I hope that you had a great weekend.
I love talking to students... I really do.
I believe the seeds we plant in young adults can alter life trajectories in a very special way.
It fills me with hope.
I had a small group for my last session on Saturday. At one point, one of the young men, going to University of Maryland to study engineering asked me...
"How do you know...
How do you know when you have found that ONE thing...
YOUR thing... that you are ready to do for the rest of your life?"
First, I started with my favorite quote from Julio Olalla... "Wisdom is a love affair with questions. Knowledge is a love affair with answers. The questions alone will guide you."
I tried hard to diffuse the thought and the expectation that there was necessarily ONE thing that would define them, and that there would be a "MOMENT" that it would be clear.
I love the line from Tina Seelig...
"Meaning isn't something that you stumble across, like the missing piece of a puzzle, or a treasure... Meaning is something that you build into your life."
The students seemed to breathe a little deeper.
"Try not to think like that." I said... "Change the question. Instead, ask yourself...
WHAT DO I LOVE? WHAT AM I CURIOUS IN?... And, what do I do to learn more about it?"
Stay in those questions for awhile... forever... And, at some point, you will realize that you've been on the same course for awhile and gaining momentum and passion, and you will smile and realize maybe that's it..."
Then, I said to them...
"This wasn't on our agenda... but do you want to know what mine is?"
They shook their heads... so I spoke about the concept of HARMONY.
Afterwards, I asked them... "So, does it make sense? Do you think I am crazy? Do you see value in it?"
It was a really, really good day.
The first boy said, "It's a bit much for me... I have a tough time relating to it." FAIR...
The second boy said, "It is the way I think about my life, but I hadn't put words to it..."
The third boy said, "It is the most rational thing that I have ever heard. It makes complete sense."
The fourth one... "It makes more sense to me than religion." (YIKES... dangerous territory... not where I was trying to go.)
I smiled.... I thought, they heard it... the seed is planted.
And, there were a few others and similar comments. '
I put my name up on the board with my email before the session started.
I received a few emails yesterday from the boys in the group.
HOPE filled me for many moments this weekend. And, while I like to say that the only thing that I am afraid of anymore, is that I am afraid of wasting time.... I still feel FEAR.
Driving into work this morning... I was full of hope for so many reason... and I also felt fear...
The fear I feel is the fear of not being disciplined enough or smart enough to bring that hope and that possibility that I feel to life.
My hope is my fuel. My fear is my burden.
They both exist in me.
Harmony keeps grounded in what IS... and working in the direction of hope.
It's why I write.
It's why I love that you are there...
I want to have courage...
The courage to change my behavior...
The courage to change my habits...
The courage to give my hope room to chase my dreams and run free...
I am 30+ years older than the boys I spoke this weekend.
And, in so many ways I felt like their peer...
Staring into life with a combination of hope and fear...
And, thanks to the concepts that I have learned thusfar,
trying to focus myself into each moment...
overcoming fear and acting on hope...
And, in harmony,
Happy Monday!
Nestor