“He who rules his spirit has won a greater victory than the taking of a city.”
— Jesus
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I’m sitting here looking out my window. I’m watching my son Zach as he naps, and writing to you! Who said multi-tasking isn’t possible? Ha! Zach’s got his total shut-down asleep face on, looks like nothing will wake him for a few hours. Fingers crossed.
Everything is so green – the combination of sun and rain here makes everything … lush. An excellent word. I’m praying for the rain to keep coming. You see, if it rains a little more, the rivers might just come up enough that I can get in my kayak and have a little blast. Finally. It’s been too long!
It’s the simple things, isn’t it?
A cup of coffee, a smile, some sun, some rain, a bird song, exercise, appreciation and gratitude.
Yet, it’s the big things too.
I love the big things … as in the big and deep questions, such as getting really clear on what a successful life actually is. You know … the questions we never give enough time to.
For me, and it’s always been this way for as long as I remember, success is wrapped up around some ageless heroic themes:
Purpose, meaning, nobility of character, alignment, truth, living the life I was born to live.
In fact, for a long time, I was driven by a concern of failure – and that was somehow messing up and not living this life I was born to live.
It’s never been so much about material success – although I’m not throwing that away – but around spiritual completeness first, as a foundation for all material pursuits.
Everything is better without the donut life, i.e. hollow in the middle. (Apologies for the shameless plug, but have a look at my new book for a deep dive into balancing more and enough).
It’s definitely less crushing all opposition, and more “The Invitation”. [https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9557-it-doesn-t-interest-me-what-you-do-for-a-living#]
But as always, regardless of what the author of “The Invitation” says, what’s truly important is what makes a heroic life for YOU.
Perhaps you can help me here, I’m personally thinking of the following –
– The dedication to being the best version of yourself
– The devotion of your life to something bigger than you (like Joseph Campbell said)
– The commitment to building and not destroying
– Kind and yet courageous, even being prepared to have the courage to be disliked
– Completely and unconditionally loving and accepting, yet holding powerfully high standards
– The end of compromise
– Doing what needs to be done
– Absolute appreciation and gratitude for life, exactly as you find it
– Choosing to make every single moment more than ordinary
– Of being so absorbed in life itself, your aliveness speaks to everyone
– To make every single moment complete
– To meet the need of the moment, perfectly
– To not give a moment to regret, doubt, or fear
– To be filled with presence
– To live the life you were born to live
Ha! A heroic life doesn’t comfortably fit into a snappy sentence, does it?
Anything to add/delete?
I know the more I can fill up with presence and being, the more life seems to be lived extremely well. I still have choices to make, but I seem to be able to tap into a deeper source of knowing than I used to, when I tried to do life without presence and being.
I like that.
We do one thing, we make one choice … to fill up with the presence of Now … and that acts as our hero GPS. It directs and guides.
So of our list, I’d prioritise:
– To be filled with presence
But also:
– Devoting of life to something bigger than you
– Completely and unconditionally loving and accepting, yet holding powerfully high standards
I think they’re important.
I’m going to keep spending time with this. How about you?
I still don’t want to live life by accident, and while I don’t know the whole picture, at least I feel like I know enough to make the most of this moment.
That’s me. As always, I hope this has been a cause for a pause. Let me know how I can help.
Go well!
Arjuna