Crunch Time
My life is accelerating in every direction. If I am not careful, it may quickly become a mess. And I only have so much time and energy to spare. How far can a person stretch themselves before something breaks? Though this is nothing new to me. Tight deadlines and mounting responsibilities seem to be the norm in my life. I was made for this. The only challenge is that it’s a bit hard to maintain that light and playful attitude that I know I operate best on when so much work needs doing. Both intensity and calm are needed. But perhaps this is easier than one might think. Perhaps there is a way to harmonize these two seemingly different energies. We need to break the mold and expand our reality.
I am a firm believer that when you can find/create harmony between two polar energies you take a step toward being a master of life. Anyone that can do this and utilize such potential gains access to rich pools of creative energy. And this is one of the objectives of the great work. But this advancement needs to be complete: in mind, body, spirit, and beyond. Here, we can begin with the mind, the conceptual.
Merging intensity and calm… anytime I’ve been in a similar position, I’ve helped myself through it by imagining myself as the captain of a ship upon stormy waters. But while this helped to stir my courage, this removed me from any sense of calm. So I recall evolving this to thinking of myself as both the captain, the ship, and the storm itself. One might imagine my body as the ship, my mind as the captain, and my life as the storm, but I differ in that my mind is the stormy madness that generates the fear and my spirit is the captain. I need to let go of any hope of controlling my mind in these moments and trust entirely in my spirit, and by extension, the soul of the world (as they are indeed one and the same). To know that this pressure is natural and trust that everything that is happening (and will happen) is essential to the greatest story I could ever tell. Then I can relax. Then I can flow.
I heard somewhere that God is pressure. This becomes apparent here; it is in these moments that we either rise to greater heights or allow ourselves to give into fear and panic, subsequently sabotaging our evolution. None of us can really afford to do the latter. It’s do-or-die (at least in a metaphysical sense). And while it is clear such a perspective might create more pressure, it is the proper kind of pressure. It focuses and drives. It is pressure paired with a confident and enabled attitude rather than a doubtful one that blocks and scatters the mind. But this is not enough.
We also need to connect to our bodies and understand the physical side. We still have physical limits. And we need to respect nature in this way or we will see to our own downfall. So while I could drink copious amounts of coffee and get less sleep to give us more intensity and time to work, we need to respect the time necessary for rest and realize that too much caffeine will cause burnout and an inevitable crash that might come at the worst possible time. If we do not mind these things, we only strengthen the storm and weaken the ship. No matter how much resolve and wisdom the captain may possess, this is a recipe for disaster. Time to enjoy as well. To refresh the spirit for the assurance of long-term progress.
And we of course must remember the crew, those devoted allies around us that make the impossible possible. We need to learn to depend on others and reach out for help when needed, unashamed to seek support. Without these invaluable people, the captain has no chance of survival. So I end this lengthy blog with the clear affirmation that those critical few in my life (you know who you are) are the true heroes of this story. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I owe my success to you. Let us sail forth through each and every wave until the sun shines and we can revel in our safe and return to the harbor of peaceful days with a ship full of bounty to be shared.