Which Is Your Role?

Some people like the idea of avoiding boring or unpleasant responsibilities, hoping that others will solve the problem for them. Some would love to work as little as possible, avoid any kind of effort, happy as couch potatoes while someone else toils in their stead. Others prefer to perform the victim role, the poor thing who is taken advantage of, who is unable to say no. There are then those who worry all the time, or make a drama out of every little inconvenience. Such people don't live well because they seem to have no idea of their real value as human beings. They have accepted (or maybe created for themselves?) the role of a cheap mat while they could see themselves as a precious tapestry, admired by the whole world.

  

A New Path

See the present moment as the step that leads you into a new stage of your life. Questions arise immediately, though: Where to go? How to move? Where to look? Where to search? Your mind is soon taken aback. It may even experience fear because it would prefer to take you on the same path, to lead you towards the same direction, in the usual way, without new goals, new ideas, new possible solutions. It is much easier to move forward automatically, on the track of your last choice, without worrying about other 'stuff'. But your true 'self' tells you that it is not so. You can neither stop nor continue blindly, following a non-existing aim that a foggy wish waves in front of your mental eyes. If you really want fulfillment and serenity, you need to shake off laziness, habit, petty conformism, passive acceptance, any kind of conditioning. You need to finally 'wake up'!

Your Thought Factory

In the various departments of a car factory, different parts are built  and assembled in order to obtain a final product perfectly functioning. Imagine now your mind as a factory that manufactures thoughts. Your brain, too, is formed by different compartments that 'build' each thought little by little, by using experiences and conditionings, memories, hopes and - more often - fears. In this way you create your thoughts, according to the experiences, conditioning, memories, hopes and fears that you unconsciously choose to use moment by moment. You are usually unaware of why you make such choice. This is the reason why many thoughts tend to be more negative because fear is stronger than positive feelings. Hence, the need to become more aware of this proceeding, in order to make wiser, more balanced choices.

Aim!

An old saying says, "If you don't aim at anything, you are sure to hit the target." It makes you aware of the importance of setting precise goals to reach throughout your life. Each age, each period, each situation, in fact, has its own. If you hurl a rock in the air without any aim, wherever the rock falls it will have fulfilled its task because it followed the trajectory determined by an arm that did not aim at anything. The same happens when you start walking or driving without knowing where you are going. You say this never happens to you because you always know your destination? Here is the point: you have an address to reach (your office, a friend's house, a restaurant, or just a stroll in the park). Think now about the way you are leading your life. Check your true objectives in: your job (beside the usual tasks), the kind of relationship you have established with your partner, the way you are educating your children (do you know their needs, their problems...?). Worth reflecting upon.

A Key-Word

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that no entirely satisfying result can be achieved without enthusiasm. It's an invitation to examine your attitude towards Life - may it be big problems or simple everyday situations. Enthusiasm could be likened to food seasoning. A dish of spaghetti will not taste the way it should if, in spite of sauce and Parmesan, it lacks salt. The same happens in life. When you start any new enterprise, willpower, determination, efficiency, self-confidence are important. Nevertheless, if you lack enthusiasm, i.e. the joy of doing what you are doing, you may not experience true fulfillment. The whole thing will be carried out, yes, but it probably won't allow you to feel the exhilaration that you expected. Like an old painting whose colors have faded, so they are not as brilliant as they originally were.

The Great Game of Life

All natural cycles are perfectly organized: think of the alternation of seasons, of the cycle of birth – life – death, of the functioning of the human bodies. The difference between the functioning of Nature and of the Mind is that the latter has a “Will”, while the rest of creation only follows the “Rule” established at the moment of its manifestation. Can this be a satisfying answer to those who wonder about the “bad” things that happen to mankind? If you accept the hypothesis that every human being is the author of the book of his (or her) own life, or the director and actor of his own play or, as it has been famously said, “the captain of his ship”, why is he unable to write a better plot, direct a happier story, govern his ship with more mastery? Well… this is possibly the greatest mystery about human life which we might never be able to understand. We have been given cards and asked to play our game. The tragedy is that most times we complain about the cards we received and forget to focus on the best way to play them in the Great Game of Life.

It's Not Impossible!

There are things that some people do that seem quite impossible. Acrobatics, stunts, lifting 500 pounds, pulling a truck, breaking a brick wall with bare hands, extreme sports... These admirable individuals are tremendously skilled, they have attained a proficiency that doesn't seem humanly reachable, they can perform incredible tasks. Yet, they do it. And they make it seem so easy. But easy it certainly is not. They work hard, are committed, make sacrifices in order to attain their goal and...they succeed. Therefore, you should never say "This can't be done". A proverb says, "What man can conceive, man can achieve"so...try to remember that - if you are motivated enough and have strong will, determination and commitment - you can reach ANY destination you dream of.