Plans not possibilities
I’m not sure about you, but “planning” far into the future has never worked well for me. I tend to take things — moment to moment, one step at a time…
…and while this p*sses many people off who try and ‘make plans’ with me that only get an answer at the very last minute, it clears a lot of the mental burden of having anything blocking my schedule that doesn’t need to be there.
Law 20: Do Not Commit to Anyone
“It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others—playing people against one another, making them pursue you.”
So, as any other day I woke up today, a clear agenda. Ideas brewing but not quite brewed just yet, a set of reading materials, family pass-times.
A very calm and relaxed life, versus what you would have seen last year with the constant over-stimulation and “attack” at life. I know society has this seething obsession with more speed, but I promise you that if you try the opposite if only for a moment…
Take over ‘automatic’ processes and let them be manual: walks, washing dishes, driving, blinking even
develop a gentle but firm focus of concentration on ONE thing for as long as possible→ It’s relaxed but it’s solid
Write slower on paper like you have all the time in the world and nowhere else to go
Observe your thoughts and change ‘perspective’ → go to higher realms, or see your life through the lens of “God” (this is very much an imagination exercise, but see what happens, what you feel)
All these come down to a cardinal sin of life that we all do, some more than others…
We are often so caught up in the past, the future, our plans, our ideas, our minds that we never truly “see” the present where everything is all at once.
I didn’t think I’d write some sappy soap opera on “presence” or “awareness” but here I am explaining my life philosophy of keeping the ‘burden’ of commitment to a minimal.
I’m not saying that this is a right or wrong way, but I am saying that this is my way: to keep life highly spontaneous, to let the world surprise me with chance encounters, to keep openness for new stuff to come if it pleases, to be completely open to the world and all it’s possibilities.
I don’t have the audacity to say I can have an iron grip on life, or know where my life is heading, but I like to think that I (and you) are divinely protected by a gentle guidance that makes sure we don’t stray too far.
The problem is when a discrepancy happens where what you want isn’t truly what YOU want. Where your mind is running some rogue programs that you did not plant there — the conventional paths to life, doing actions to plan for the future instead of embracing the joy of the presence *like getting married fast due to aging embryos so that you can have kids* — rash decisions based on future speculation has never helped anyone in a long enough timeline.
And, I’m not sure about you but it seems all our problems are always inward— how we feel, our perception, what we must do… which ironically tend to disappear with a little outward perspective.
Here I am, writing on a beanbag, noise-cancelling headphones, binaural beats — and the unknown has greeted me… the sound of birds seep through my ears. And my attention drifts to the skies. The song of birds. The dancing leaves on the high branches of trees from my window view. And I can’t help but feel a sense of wonder, awe, amazement at the beauty surrounding me. The possibilities undiscovered.
The unknown excites me. It’s what I know that’s scary. The possibility of having total control of my life is the same reason people join cults — because we are all struggling for meaning at some time or another, and that is when you are vulnerable, that is when the pressure hurts, when identity is muddy and the world is more than happy to swoop in and tell you what you want:
Get rich get a lambo
Alphabet, vegan, pro-ab*rtion, supporting every war, every undocumented criminal
You can see clearly from my lengthy contrast which side I “lean” more towards, but my point is, both are equally brainwashed and both are equally living a life not true to oneself.
And that is why this newsletter will always be a sort of “indie” publication — because I’m the only one in the entire internet that doesn’t have answers, but only questions that bring you closer to where you live a life of true fulfillment and alignment no matter what that looks like for you.
Once again, I am distracted and amazed by the wind playing with the leaves on this summer day….
and to keep this short — what if you took today to greet the world with possibilities not plans?
Let me know how it goes with a reply.
_Shakoor