LIFE IS FATAL
Friday Nov. 7, 2014
Voices.
Which to heed?
Which ones to ignore?
Smartest voices are not external.
Basics – right/wrong, good/backward, fair/fairly unfair – these are teachings of self, by self, to self.
We don’t have to wake up. Hear it.
Don’t need ears or hearing.
Humming inside our auto-debate brain day and night.
Sometimes, little engine that could, saying I think I can.
More often lately, older wiser engine saying I know I can.
Confidence line we are often reluctant to cross, between hopefulness and confidence, between capability and doing, between dreaming and living.
I suspect I’m not alone, having lived that way for chunks of my life.
Don’t know cause or reason or who/what to blame.
Isn’t about blame or finger-pointing, whoever didn’t steer me right or lesson I didn’t grasp – I’m in charge of steering.
Aren’t you?
Isn’t about getting older. I’ve never felt younger, less restricted, at any time I can recall.
I’m not running off doing stupid things, but some people might judge me as doing provocative things, daring things, risky things …
As we figure out where dreams equal reality or how to do things we have held back from – it requires a mindset change. I’m not contrasting Butch & Sundance leaping off a cliff. But, in the moment, it feels a bit like that. The fall (or anything) could kill me. But not leaping could be fatal too.
Moreover, life is fatal.
We live, flourish, fade to black.
We need more flourish, don’t we?
Being bold, nervy, clever, ambitious, creative, idealistic, committed – or any combo of these ingredients will not guarantee anything, but wow, isn’t that a better way to go?
Mark Kolke
column written/ published from Calgary
P.S.: yesterday I forwarded a great little piece by Kare Anderson and another one by Amy Selwyn to a few folks who responded concurring these are both great – so I’m sharing them with everyone. One is a 10 minute TEDtalk video, the other 4 minute read – I recommend them both. Probably the most inspiring 14 minutes you can spend today. C’mon, that’s less than a trip to the water cooler ...
morning walk: 4C/39F, hazy/overcast in the pre-sunrise end of darkness, steady north breeze (the kind that brings snow) at my back, tingle in cheeks as leaf-crunching path litter added sound effects. Gusta has no inkling she is heading on vacation soon … (5 more sleeps)
