It’ll Never Be Fast Enough

One of the greatest gifts I have given myself is the realization that working towards my dream is actually living my dream. Since this realization I have been able to take action and enjoy the ride.

So true. Perhaps the trouble is dreams aren't always sunshine and
roses, sometimes they contain fear and anxiety. And that too is part
of the ride to enjoy. The lows can teach you as much, if not more,
than the highs. So, I guess the answer is to simply enjoy each feeling
and moment for what it is and how it will shape you?

>Why can’t we see that every moment that passes takes us one step closer to our dream?

But does it?

And, let's not forget those moments are our life.

Whether of course it's a day in the sun, or simply becomes part of a short season in hell, is another matter entirely.

And, as for that the 'bright future we see in front of us', some of us have reached a point where reflection shapes the agenda and, looking back on things, we yearn for the 'life was so much more fun before underarm hair' days of youth.

Or, more simply 'Fuck goals/dreams! I'm living for now.' and give/take the best you can from each moment, grateful you've had it and neither knowing nor caring too much whether you get another. (Oh crap, now someone will psychobabblically misinterpret that as some fatalistic thing and want to hug me. Bollocks!)

Walk to towards the light, g. Join the land of optimists with me.

Optimist? Didn't you read our site copy?

'Note the problem, highlight a solution.
Overall, we're optimistic and upbeat. Although we may candidly gripe about problems, we more importantly focus on the solutions.'

And, having just come from Biznik, it's clear that too many are simply deluding themselves and thinking happy stuff without getting their business-stuff together.

Oh right, our site copy. Delusions of optimism abound.

Written by a madman, what would you expect?

I just needed to thank you for this, Tara. I haven't read any of the links you posted yet, but just reading this post comforted me in knowing I ain't alone. The post I was going to put on my blog today was bumped because I felt so overwhelmed, & I had to just sort things out. I've been very stressed & had major monkey mind & just on Overload in general. I really appreciate your recognizing this plight for a beginning innerpreneur!

Michelle,

It's my pleasure. It's so rewarding to express my feelings and
anxieties with being an innerpreneur and to find that they are shared
by others. We really are all in this together. Now, in unison we
should all take a deep breath and relax;)


Tara Joyce | elastic mind
find me online blog | twitter | biznik

Tara,
Reflecting on "Re thing Fast", I suddenly got a whack on the head, remembering Oscar Wild who once said, that doing nothing is the most difficult thing,
the most difficult and the most noble.I read a Zen sermon:
"Today I wish to talk to you 'nondoing.' Nondoing means that there is nothing to be done and nothing to be learned.
So I must first talk to you about Nothing. But alas! Any words I use to talk about nothing are so apt to miss the point!"
If you don't know what Zen is, no matter. On a purely rational level, no one knows what Zen is. Indeed, if one knew
what Zen was, it would cease to be Zen. Trying to define Zen is like trying to define jazz. One cannot know what jazz really is
unless one has heard it. As one jazz-ist said:"Jazz is a feeling.It's the feeling you get when you know you're going to get a feeling."
On asked what is Satori(Zen -enlightenment)? D. Suzuki replied:"It is much like everyday experience, only about three quarters of an inch off the ground."
Is Zen paradoxical? In the last analysis, I believe the answer is no. Of course, the entire Zen literature abounds in paradox, but it seems to me that
the Zen -masters use paradox mainly as a technique to lead one to the state where the entire duality between paradox and nonparadox is transcended.
Let me close with a remark made by Professor Suzuki in a lecture given at Columbia University: "Zen is not as difficult to grasp as you Americans think.
It's just that in Zen we call a spade a nonspade."

Retreating into the context of " It'll Never Be Fast Enough", I can't but marvel Tara's brilliant observations and reflections like:
"Life is what happens when your busy making plans."; "We want our dreams to be realized today."; "What was once the greatest goal becomes one tiny
achievement in many."; The Current State is more than revealing: "We don't stop and celebrate when we don't achieve, we just move to the next."
Isn't this Fantastic?
Eric From in his book - "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" makes a most profound statement, splendidly illustrating the 'existential neurosis' :
That human beings can't restrain themselves not to get involved in dangerous games that can not be won by definition! It is essential for human nature
to reject comfort, relax and justified celebration, since there is always something missing in our global picture, that prevents us to fit in. We are strangely designed in such
a way as to jump into a unpredictable future and as Dostoevsky's heroes kick and destroy that fragile perfect castle of our fuzzy desires, as to be able
to accomplish the longed opportunity to spend the rest of our lives accordingly to our stupid human will.
E. Kant also reflected that it is an irresistible desire for the human brain to start sorting out wicked problems that transcendent the objective boundaries of the mind.

Somehow I decided to design and devote to Tara Joyce a poem:

Living in speed.
.
A show without a rehearsal.
A dress without a fitting
A mind, non- lost in reason.

I don't know the role, I am playing.
Only that it's mine, indispensable.

M.Y.



Here are some of my favorite observations collected in my career, some filled with wit,
others with wisdom as to correlate with the topic:

"Life is a long lesson in humility."

"I'm not young enough to know everything."


"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others
cannot keep it from themselves."

"The life of every man is a diary in which
he means to write one story, and writes another;
and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is
with what he vowed to make it."

"It's a sort of bloom on a woman.
If you have it, you don't need to have anything else;
and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have."
(on charm)

"Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight:
always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?"
(often erroneously presented as,
"Always try to be a little kinder than necessary").


"The biggest mistake when trying to resolve a conflict with someone
is focusing on what you want to say and not on what you need to hear."



"It is wrong for a man to say that he is certain
of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can
produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty."



"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something."
(his favorite saying, ultimately inscribed on his memorial headstone)

"My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact,
not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations."



"The great end of life is not knowledge but action."

"A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes."

"I can assure you that there is the greatest practical benefit
in making a few failures early in life."

"The great tragedy of Science--the slaying of a
beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact."

"If a little knowledge is dangerous,
where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?"

"History warns us . . . that it is the customary fate of new truths
to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions."

"The scientific spirit is of more value than its products,
and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors."

Beautiful reflections, Mike.

You are always such a great resource for inspiring and insightful
quotes.

Thank you for continuing to share your wisdom with me and our fellow
innerpreneurs.

I think the friction is sometimes the goal and daily reality. Real needs and wants (income, achievement, etc) drive us to focus on what's right in front of us. Of course rose-colored glasses aren't good either. What about daily-thinking-bigger breaks?

Thinking bigger breaks. Yes, I like that idea. What would they look
like? 15 min set aside to celebrate the strong steps taken each day?
Or would it be a break to vision one's self moving closer to the great
goal?

Both? Start each day being grateful. Notice steps taken. Then vision. Hmmm.

Yes, I like this plan...

The grass is always greener on the other side of your goal.

It's the greatest strength and greatest flaw of creative people, hunger.

No matter how much is done it always feels like there is so much more left to do, and that sort of thinking makes it nearly impossible to ever "catch up."

I think we would all do well to spend more time congratulating ourselves on taking strong steps in the right direction, rather than always living under the weight of the overarching goal.

I absolutely agree. We need to focus on the steps we have taken
towards the goal rather than continuously focusing on the larger goal.
But sometimes this is very difficult, especially so on days when one
is feeling low. Is there anything you do to help yourself focus on the
strong steps?

'Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.' Emerson

It really is all nonsense, isn't it? But sometimes it's hard not to
get caught up in it all.

Seriously, the parallel here is the archer - who can do little about the arrow after it's left the bow. (Obscure zen reference.)

'Go to archery class, buy good equipment, be aware of the wind, select target'... our focus should be on getting the presentation correct - the delivery/reception is with the Fates. (Obscure Greek reference.)

'Do your stuff - well. As best you can. Forget everything else. If you 'win' so be it. Should you 'lose' so be it.' (Obscure RLS(tephenson) reference.)

But, keep the bottle handy, anyway. (Obscure drunk reference.)

hehe is all I have to say to that.

And this is some of my best material.
Still, a laugh is better than nothing.