Scrambling to figure out our intentions

There is so little in life we can actually fix.

Even when we do, everything fix seems to just break something else. It’s like those video game developers are fond of saying.

You haven’t fixed anything, you’ve merely changed the problem.

And so, whatever it is that we think we need to fix, perhaps what we really need is to fix is how we think about it. Because unlike ninety nine percent of the world, our own thinking is something we can actually change.

The first day of the new year comes to mind. My annual practice has always been to write goals and set intentions and visualize what the next twelve months of my life might hold. This exercise has served my growth for decades. We even wrote a book and filmed a documentary about my trademark dreaming process.

But this past year, for some strange reason, there was a complete lack of desire to do my regular exercise. Not because of sadness or emptiness or apathy. Part of me just thought, do you really need to spend yet another day beating yourself up about the imperfections of last year, then putting pressure on yourself to make improvements for next year?

Dilbert comes to mind, whose receptionist once asked him if he had any new year’s resolutions? He said that he resolved to not make major decisions about his life based on random calendar dates.

It’s a philosophy that’s become more and more attractive to me. The freedom to ignore the clamor for more, the ability to chill because all systems are satisfied, the privilege to reject the path of ferocious improvement supplied by our egos and our culture, what a gift to ourselves.

What a load off our psyches.

Because instead of fixing, we can just be. We can bravely embrace the joy of missing out and just do less for once. And not do less so we can achieve more, but do less so we can breathe more.

It’s like those scuba divers are fond of saying.

The oxygen gauge is the only one that really matters.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
If you were smart enough to fix yourself, wouldn’t you have done it by now?