Looking at the Sky

I don’t live near the ocean, nor does my backyard have a view of the mountains. At night, I can’t see the Northern Lights. However, despite living in one of the most scenic countries in the world and having a place that looks like any other, I have access to a view shared by everyone.

How often do we stop, even for a moment, to look up?

In our daily routines and morning rush, do we ever stop just to admire the great expanse overhead?

To feel like something bigger than ourselves?

To contemplate the gift of living on a beautiful blue dot in the vast cosmos?

To get lost in our thoughts while staring at the sky can give us a moment of freedom. It’s always there—we just have to look.

What is the Good Life?

No big deal to answer this question. It’s only something we’ve been arguing about for thousands of years without any definite answer.

The problem with the question is the circumstance one finds themselves in. The Greeks were on the forefront of this question and had some great answers… if you overlook that their economy depended on
slavery. Which is probably what attracted so many people to Christianity; a very rigid and moral structure, but was open to all.

However, the precepts of that good life were dependent on a hope that Jesus would be returning soon. Within decades, not millennia.

Advertizing over the last hundred years suggested the good life can be commodified and bought. This led us all to chase a life we could never have, which sparked a backlash of people trying to find a new way.

Unfortunately, most get lost.

So how do we answer this question?

On an individual level, this is tough to answer because we’re currently facing some of the greatest problems we’ve ever had, with the issues being globally connected. The affects of the good life no longer stop at your own backyard, community or country.

In other words, this is no longer an individual question, but as individuals, we have the greatest influence on it.

That is, if we’re willing to work together.

And we actually know what we want.

The Last Inch

Who we are is marked by so many external factors, that it can be difficult to determine what is really us. Every part of ourselves is subjected to societal expectations—every part but the last inch.

The last inch is that extra effort we put in when we feel we have nothing left.

The last inch is the dignity we keep when everything has been taken from us.

The last inch is who we are.

When there’s nothing left to give, nowhere to turn, and no way out, this last inch is the only place we go. And the tragedy is many of us go through our entire lives without knowing it exists…

and without ever knowing who we really are or what we’re really capable of.

Playing the Long Game

Making decisions now for 10 or more years down the road is a tough pill to swallow, or follow through on. For one, progress will be slightly incremental and for the most part, invisible.

And results… well… don’t expect any soon.

Yet, it’s the long game that garners the exponential results. Amazon, for instance, ran at a loss for over a decade with the promise of a long-term gain. Try imagining life without them now.

Then consider the societal decisions (or lack thereof) made decades ago that we are feeling the full ramifications of today. To roll back the decisions of long-term thinking is incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

So, why such few long range thinkers?

I would guess it has to do with the discipline and focus required. You have to be willing to ignore a lot, commit to the goal while expecting nothing and endure a lot of hardships along the way.

It’s not very compelling.
Nor does it make for a good story.

But, the best and biggest changes happen with the long game. And right now, we could use a lot more people committed to that it because centuries of short term thinking have failed us.

The Mind is a Cluttered Demon

It is filled to the brim with:

news,
reminders,
stories,
information,
projects
and sometimes a kernel of wisdom.

It is exhausting, barely understood and vital to our survival.

And now, it is being bombarded more than any other time in human history. To use our minds to their potential requires a double-edged sword of filling and focusing it.

The issue I run into is working through the mess.
Seeing through the clutter.

Stepping over random bits of information that sounded “cool” or may be useful one day. Writing things down certainly helps, but only if I remember to write down things as I remember them.

How do we guard ourselves against further clutter?

By recognizing the common trick of any demon:

being tempted away from what’s important.

When the Spirit Compels

The first week of school is a whirlwind of activity and adjustment, getting used to a new routine while everything is upended. Yet, this year felt remarkably more calm.

A sign of things to come?

One can hope.

Well anxiousness to pick up a pen and write pulsated daily, my mind and spirit were focussed elsewhere. Rather than force the issue (which is something I’ve done), I let it be.

There is a time to sit and listen to the self, figuring out what it needs. Not just another bag of Doritos and Crystal Pepsi to accompany a movie in the buffer, but an actual direction of what our spirit is calling us to do.

In this case, I am feeling tugged towards a new mission, or perhaps and ignored one from years past. Not too sure what it is yet, but I do know when the spirit compels, it’s best to listen.

Otherwise, life will always feel unsettled.

You’re Going to Miss This

I’ve already blocked out the troublesome parts of the first few years of my kids lives:

the lack of sleep, incessant wailing, teething, perpetual exhaustion, etc.

It was hard to appreciate the moments as they were happening, and even more difficult not to throw something at people who told me how much they missed those infant years. “Oh yeah? You miss it? Take mine and enjoy!”

Alas, those years are done and all that’s left are rose-coloured glasses.

As the first day of school rolls around, I see the post of parents dropping their kids off at post-secondary schools… some of whom I taught several years ago. How fast did that happen?

Fun note: I can’t watch the movie, “Father of the Bride.”

Back in my early twenties, despite not being (or wanting to be) in a relationship, or even the consideration of kids, I watched it and cried at the end. “I get what you’re feeling! I feel this!”

As a parent, I know I’ll be inconsolable if I watch it again.

Right now, I’m on the couch with my kids beside me while writing this in my writers pad. I’m going to put this pencil down now because I don’t want to miss this.

How Little We Know

One of the great benefits of age is recognizing how little you know about anything. And since my brain is wired for massive dopamine hits over learning something new, I take solace in knowing I will always be learning until my last days here.

It also takes the pressure off to be certain about anything…

except pineapple on pizza—that’s garbage.

In the meantime, we do the best we can and build one more plank of knowledge into the ocean of infinity. And, of course, most important:

we stay humble, for most of us are tomorrow’s fools.

Everything Is Made of Water

Study philosophy and you will undoubtedly come across Thales of Miletus, who is credited as the first philosopher in Greek tradition. He is famous for suggesting that everything is made of water (a school of thought known as Monism).

Others would come along and suggest the world is made of fire, air, earth or a combination of all four. Keep going through history and you still have that tradition of thinking: atoms, string theory, etc.

While scientists continue to probe further into the smallest pieces that construct our world, I continue to be plagued by another question:

What holds the universe together?

Is it God?
Weak and strong forces?
Love?

These suggestions are just as viable as everything being made of water, even if they don’t completely hold any ground.

After all, it continues a tradition of thinking that there’s something out there that unites us all, instead of breaking us apart.