Tag Archives: Ashton Gustafson

Have You Seen The Instruction Manual?

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.

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Clicking ‘Enable Awareness’

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.

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This Year…

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.

 

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A Letter from 2014

Dearest Musician,

This is your time.

This is your canvas.

So gather your instruments, join your fellow musicians, and let your music play.

Know that you are a better teacher for yourself than any book will ever be. Listen to the mirror.

However, it’s not what you know that will fulfill you. It’s what you become when you do what you do and witnessing who that impacts that will fulfill you.

Keep a lookout for the unseen, untouched, and unloved people, places, and things. There is great opportunity in such discoveries.

And lastly, say no to karaoke and yes to something original.

Yours truly,

Two Thousand and Fourteen

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The Previews

Einstein once said that ‘your imagination is a preview of life’s coming attraction.’

The Book of Proverbs relays that ‘as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.’

Dreams happen twice.

Once between your ears and once at your fingertips.

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