Status Check
Where does one look for inspiration? Sometimes it comes in form of a person, sometimes as a long forgotten memory, or sometimes as words in a book you are reading.
Inspiration is not something which comes from outside and needs to be absorbed. In fact, it resides within us. We just need a trigger to bring it to the surface. And that trigger can be any of things mentioned above.
Purpose and Passion is what drives us and makes us happy and feel fulfilled. Even mundane tasks such as doing dishes can be a joyous activity if we go with the flow. Ikigai calls it microflows. Mindfulness tells us to be what we are doing, dissolve the ego and become one with the task, i.e. no distinction remains between the task and the doer.
Live in the moment – While this is very true and key to happiness, we cannot turn a blind eye to the future. Most of the texts that I have read regarding this topic seem to skip this part. I have been trying to create a framework that would work for me to bring these two together.
Assume life is a hyperbolic curve, with things going blurry with increased y-axis coordinates (assuming x-axis to be a scale of time). Present is where most of the focus has to lie and this will be in place all the time. Near future is something we need to review once in a while, but not ponder over more than needed. As we go deeper into future, we can see future as a theme, rather than an exact representation. Future can also be looked at as a choice between multiple themes, or just a blank slate (if we are unsure of where we want to see ourselves) – whatever be the theme, we need to be cognizant of it – And of course keep in mind that things can change, and will change.
I am a believer in destiny. ‘If you believe that everything is destined, why even care to do stuff?’ – Why, really? Because if we just leave everything to be as is, not contributing anything to self or world, life becomes void of passion and purpose, and you put yourself in a state of limbo which is different from death only in fact that blood still continues to run in your veins. If you astray from path of Karma, your soul withers away, bit by bit.
I wish to write again, that too frequently. Worrying a lot about quality of my writing has kept me in a writer’s block for a long time now. This is one of my short term themes – Write more and see for yourself if you still like it as much as you did in the past.