endless opportunities / finite time

Readers, I've neglected Gentlelift.

I've neglected my life passion--connecting to the world via writing.

Sad because there's something personally therapeutic about exposing the innermost thoughts of my conscious. Pulling out the ideas from the bottom of my soul and sharing them with whoever dares to care.  

To some it may seem voyeuristic. To me, it feels like I'm just bringing to light something we've all thought once before or might be turning over already in the backs of our mind.

Some people say it's better to leave things unsaid...

But now, based on personal experience at work, transparency is truly the fasted method toward progress. 

Two heads are better than one, right? 

And what if even more?

Just imagine the possibilities when brilliant minds unite.

OK, so I feel I owe an explanation as to my whereabouts: work, love, distractions, attachments, etc. etc.  

I can make valid excuses.

The main (classic) excuse being that there's only so much time in the day.

Yes, we have a finite amount of time. Which means the decision as to how to spend that finite amount of time becomes immensely important.

So important, that sometimes people shut down and avoid it altogether.

Why else would people waste so much time arguing, worrying, running around in circles...? When there are miracles to behold and endless opportunities to pursue. Or maybe there's no pursuit at all because you've already attained what you've always had from the start.

So fast forward, 

and at the end we might reflect on how we spent this time.

Maybe it was time spent writing, or running, or watching sunsets, or looking deeply into someone's eyes, or striving for perfection, or writing blogs?

But at least it was time spent together, 

with me writing these words and you reading them. 

As long as it was also spent smiling, 

laughing, 

reconnecting, 

and living life to whatever you deem to be the fullest. 

And digging down deep into one's soul and pulling out whatever might need to be pulled out. 

Hopefully it was spent loving all life's creatures, and feeling grateful for being alive!

was it spent...

was it spent well....

was it spent willfully well... ?

How Free Is Our Will

Sometimes I wonder: am I free to make my own choices, or is my behavior determined by my genetic code? By the chemicals in my brain? By my social environment?  

Philosophers have put forth some interesting food for thought-

Do we have free will? In other words, do we act solely on our own accord? Without being forced to be influenced by others or natural law?

Or is the universe deterministic in nature? That means that every action that has occurred up to this point has its own predictable root cause, so it was all bound to happen. Therefore, our very behavior must also be deterministic.

And then there's compatibilism which argues that the concepts of free will and determinism are not mutually exclusive. Both free will and determinism can co-occur.

I like the explanation of Hume's Fork in the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy:

"Either our actions are determined,
in which case we are not responsible for them,

Or they are the result of random events,
in which case we are not responsible for them."

We probably won't land on a definitive answer during our lifetime, but we can at least take solace in our own individual pathway. As Matt Ridley points out in his book Genome, there's at least some comfort in realizing that we are at the very least each able to express our own determinism and not somebody else's.

So while I think long and hard about how I make the choices I do, I will also remind myself to enjoy the cognitive and societal freedom (or perception of freedom) to make them.

NOW is the Time

The year end holidays are the most opportune time to express our love. What better moment than this to dig deep and pick up the phone?

It might be hard - people are busy, it might be awkward, we might not know what to say.

But in the grand scheme of things, those little doubts, fears and worries are insignificant.  I recently received tragic news from my best friend. Her little niece passed away without warning. When I heard, I was numb from shock. No words can express the pain or grief. And instead of answers, we are just left with questions.

 Death is life's most sobering lesson. My mind keeps going back to a song by The Flaming Lips called "Do You Realize?" Give it a listen and you'll hear the lyrics:

"Do you realize - that everyone you know someday will die?
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes
let them know that life goes fast
it's hard to make the good times last.
You realize the sun doesn't go down
it's an illusion caused by the world spinning round."

I'm not trying to put a damper on the cheery holiday season, but I need to put things into perspective. During the  holidays, we owe it to ourselves and to each other to cherish these moments with every fiber within our beings.

 In memory of my friend's niece, our little angel, let's honor life through love.

Whoever we spend these holidays with - make it count. The same goes for anyone spending the holidays "alone" - you are not alone, you are with yourself. And you, yourself, should be equally as cherished.

 NOW is the time to say "I love you." Let's open our hearts and find the love and then verbalize it. Let's say it to our families, our friends, to ourselves in the mirror. Let's say it to whoever we can. While we can.

If today were the first and last day of your life...

Celebrate Thanksgiving by watching this beautiful TED talk from Louie Schwartzberg.

There's an inspiring quote I'll be mulling over as I share a delicious meal with friends, "If you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well."

An Attitude of Gratitude

Amazingly, surgeons replaced a woman’s larynx allowing her to independently speak, breathe and smell after more than a decade. Her gratitude in the story inspired me. She said, "It's just been a really, really unbelievable experience smelling freshly cut grass. The air, breathing the air. Taking your garbage out—that's a real good smell."

I can totally relate. Back in July I had a painful eye injury that left me blind for 2 weeks. The ordeal made me realize: 

• How I had taken my vision (and my whole health) for granted
• The amazing capabilities of the human body
• That medical science is the bomb
• My friends  and family are amazing, and how dependent I am upon their love and support
• That it's not the end of the world if I were to lose my vision. Sure, I would have to re-learn how to live and function, but I could and would readjust. 

Talk about a reset—any other little worries or anxieties I had before the accident instantly disappeared with new context. And even now just being able to see the words I write at this very moment overwhelms me. It’s amazing to stop taking things for granted.

All of this reminds me of another article on how time speeds up as we get older for the very same reason—we start taking things for granted. As a kid, when things happen for the first time, they are new and novel and we pause to soak in the magnificence. As desensitized adults, we allow things to start passing us by.

My favorite philosopher Krishnamurti touches on this topic very nicely in one of his speeches. He said, “Awaken all your senses to their highest degree so that you look at the world with all your senses… Man has become dull through repetition, through tradition, through the oppression…You have gradually lost all sensitivity, all energy to create…[To have] the drive, the beauty, one must have great sensitivity. You cannot have great sensitivity if every sense is not fully functioning, fully aware.”

So just how would waking all of your senses affect you? How would looking at everything around you with renewed appreciation change your life? For me, I’ve found a lot of benefit in re-evaluating my world…and it’s simply added perspective that brings positivity and energy.  

The challenge is just how to stop taking the things for granted. When I asked myself how can I personally become fully conscious, I remembered that song lyric, “You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.” So for those of you blessed with the following, here’s an exercise to help cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

• Vision: What would your life be like without eyes? Who would you miss seeing among your family or friends? What visual treats—art, sunsets, movies, puppies, would you miss most?
• Speech: What if you couldn't say "I love you?"
• Smell: What smells of people, food, or nature would you yearn for?
• Hearing: What sounds/music/voices would you miss most?
• Mobility: How would not having hands or legs affect you?

And remember that if any of these things were to happen, your life wouldn’t be over, you would be reborn. You would view the world with new perspective.