TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
Friday, April 13, 2012 § Leave a comment
“You are special” is a mantra peddled in classrooms, children’s books, self-help-books and on facebook. It leaves room for interpretation, but mostly it comes wrapped in ideas of destiny, plans the universe has for you and great gifts and talents bestowed unto you.
Obviously, none of that is true. The universe doesn’t give a single fuck about you. You might get hit by a bus tomorrow, get terminally ill, your whole country might be buried by a tsunami or a nuclear disaster wipes us all out.
The mantra is true only in so far as you can be special. The universe hasn’t chosen you, but you have choices! You can develop new ideas, learn new things, apply yourself in unique ways, and create a new path.
Mantras that place the onus away from you to some other power are a cop-out. That’s what makes them so appealing. Being chosen takes no courage, making choices does.
If you want to be special, don’t wait for the universe to give you a personal call: courageously go where no man has gone before you.
FROM FEAR TO LOVE
Monday, April 2, 2012 § Leave a comment
Step 1
The short version
What is, is.
Gesundheit! What?
The long version
Life is one of the harshest: we age, we die, we lose our looks, we get sick, we could lose our jobs and wealth at any moment, we could lose our partners, friends, families, the earth could shake, the bombs could drop,…we are completely out of control of almost everything around us.
All the circumstances that we might use to describe ourselves could disappear from one second to the next and who are we then? Sometimes people’s story of their identity gets shattered and they are so distraught by it that they consider suicide.
But then,…
Life is one of the lightest: we are free to be any which way we want, we can break expectations from dusk til dawn, we can reinvent ourselves in any moment of our lives, complete and utter failure changes nothing really important. Aging, decay and death come and there is no benefit in worrying about it, just the opposite. We can define ourselves independent of the circumstances that we partake in; we can define ourselves by how we respond to our circumstances.
To hold up pretensions is exhausting of energy and draining of self-respect. We are anxious to confront reality and scared to be found out. To give up pretensions frees us up for recognizing opportunity, for growth, for change. This is obviously true for us individually, as well as for groups, businesses and nations.
Pretense has temptations, but in every moment we can choose to give into it, or to be real with ourselves and others.
THANK YOU FOR NOT SUFFERING
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 § Leave a comment
Key life objective: be free of suffering.
Options:
What you control: love it or change it.
What you influence: love it, change it or leave it.
What is as it is: love it or be indifferent about it.
It’s worthwhile to always keep in mind that you have these options. When you slide into a self-pitying mode or general misery, give yourself a kick, sit up straight, say “no suffering” to yourself and take initiative.
Business Buddhism 