You’re not after trophies.
You’re not after status.
You’re not after “like” clicks.
You’re not after retweets.
You’re not after accolades.
You’re not after money.
No.
You are, however, after doing something with your life.
You are here to make this place better.
Let’s call it this and not that.
This (thing that you are here for) > That (which they’ve convinced you to believe)
You can see today as a shot, an opportunity, or orchestrated divinity from your yesterday’s.
Or, like most, you can see it as a do-over, a mulligan, or a repeat of the past.
Let’s talk about the past. Every experience, reaction, response, and thought you’ve had thus far brought you here to this thing before you called today.
So be careful, today, with your experiences, reactions, responses, and thoughts because they will create your tomorrow.
Today > Tomorrow until Tomorrow is called Today.
The short answer is no. You haven’t seen an instruction manual because there isn’t one.
Of course we don’t call it that though.
We call it college.
We call it the corporate ladder.
We call it schmoozing.
And now all of this isn’t making true on its promise to fulfill our dreams.
Here’s the catch: There isn’t a map for what you were sent here to do and there’s a reason something inside of you turns when you look out over an empty ocean.
Leave the shore. Sail your vessel. Return with your instruction manual.
In default mode we miss a lot. So we must click ‘enable awareness’ to leave our default settings.
In default mode we react. When awareness is enabled we respond.
In default mode we breathe. When awareness is enabled we breath deeply.
W.H. Auden once wrote, Choice of attention – to pay attention to this and ignore that – is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences. As Ortega y Gasset said: “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.”
A payment to attention is an eternal investment with endless ramifications.
May you feel the weight of destiny in each sunrise and experience the peace of pursued destiny with each sunset.
Be the bloom of what you’ve planted. Plant what you want to bloom.
May you taste your coffee and cherish your wine.
Don’t walk. Don’t run. Waltz with purpose.
Find metaphors. Live them. Give them.
Let the soul breathe and have its say.
More music. Less noise.
Happy New Year.
Ashton.Gustafson 