Here is what I know...
I am in greater harmony, when I am writing about harmony EVERY day.
Because writing about harmony,
requires thinking about harmony,
and thinking about harmony is essential to disarm the disharmony that life builds on its own...
The disharmony that is created by noise, by human nature, by a lack of discipline, a lack of mindfulness, a lack of gratitude...
So, I am going to try to keep writing...
And, I hope you keep reading ;-)
Yesterday, in talking about life with a friend, I thought to myself (and then said out loud to him)...
What if I lived my life as if I was ALREADY "THERE"!
(Wherever the heck "THERE" is...)
I mean that, as opposed to the living my life TRYING TO GET "THERE"?
hmmm...
He looked puzzled. "When you've spent your life asking questions and wanting more... can you ever stop? Is asking questions and trying to make things better and reaching for more something you control?" he asked.
Asking questions and the desire to make things better, heck even the desire for more, are all healthy signs of a curious, alive and ambitious spirit.
I NEVER want to live a life without those things.
"Then how is living as if you were already there and constantly trying to get there any different?" he asked.
AH... I would argue...
COMPLETELY, FUNDAMENTALLY, ENTIRELY DIFFERENT...
One is harmony.
The other disharmony.
If I can live my life as if I am already "there"... I own my success. I give myself credit for the life that I have created, for the person that I already am. It starts me from a place of gratitude, of abundance. "I already MADE it... I am already THERE". Being "THERE" means ACCEPTING who I am, as I am, in this moment. It means starting from a point of confidence, from a point of gratitude, from a point of worthiness. It is starting to construct my day, my moment,on a solid foundation. It means you are SITTING on your "IS"... MY "IS" is "THERE"...
As opposed to...
If I live my life feeling like I need to get "there"... I am NOT owning my own success. Nothing I have done thusfar has gotten me "THERE". I don't give myself credit for the decisions I have made, the progress I have made, the things that I have learned. It keeps me in a place lacking gratitude for the beautiful life I have achieved and enjoy. It means living from a point of deficiency... I am NOT "THERE"... and thus I am NO WHERE.... I am NOT YET WORTHY. It is starting to construct my day, my moment, on NO foundation. It keeps me in a place floating... WISHING I was there.
Harmony vs Disharmony.
So, how does curiosity, ambition and a desire for more factor in?
I can WANT to make my THERE BETTER! That is human and healthy. I can want to IMPROVE on my THERE. I can WANT even MORE "THERE" right "HERE" ;-) The desire to BE BETTER, to ACHIEVE BETTER... even to ACHIEVE MORE... is healthy when I accept who I am, where I am... and where I am is inherently enough... HARMONY REQUIRES CLARITY OF OUR WANT. EMBRACING OUR IS without a WANT is complacency... status quo... it eventually creates a lack of purpose and meaning... and then DISHARMONY. Wanting for better is an essential part of Harmony.
When I want for BETTER - and I am still trying to GET "THERE"... the better, the more I want IS to get there. The want for better almost immediately becomes a WISH that I was already there. Even if the desire for better is equally healthy in this scenario versus the one above, it is trying to build construct something withtout a foundation. It sees and JUDGES the work to be done, the growth to be gotten... as a DEFICIENCY instead of an OPPORTUNITY. IT FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGES THE EXPERIENCE OF LIVING... IT FEELS and THUS IT IS FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT.
A life of harmony REQUIRES, DEMANDS... that we live our moments as if we are already "THERE"... wherever "there" is.
And, then our lives are spent making our THERE... richer, more meaningful, more beautiful.
The desire for those things is driven by our purpose, our meaning.
A life trying to get "THERE"... is a life of disharmony.
And, trust me, as the author and the student of this conversation, let me assure you that understanding that difference does not mean living that difference. But, understanding it, writing about it, reading about it, is the practice that we so desperately need to embrace it, adopt it, and live it.
REMEMBER... Life... Harmony... happens in the moment.
It is not that I don't LIVE AS IF I AM ALREADY THERE...
It is that I spend WAY TOO MANY of my moments still trying to get there...
And, I know how different both feel.
And, you know it too.
Harmony requires practice... requires thinking, requires writing, requires reading...
And, thanks to you... right now... right here... I am completely THERE...
Ready to construct my day...
in harmony,
Nestor