…while holding a larger vision.

You are working towards a goal that means a lot to you. Perhaps you have been spinning wheels over whether to get started for quite some time. That little nay sayer all dressed in red and sitting on your shoulder is yelling into your ear about how you have no hope of accomplishing what you want to do. How you just don't have the skills, the ability, the know how, the commitment, and anyway when was the last time that you ever completed something meaningful? And of course there is the cash question. What money you do have needs to support your current lifestyle. Where is the finance going to come from to complete this project?

But there is no way of getting away from those deep desires to work on this dream. It is eating away at you, burning in your heart and keeping you awake at night as ideas keep popping into your head. So with all of these negative comments eating away at your mind, where do you start?

To borrow from a famous song, let's start at the very beginning. It really is a very good place to start. There might be the excitement of the bigger picture, but for that to manifest the initial steps need to be taken, however mundane they might feel in the light of the compelling bigger picture. Until you get those first things in order, which might be the simple habit of getting up earlier, the later steps won't happen. Don't worry about the "ifs" and "buts" that you see looming down the line. There will be plenty of time to address them when you are in the position to do so.

A house won't stand without the foundations laid, even if you are more excited about working on that beautifully designed fire place. So start with those baby steps, complete them, and then see what the next course of action is.

When I was traveling in the late 80's, early 90's it wasn't unusual to be out of contact with 'home' for weeks, perhaps months at a time. The internet did not exist, telephone calls were at best expensive and at least from Asia had to be booked. All of this left the old method of hand written letters being the only way to keep in touch. While writing to family and friends I would let them know of the next major city that I planned to be in, and ask them to write to me ℅ Poste Restante. On arriving in said city, I would track down the central post office and ask for the Poste Restante. This was normally a collection of letter labelled pigeon holes somewhere in the back of the post office. It was normally a good idea to look for mail in the boxes labelled with the first letter of your first and last name. I'd call back at the post office a few times while I was in town. Before leaving town I would decide on my next major destination a month or so down the road, you had to allow time for letters to travel between where you were and home, and send on replies with the new postal address.

Picking up a letter was always a joy and would open a window onto the world that you had left behind to embark on your adventures.

Oh how things are so much more different now. You are never far from anyone. We are plugged into a world of twenty four hour news, internet and easy phone access. The world has become smaller and at the same time noisier. A generation of people have never known any different. There are of course benefits to these changes, but the urge to check, to plug in scratches away at our minds. The cell phone checked while waiting in line, while waiting for a friend, while sheltering from the rain, while waiting for an appointment….even while having dinner with friends!

The downside of all of this checking is a mind that can't rest. A mind that looses the ability to be with what is, whether "what is" is good or bad. Instead we escape. With a quieter mind we gain the power to look, to see, to listen more deeply. We see the world for what it is, its richness and at time the mess that is out there - but we don't run away.

In a world of so much noise both in volume and quantity, I don't think that we realize what we are loosing by not turning the sound off. When the option to create distraction is not there, you are forced to look somewhere else and quite often that is inside ourselves. That itch for an online fix can be a wish to run away from ourselves. There is a power in silence. There is a power in just being with what is. The need to "check" is a habit and like all habits that are learnt, it can be unlearnt. Look for those opportunities to unplug.

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Until the next one, be well.
David.