I've just returned from one of my favorite activities and places. That would be fishing in Northern Ontario. Now, up there, the livin’ really was easy. A typical day looked something like this:
4:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Coffee, fish, coffee, fish, coffee, clean fish, coffee, breakfast, coffee, nap.
3:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.: Beer, fish, beer, fish, beer, clean fish, beer, dinner, beer, campfire, beer, nap.
We experienced two great light phenomenon almost every night. One was the foxfire littering the ground around the cabin. Foxfire is a luminescent glow emitted by rotting wood. In the evenings the ground around the cabin glowed a faint green. And if we looked up, the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) baptized the night sky with pulsing light.
In both cases, foxfire and the Northern Lights, the glow is caused by tiny invisible particles. Microscopic fungi that help decay rotting wood cause foxfire. The Northern Lights are invisible electrically charged particles, accelerated along the invisible magnetic field lines in the upper atmosphere, where they collide with invisible gas atoms, causing the atoms to give off light. All powered by what is called the invisible “solar wind.”
Isn't it amazing that things so infinitesimal can create such BIG deals!?
Anyway, it's August and I'm well into the heart of Livin’ Easy. So here's an article I wrote two years ago. I thought it was worth repeating.
August is the last big bash before school starts. And while I no longer return to school in September, this month still stirs contrary and wild notions in me. A need to rebel before it's too late. Discipline will begin all too soon.
Discipline, the thing we often initiate when we want to get more done, can, in fact, hinder progress. Letting go of discipline is a statement of faith in you. So as summer closes, try the month of August without discipline. Just trust yourself. It's only a month. It's okay. You can always go back. Here are some ideas. Pick two or three and go for it!
The Top Ten Ways to Live August
1. Get Selfish.
Get your needs met as quickly as possible so you have more time, energy and inclination to “be there” for the important people in your life. Over-discipline your own life and there's no room for the requests of others. If you don't have that room when someone you care about makes a request, you'll either say “yes” with resentment or “no” with guilt.
2. Quit Being Patient.
If you can't have something you want, merely move on to something else you want. Eventually timing will work for you and you can have all you want. But disciplined patience is a waste of your time.
3. Be Extraordinary Curious.
Curiosity is at the heart of everything I learn and know. When I try to be disciplined, I become less curious.
4. Quit Developing and Start Evolving.
Discipline can help you “develop” yourself but it does not work well if you want to “evolve.” Self-development may make you a better person (good) but personal evolution will make you more of who you are (great!).
5. Hang Out with “Bad” People.
Discipline tends to keep us in the company of like-minded people. Rigid discipline will keep me away from those who are most apt to push all my buttons and that's where I learn the most about myself.
6. Stop Tolerating.
Tolerations are the things we live with that remind us that our life is not quite right. They can be as small as the cabinet door that does not shut easily to as big as the actions of a person you live or work with. Think of tolerations as the things you carry around each day in your daypack. The cabinet toleration can weigh as little as an ounce. The relationship toleration may weigh as much as 10 pounds. But each toleration increases your load and slows you down. Discipline often encourages you to put up with the tolerations.
7. Integrate Everything.
Do you want to enjoy your work as much as your play? It's possible. But if you rigidly hold on to discipline as something that makes you strong, you are then also holding on to the idea that suffering is necessary. Perhaps you believe in “paying your dues” because you grew up with the notion that only hard work is rewarded and suffering in is required. That may have worked for our parents and grandparents, bless them. But more and more, we are making a great living doing exactly what we love.
8. Embrace Simplicity.
Let's say you've got five goals you want to attain in the next year. If you're disciplined, you've probably broken each of those five goals down into at least five strategies. That's 25 strategies. And each strategy has at least five daily action steps. How are you going to handle 125 action steps a day? The disciplined person will have daily action charts pasted all over the house and office. And, they're less apt to recognize when a goal has changed because they've invested so much in it. Now what's simple about that?
9. Follow the Path of Least Resistance.
Discipline creates resistance. But what we want today will change quickly because more options are opening up every day. If we don't reach our goals quickly, we'll be living a life of resistance and friction rather than celebrations and moving on.
10. Go for the Surprise!
Discipline does not hold much surprise. Get over yourself and allow the surprises to crop up daily. And when you do get surprised, allow it to be a mystery. Don't try to figure it out!
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Enough Is Enough
It has been a short path from June's “It Is What It Is,” to this one in July, “Enough is Enough.” Many of you sent me some very playful spins on June's theme. Like, “It ain’t what it ain’t,” “It will be what it will be,” “It can be what it can be,” etc. And one of my favorites was “Enough is Enough.”
Too often, we say, “enough is enough,” to express our impatience and exasperation at something. As a child, you may have heard this from your parents. Maybe you've even said it to your own children. As in, “Enough is enough! I've heard that from you too often.”
But “enough” can mean to be satisfied and feel sufficient. In the book, The Soul of Money, Lynn Twist says that what we choose to appreciate appreciates. That we must look at what's working and where we have sufficiency rather than at what is not working and where we are lacking or experiencing scarcity. When we focus on where we have enough, we have the ability to contribute in those areas. And through contribution, we begin to appreciate even more. And if what we appreciate appreciates, then we've strengthened our feeling of enough.
In the condition of scarcity, when enough is not enough no matter how much we have, we hoard and measure our stockpile. We become competitive. When we feel money or anything else we desire (love, for instance) is scarce, we never have enough no matter how much more we accumulate.
When we feel sufficiency, when enough truly is enough, we collaborate with others because what we desire moves in and out of our life naturally. There is enough for us; there is enough for everyone. We have the ability and freedom to nurture others and ourselves. When we appreciate the enough-ness in our lives, our enough-ness appreciates.
"Appreciation is the beating heart of sufficiency." ~Lynn Twist
Too often, we say, “enough is enough,” to express our impatience and exasperation at something. As a child, you may have heard this from your parents. Maybe you've even said it to your own children. As in, “Enough is enough! I've heard that from you too often.”
But “enough” can mean to be satisfied and feel sufficient. In the book, The Soul of Money, Lynn Twist says that what we choose to appreciate appreciates. That we must look at what's working and where we have sufficiency rather than at what is not working and where we are lacking or experiencing scarcity. When we focus on where we have enough, we have the ability to contribute in those areas. And through contribution, we begin to appreciate even more. And if what we appreciate appreciates, then we've strengthened our feeling of enough.
In the condition of scarcity, when enough is not enough no matter how much we have, we hoard and measure our stockpile. We become competitive. When we feel money or anything else we desire (love, for instance) is scarce, we never have enough no matter how much more we accumulate.
When we feel sufficiency, when enough truly is enough, we collaborate with others because what we desire moves in and out of our life naturally. There is enough for us; there is enough for everyone. We have the ability and freedom to nurture others and ourselves. When we appreciate the enough-ness in our lives, our enough-ness appreciates.
"Appreciation is the beating heart of sufficiency." ~Lynn Twist
Monday, June 07, 2004
It Is What It Is
I'm just back from one of my frequent Northern Ontario fishing trips. The weather this May was much more overcast and rainy than last May. Cold too. It just was. And I accepted whatever the day brought. I was not in control. Whew! Wildlife was abundant. The common sightings were the usual loads of loons, beaver and Canadian geese. And this year I was rewarded with the not so common, one black bear, one bull moose and a wolf. Most nights I was lulled to sleep by the whippoorwills. Oh, yeah, and the fishing, as always, was grand!
Days were simple. I’d wake, tend to breakfast and some good strong coffee, beeline for a lake I had not yet fished, fish like it was a job, and amble back to camp in the evening for a little dinner, campfire and reading. The next day I’d get up and do it all over again. Mother Nature and I collaborated on the change in my routine. I fished a different lake each day. She determined whether I put on long underwear or a tee shirt, sunglasses or my rain gear, bug netting or not.
Prior to my trip, I’d been talking with contractors about getting some work done around the house. When I decided to get involved in these projects, I began looking at my home and surroundings with a more critical eye. I’d see one thing that needed work and then I’d begin noticing the things connected to it that needed work too. I was making myself a little anxious and crazy.
Just before I left, a cement contractor came to give me a bid on some work in the garage and basement. I was in quite a state by the time he arrived. He could have easily sold me a huge repair job. But as we walked around the house, through the garage and down into the basement, he kept saying, “Well, yes, we can fix that, but it's not a structural problem. It's cosmetic. It is what it is."
I found that simple statement so freeing that I have come to adopt it as a personal tag line. When I look at things in my life that are less than perfect, I first assess whether or not I have a structural problem. Is the repair necessary for my safety or well being? If not, I sit with “it is what it is” long enough to relax. “It is what it is” brings me the same peace I felt while on my fishing get-away when I’d wake and watch another day unfold without much direction from me.
Often, we have things we hold on to too tightly. And that white-knuckle grip does not necessarily serve us. We have become attached to how these things define us. Sometimes it's things, like our home and car. Sometimes it's other people, our relationships. And sometimes it's a role we play at work or in our personal life. The process of letting go, becoming less, in order to become more of who we are requires a little bit of “it is what it is” faith.
Fresh from my fishing vacation and with my new mantra, I had a delightful Saturday playing with a couple of my friends. We all came to the day with “stuff,” things big and small that were plaguing us. We simply let go and wandered the Northern Michigan trails and two-tracks, talking and leaving bits and pieces of our expectations in our dusty trail. We trusted that we would not lose ourselves in the process. That there is a core to us that is undeniably stable and strong no matter where we live, work or who we associate with. It is what it is, and we just let it be. Oh, and stopping for ice cream helped! Thanks, Jean and Corey.
"You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by." ~J. M. Barrie
"A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music -- that would be rest." ~Eleanor Roosevelt
"A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition." ~William Arthur Ward
Days were simple. I’d wake, tend to breakfast and some good strong coffee, beeline for a lake I had not yet fished, fish like it was a job, and amble back to camp in the evening for a little dinner, campfire and reading. The next day I’d get up and do it all over again. Mother Nature and I collaborated on the change in my routine. I fished a different lake each day. She determined whether I put on long underwear or a tee shirt, sunglasses or my rain gear, bug netting or not.
Prior to my trip, I’d been talking with contractors about getting some work done around the house. When I decided to get involved in these projects, I began looking at my home and surroundings with a more critical eye. I’d see one thing that needed work and then I’d begin noticing the things connected to it that needed work too. I was making myself a little anxious and crazy.
Just before I left, a cement contractor came to give me a bid on some work in the garage and basement. I was in quite a state by the time he arrived. He could have easily sold me a huge repair job. But as we walked around the house, through the garage and down into the basement, he kept saying, “Well, yes, we can fix that, but it's not a structural problem. It's cosmetic. It is what it is."
I found that simple statement so freeing that I have come to adopt it as a personal tag line. When I look at things in my life that are less than perfect, I first assess whether or not I have a structural problem. Is the repair necessary for my safety or well being? If not, I sit with “it is what it is” long enough to relax. “It is what it is” brings me the same peace I felt while on my fishing get-away when I’d wake and watch another day unfold without much direction from me.
Often, we have things we hold on to too tightly. And that white-knuckle grip does not necessarily serve us. We have become attached to how these things define us. Sometimes it's things, like our home and car. Sometimes it's other people, our relationships. And sometimes it's a role we play at work or in our personal life. The process of letting go, becoming less, in order to become more of who we are requires a little bit of “it is what it is” faith.
Fresh from my fishing vacation and with my new mantra, I had a delightful Saturday playing with a couple of my friends. We all came to the day with “stuff,” things big and small that were plaguing us. We simply let go and wandered the Northern Michigan trails and two-tracks, talking and leaving bits and pieces of our expectations in our dusty trail. We trusted that we would not lose ourselves in the process. That there is a core to us that is undeniably stable and strong no matter where we live, work or who we associate with. It is what it is, and we just let it be. Oh, and stopping for ice cream helped! Thanks, Jean and Corey.
"You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by." ~J. M. Barrie
"A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music -- that would be rest." ~Eleanor Roosevelt
"A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition." ~William Arthur Ward
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Hunting For The Elusive
May is the beginning of the annual spring hunt for the tasty yet elusive morel mushroom. And when I find it I'm rewarded first by the thrill of the find. Then, when I get home, I'm rewarded again when I relish one of the first tastes of spring.
Morels are mischievous. I can spot one 30 feet away, keeping my eye on it the entire time I'm moving towards it. And then, about the time I'm bending over to pick it, it disappears. I circle around the spot where I last saw it three or four times and then I walk away. When I turn back, there it is again. Once I sat down on a log to eat lunch. I swear I never moved from that log. I just sat, eating and enjoying the woods, and I must have been there at least 20 minutes. When I stood up to continue my hunt, there was one of those morel mushroom devils right between my feet.
It's wonderful to collect a bag full of morels. It's fun to count them and compare this year's harvest with last year's. But coming home with a large quantity of morels is just the product. It's really the process I enjoy so much. We think of our life as our accomplishments or products. But life is a process, not a product.
Chasing something elusive inside us is not all that different than hunting the morel. Sometimes we feel torn, out of sorts or puzzled and we seek the source of our confusion. We must go on the hunt and enjoy the process.
One of my favorite methods comes from Julia Cameron's book, The Right to Write. Cameron says to sit down with paper and pencil. Focus on what you find elusive. Ask and write down your question. Then before you analyze the question, just write the answer that comes to you. Don't sift through the answer. Just write. This answer will likely lead you to another question. Write that question and then let the answer that follows flow from you to the paper. Continue the process for about 30 minutes or until you feel done.
This is often enough to get to the delectable morsel you're seeking. Turn your back on the product, the outcome, and pay attention to enjoying the process, the hunt, and the elusive will present itself. It always does. Oh, and don't forget to reward yourself!
"Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away." ~Earl Nightingale
"The important thing is not to stop questioning." ~Albert Einstein
Morels are mischievous. I can spot one 30 feet away, keeping my eye on it the entire time I'm moving towards it. And then, about the time I'm bending over to pick it, it disappears. I circle around the spot where I last saw it three or four times and then I walk away. When I turn back, there it is again. Once I sat down on a log to eat lunch. I swear I never moved from that log. I just sat, eating and enjoying the woods, and I must have been there at least 20 minutes. When I stood up to continue my hunt, there was one of those morel mushroom devils right between my feet.
It's wonderful to collect a bag full of morels. It's fun to count them and compare this year's harvest with last year's. But coming home with a large quantity of morels is just the product. It's really the process I enjoy so much. We think of our life as our accomplishments or products. But life is a process, not a product.
Chasing something elusive inside us is not all that different than hunting the morel. Sometimes we feel torn, out of sorts or puzzled and we seek the source of our confusion. We must go on the hunt and enjoy the process.
One of my favorite methods comes from Julia Cameron's book, The Right to Write. Cameron says to sit down with paper and pencil. Focus on what you find elusive. Ask and write down your question. Then before you analyze the question, just write the answer that comes to you. Don't sift through the answer. Just write. This answer will likely lead you to another question. Write that question and then let the answer that follows flow from you to the paper. Continue the process for about 30 minutes or until you feel done.
This is often enough to get to the delectable morsel you're seeking. Turn your back on the product, the outcome, and pay attention to enjoying the process, the hunt, and the elusive will present itself. It always does. Oh, and don't forget to reward yourself!
"Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away." ~Earl Nightingale
"The important thing is not to stop questioning." ~Albert Einstein
Monday, April 05, 2004
Lessons From The Creek
In the 14 years I've live on the creek, it has taught me many lessons. One of the most important is the nature of flow.
Flow is not always the shortest path. When the creek encounters resistance, like a rock, a downed tree or the dam the beavers are building just down stream from me, it does not go through that block. The creek is not concerned with keeping the path short. It goes around, over or underneath the resistance as a way to stay in flow. Yes, over time, it wears down the resistance, but that's not its primary concern. So like the creek, when we take the path of least resistance, we too flow.
The creek is always moving toward lower elevations, downhill, rather than fighting the uphill battle. Now going downhill does not have a particularly positive ring to it. But image how wonderful it could be to reach your every destination without effort.
We've all experienced flow in our lives. Athletes call it being in “the zone.” Those that meditate talk about being in the gap, the space, between thoughts. As my friend, Dave Patrick of Healthy Enterprise says, “We all know when we are in flow. Everything is effortless. We're on purpose and we have total alignment between our vision and values. And we're taking right action to move forward, focused on the now. I think we're in agreement that if feels pretty darn good!”
Whether we are standing in a creek or we are experiencing flow internally, it does feel pretty darn good. And we are better able to take direction based on “hints.” The more we are not flowing, ticked off, disappointed or frustrated, the more we tend to grab for reason and logic. Reason and logic might save us in an emergency, but they never move us. These “hints” I call intuition. And when I'm in flow, I hear the hints.
Is your vision something you mentally design and, if done right, leads to flow? Perhaps. But it might take more than a few tries to get it right. I like to believe that vision is something that comes to you when you are in flow? My suggestion—go stand in a creek!
"Everything flows; nothing remains." ~Heraclitus
What's not flowing in your life? Money? A relationship? A major transition? If you've not taken me up on my complimentary coaching session offer, maybe now is the time. That's a “hint,” my friends. Take it!
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