The Art of Becoming

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Have you ever noticed that some things just happen while others take their sweet old time before they gestate completely? The speed of completion is often correlated to the speed of the decision to make it happen. Correction, not “often”, but rather always correlated to how fast we actually act on something. The sooner we decide, the sooner that decision can take shape.

What keeps us from living in a “snap of our fingers” and stuff just happens world is that we can’t snap until we feel sure. Thinking things through is exclusively a human trait. The rest of the species on the planet just “do” what seems natural. And as a reminder, when we all were children we had this very same innate quality built into our psyche. We just showed up for life and life just happened. The days were filled with discovery, wonder, joy and some occasional pain but none of these feelings ever lasted that long because the next thing to happen took its place. We would spend the days living every moment with vigor until we ran out gas and fell into one of those deep and replenishing sleeps that seems all too rare now as adults.

As adults it’s not that simple to just “be.” We have to be doing something or be going somewhere or be thinking about what the next thing to be will be. The whole process has become time consuming and fraught with way too many options than ever ever before. Decisions now take more time and have to yield positive return, hence we fret and analyze and kick the can down the road until we’re absolutely okay with making the right judgment call. While all of this is taking place, the world at large is charging ahead – and we all struggle to keep up if we can.

Becoming, the act of transformation, is a form of creation. We actually create or recreate ourselves as we choose and with total control of the outcome. The real art of becoming what we choose to become has less to do with our actual goal and everything to do with our belief that we can get there. Confidence, self-assuredness, faith, call it what you will, is what really moves those mountains, and can move obstacles from our path and rally the support of legions of followers and believers. Becoming is a gift that we get to use over and over again because we all are endowed with the ability to create; we were created in the image and likeness of the Creator; It’s in our DNA. Here are a couple of thoughts on tapping into our true potential:

  1. Visualize your dream without the thought process of how to get there. Don’t worry about how, just concentrate about what you seek and the “hows” will take care of themselves.
  2. Remember that you are worthy of whatever dream you create.
  3. Sometimes you might want to put #2 ahead of #1.

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help from others. Your asking may fuel and be part of what another wishes to become.

The Final Thought: The way the world moves is a reflection on how we all move and think. Every thought from every person impacts what is and becomes part of the whole

 

Creating Wisdom

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 Creating Wisdom

A Sixty-Word Short Story:

No one could tell Jonathan anything. He knew it all and let you know it when he was in your presence. He was always the smartest person in the room; even if we knew he wasn’t, he acted like he was. He was the boss, and he had all of the answers, except when it came to his own feelings.

And more…

 Knowledge has quite a bandwidth. There is so much that we can know and categorize and memorize and build upon because, as we learn, we add to our perspective. We merge the new facts with the old and we temper the process with experience and sometimes wisdom. The net result is intellectual growth, and it’s often translated into success based on the formula that the more we know, the more we can achieve.

Emotional growth however is not so simple. Emotions are not easily separated and distinct. Anger, fear, love, greed etc.- all of the primary emotional possibilities – exist in partnership with and are intermingled with other emotions as well as facts.  Anger has a reason it appears and so does love, fear and the rest. And unlike intellectual growth, which allows us to build on what we learn, emotional growth can be elusive, and hence there are folks like Jonathan that know it all but somehow don’t “get it.”

We’re all on a learning curve to somehow create balance between the “what’s” that we learn” and the “how” it makes us feel when we do. A combination of both helps us translate life’s many challenges so we can understand “why.” Knowing why we are who we are, and do what we do, gives us the emotional leverage we need to truly succeed. Where the smarts meets the heart. That’s where true wisdom forms. And from there the possibilities are endless.

The Final Thought: When we meld the facts of our lives with our feelings about those facts we can emerge into a new realm, called wisdom.

* The Premise (Opening short story): Always 60 words. No more. No Less. For more stories like this and information about my books, please visit www.szenzone.com

 

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It’s Up to Us

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It’s Up to Us

A Sixty-Word Short Story: *

The preschoolers sat in a circle with the teacher, and she opened a book and began to read. It was a story of a princess who loved beautiful things, especially clothes. The guys lost interest in chapter one and became fidgety. A few times the teacher had to stop and ask the boys to be quiet and listen. They didn’t.

And more…

Even at a very young age, the differences between boys and girls are obvious. And as they grow the differences become even more pronounced. It’s as if they come from different planets. That would explain a lot.

So how do the genders figure out how to communicate and relate? Is it an intellectual challenge, a social mindset, or an emotional connection that allows the sexes to get on the same page and ultimately bond? I don’t think there is a stock answer to this, and I’ve witnessed folks that have been together for expanses of time often express their devotion to each other as a combination of friendship, trust and non-judgment. It’s a matter of degrees it seems, and of course everybody is different.

The point is that we all have multiple ways to relate and share, and the only restriction is our own reluctance to try. When we try, we discover new pathways into another’s soul. We find words come easy when we don’t judge and we’re not judged. Which gets to the singular focal point. We decide. We can try. We can resist. We can share or not. It’s up to us. It’s always up to us.

The Final Thought: “You made me do it!” This is an impossible scenario no matter what we were made to do. Fact is we only do what we want and if we don’t it’s mostly on us.

* The Premise (Opening short story): Always 60 words. No more. No Less. For more stories like this and information about my books, please visit www.szenzone.com