worth the effort?
I only spent an hour with Chris, but I’m certain he would smile and say,
‘Yes sir. The sky’s the limit.’



Be safe, Major Collins.
And thank you for your service.


http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/

Our Deepest Fear

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~ Marianne Williamson
The above is a quote by Marianne Williamson from a movie called 'Akeelah and the Bee'.

"And as we let our own light shine.....as we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others."

Each of us possess unique talents and abilities, solitary expressions of our individual life experience and personality from which others may draw to live fuller, richer lives. Your gift is yours alone to give. No other human has what you have to share.

"Your playing small does not serve the world..."

We are each meant to light an others way...
Whose life will change because of your influence, whom may you liberate with your courage?
Be bold, shine on.

mj