 Amidst all of this misovercommunication * Can you believe that four months of this year are already behind us? In exactly 258 days, we will once again celebrate the ending of an era, and the turning of a page. In 6,192 hours, we will reflect back on 2024 and all of its unique challenges. For many of us, by the end of the year, we will have dealt with the entire spectrum of emotions... from joy to sorrow. As the great poet Kahlil Gibran said "on Joy & Sorrow..." When you are joyous, look deep into your heart, and you shall find... it is only that which has given you sorrow... that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow." And others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater." But I say unto you, "They are inseparable." Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. As of the date and time of this post (Thursday, April 18th, 2024), in approximately 350,000 minutes, you, the rest of the world, and I will cross an imaginary threshold into another time, literally and figuratively. In about 21,000,000 seconds, our time-obsessed culture will mark the date and time with yet another fireworks celebration. Indeed, on December 31, 2024, we will likely look back as if 2024 was one of the worst years in recorded history. And we will probably act as if the year 2025 is ushering in much greater joy and far less sorrow than the year 2024. Today’s e-note is simple and straightforward. Yet, like yesterday's post, it requires a leap of faith. If you (and the rest of the world) can act as if seconds, minutes, and hours are real, you can probably act as if anything is real. In other words: in reality, there is no such thing as a second, minute, or hour. These are mere descriptors of a concept we have all agreed to refer to as "time". Truthfully, there is only one real time: now. Yet, we have all come to agree that microseconds, milliseconds, seconds, minutes, and hours unequivocally rule our days, months, years... and lives. Actually… when it comes to running your life, your specific plan should rule the day. Your specific plan is derived from your specific goals. And your specific goals are derived from your specific dreams. Accordingly, every single day of your life should encompass at least one specific action that completes a specific part of your specific plan to reach your specific goals as you strive toward your specific dreams. That's quite a bit of specificity! And, interestingly enough, specificity is the answer to the hundred-thousand-dollar question of HOW? Exactly HOW do we successfully insert a goal-oriented action plan into our daily lives? Answer: Create your very own signposts for the road ahead.  If you were a driver in the picture accompanying this post, you would subconsciously and consciously note at least 4 specific things:
If you were driving along the streets in that picture, the signs would leave no doubt about what you could and could not do. You MUST stop. You can ONLY go one way. And, if the journey gets too dark, the path will be awash with The Light from Above (but only when necessary)… all specifically for you, the driver of your own specific vehicle. Likewise, in the very real lives that you and I lead, we are the architects and engineers. We are the dream, the dreamer, the dream-catcher, the visionary, and (if all goes well) we (our future selves), will one day become the manifestation of the vision. Accordingly, as architects and engineers of our very own lives, it is up to us to create our own signposts (goals). It is up to us to place periodic signs that tell us EXACTLY what to do. And, yes, it is up to you to live your life AS IF a pot of gold is awaiting your presence if and when you establish and achieve your straightforward, unambiguous goals. And if you really want some added insight, here’s some additional awareness for you:
And, if you remember nothing else from the previous 37 combination of Two Little Words, please remember this one, wonderfully wonderful fact: Going forward, since you absolutely cannot change the past, you might as well act as if you have planned your past exactly the way everything has already happened. Why would you do this? Given all of the carnage that may have happened in your respective path's past, why is this (essentially pretending that all of your past life is and was a part of your initial plan) a good idea? Because, in the final analysis, change, itself, is neither good nor bad… it’s all about your feelings, and how YOU feel about what has already happened. And the Truth is, since we can’t change the past, we might as well look back on life's history book AS IF we wanted things to happen that way all along. Now… to be sure, some massively bad things have occurred to you, he, she, and me over the past 10, 15, 20 years and the lifetimes that preceded us. Actually, Truthfully, massively bad things happen to everyone. So where does that leave our self-pity, shame, and self-doubt? Of these things (self-pity, shame, and self-doubt), we are quite mindful. In fact, each of these three things is a mere creation of the mind. And if we are truly mindful of those things, then, by definition, our mind is full of those things. Again, truthfully... A mind is a terrible thing to waste... ...on wishful thinking about the past. But how can we best navigate past our past when the present presents us with challenges of which nightmares and horror movies are made? How? Though this may appear somewhat callous and incredibly dismissive, a good way to start is to act AS IF everything that happened is a part of the plan – your plan. How? Why? As I referenced in yesterday's post (re-MIND Yourself)... We need to get better at purposefully removing certain things from our minds… and then replacing those things with something entirely different. As optimistically realistic people... Let's release the detrimental things in our minds... …and then install something totally and positively different. As we begin to focus on our thoughts, thanks, and those things thereafter, let's at least try to re-MIND our mind (our respective ways of thinking) into something, somehow, and some way in which we have never previously thought possible. Together, as optimistically realistic neighbors in this worldwide community of souls, let's serve each other as one another's personal re-MIND-er. Think about it: There is only one way for us to go… and that is to move forward in time. And, whatever the potentially horrific nature of the current state of affairs, we have to start somewhere. If the question is "Where do we start?" The answer has to be "With the right mindset." Accordingly, tonight, please invest time and thought-space jotting down those things that you need and want to accomplish most. Remember how crazy things were during the pandemic? For all of us, the widespread inability to obtain some form of assurance regarding the most basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter took on a level of importance not seen since the time of America's Great Depression. Let me re-state the first part of the previous sentence: For all of us. Indeed, various industries, cities, states, and nations were affected differently, depending upon a multitude of factors (social, economic, political, etc). Irrespective of our respective political, cultural, or industrial affiliation, we all knew that industries, cities, states, and nations are actually collections of people - real humans, grouped together into a particular characteristic or popular description. Accordingly, now that we have made it through such a challenging time, I ask that we all do what we can for ourselves and (especially) for each other. So... Start your New Month's resolution today, April 18th, 2024 (or whenever you are reading this). In exactly 258 days from the date of this post, you can tell yourself and, if you'd like, you can also tell everyone you know… "I didn’t wait for some made-up thing called a year; I made a resolution to help change the world by ________ " (fill in the blank with your resolution on what you are doing to help yourself and others move forward.) Aloha,   Your mission for today:
1. Let go of the past... all of it. 2. Write out FOUR "New-Month Resolutions" (those "resolutions" are not just for the New Year!). 3. Thoughtfully write down the 10 most pressing things affecting your life right now. 4. Complete a list of 20 items for which you are thankful. 5. Meditate on how you and others can best resolve at least 3 of the items listed in (#3) above. Oh - and act AS IF all of this was planned from the beginning. Forgive. Focus. Find. Accept. Adapt. Achieve. ® P.S. - Three side notes:
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