I recently received an invoice from my lawyer – for what exactly I’m not, as what he’d done for me didn’t really match the bill! He said he was ’dispatching’ invoices to various clients to “keep the wolf from the door in these challenging times”.
These are, indeed, challenging times. We face unprecedented economic circumstances at present, we’re constantly faced with the ups and downs of everyday normal relationships and we are frequently confronted by the trials and tribulations of business and work. However the only real challenge we face is the challenge within. “How will I react when faced with so much crap coming at me?” as one client put it to me on a recent visit. “It’s damned difficult to stay focused when you’re in the eye of the storm” said another. “How am I supposed to stay focused when my personal life is crumbling around me?” another client once asked.
All these challenges are nothing more than life’s “big waves”. Life is like the Volvo Round-the-World yacht race. If you’re participating, you know that there are going to be lots of big waves so you prepare in advance and make sure that you’re adequately equipped to handle them. As a result, you’re able to ride those big waves. It’s the same with life’s ups and downs. You are certain, because you’ve seen it everywhere, that life is full of these big waves. So, just like the yachtsman, you need to be prepared and ensure that you’re appropriately equipped to ride those waves. Now, I’m not talking about being prepared in some vague sense – I’m not just suggesting that you be on your guard. I’m talking about practical personal development – about developing the kind of clarity of mind and mental focus that will enable you take real action in the face of what life throws at you – rather than crawling back into the normal cocoon of knee-jerk reactive behaviour that normally makes matters even worse than we think they already are.
And, considering that life is lived moment to moment, you’re going to have to be up to each challenge, moment to moment. In other words, before you set sail every morning, you need to focus your mind in the here and now – not focused on the day ahead, the day ahead will present itself one moment at a time. This means that whilst you’re drinking your breakfast coffee, that’s the only thing you’re doing – inhaling the aroma, tasting the sharpness, feeling the heat of the cup in your hand, watching the steam curl off the liquid’s surface, feeling the warm liquid run down your throat, listening to the sound as you swallow.
You need to turn yourself on each morning. Otherwise, you will have decided to participate in life’s yacht race in a rubber dinghy. If you get drowned, you’ll only have yourself to blame.
