Now and then, we all awaken in “a mood.” It might be due to outside facts, like what we’ve been exposed to or had pounded into our heads from TV programs or movies or books. From conversations we’ve had or even just overheard. Some trigger is pulled in our vicinity and we become aware; and aware, we think. We remember, we relive, we speculate. And this review impacts our mood and our attitude.
How much of an impact this review has on us depends on the path of our thoughts. If we went down a dark road, the impact is going to be oppressive and dark. But if we went down a lighted path, or forcibly forced ourselves off the dark road and onto “what’s right” for us instead of dwelling on “what’s wrong” for us, then that impact is going to have a much more positive effect–and a more constructive one.
This morning, I awakened buoyant. I opened my eyes celebrating. Not anything in particular, just being alive. I feel enormously grateful for the big and little things–for everything. I’m alive and well, my family is well, and I’m working (and the characters aren’t driving me nuts in the current writing project, so I’m not losing it, trying to figure out what they’re up to, which is always a plus). Life is good.
By the time I made it to the kitchen for that first cup of coffee, I had a bounce in my step, and by the time I’d consumed that first cup of coffee, I was thinking…
Isn’t it odd. When you’re chasing a dream, so often you chase it alone. Whether that dream is about a lifelong goal, or a task on your daily to-do list. It’s yours, and everyone else is so busy with their own pursuits, they don’t really notice yours. They’re not being fair-weather friends. They’re just focused on their own stuff.
I thought back to the early days in writing. Day after day, struggling to learn and figure things out. To get a grip on how the book business worked, how to relate to an agent, other writers, editors and other industry professionals, and how they were are all in pursuit, too. And while most don’t work in the isolation that a writer does, they do spend a lot of time walking their paths alone.
Then you attain. Something fantastic happens and suddenly a lot of people are eager to share in your success. They’re not all just latching on, hoping to feed off it. Okay, some are. But the majority of people are not. They’ve just become aware and are celebrating with you. Your success in attaining captured their attention. But that isn’t what holds it. That you did attain proves one can attain, and that feeds the hunger in them for attaining what they are pursuing. That’s what holds their attention and puts you in demand. You see, it’s only a little bit about you. It’s a whole lot about them–and your path to achievement becoming their roadmap to achievement. They want it, too.
After the second cup of coffee, I wasn’t as buoyant… I was more buoyant. Isn’t it wonderful that we can be happy for others and at the same time carry the hope to learn from them? To gain an insight that will help us do what they’ve done? I love that. I love that we are all both student and teacher. That everything is layered. Good for you, good for me, good for others.
I’m now well into my third cup of coffee and I feel content. That’s a shocker because there are a couple of real challenges on my to-do list to be tackled today. But it shouldn’t be. There was a lesson in all that been on my mind this morning. An important one.
Alone or with others, when you attain a goal, you soar. Without or without anyone else. It seems fitting, doesn’t it? Because you go through all these struggles and efforts, all the sacrifices and errors in your pursuit, largely alone. Alone, when you’d give your eye teeth for an encouraging word from anyone but must live without it. There’s a sweet circle in struggling and celebrating alone, too.
And I realize the significant lesson is in being content whether you’re alone or in a crowd. Whether you are in pursuit or celebrating attaining something you’ve pursued. It’s the contentment in the struggle I find most fascinating, but I do know this is a key to awakening grateful for nothing in particular and for everything, including your life.
I just wanted to share that with you. Course, you got my usual long-winded version. The uptake short version: If you want it, go for it. Alone or with someone else, just go for it–and be content the whole way. (That is a choice and you get to make it.)
Or I could just say this…
Soar.
