“There are two kinds of people in the world: The people that like climbing Mount Everest and the people who like having climbed Mount Everest.”
— Sir Edmund Hillary
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I sat down this morning to write, and everything feels creaky –
A good holiday will do that to you, won’t it?
I’ve spent a few weeks completely removed from doing much at all, and while I’m energised and fresh for the break, it also feels like the cobwebs need to be blown out before I can completely fall back into the groove.
Whatever …
I’m happy to be back creating something. I often think people, myself included, are at their worst when there’s nothing building, nothing that they can contribute towards, nothing that they’re working on.
Rest and completely switching off is important, and skills that we as a society aren’t very good at.
But it’s not the only thing.
Too long in “doing nothing” mode and our experience of life gets a little frayed – those background worries and anxieties and frustrations creep back in and start to seem more real, more solid.
But rest and presence combined with useful creating and building and progressing – in anything I choose to see as important – makes a life, it makes me happy and satisfied.
So far, so “New Year, new you” huh?!
But I love to talk about this because people so often think an inner path, a spiritual path, is the opposite of ambition, the negative of desire.
Yet I see that one of the whole points of an inner path is to remove all our barriers to living a life we’re excited and satisfied by – and that involves goals and aims and desires and making a difference.
In that, here’s what I’ve realised.
Life isn’t so much about the achieving, but the moving and progressing and growing.
As Angela Duckworth, a positive psychologist, noted, “I’m happiest when I am making progress, not when I’ve made progress and I’m done.”
Which is nice to realise, because in the grandest sense there is no “done”, there is no end point …
There’s no point in life where I will have completed all the challenges, done all the tasks – where I’ve made it.
There’s always more.
If there’s always more, there can be no, “I will be happy when I’m done”.
Life isn’t so much a journey to an end point, but a journey in itself.
When I – when we – fully accept and embrace this, the whole thing of life isn’t about making it to the next thing, but enjoying every step along the way.
And that’s perhaps a subtle point that is missing from many of our New Year’s resolutions and action plans.
Certainly celebrate when you get somewhere or achieve something, but learn to enjoy the journey of moving forward. Not “when” … always now.
Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re doing great, and sometimes you won’t.
That’s the fact of learning and growing, isn’t it?
Sometimes it’s all going to plan. Sometimes it feels like nothing is.
No matter – jump back in.
That’s the matter of life itself.
Here’s how Nisargadatta, who I think is one of the wisest humans to ever walk our planet, summed it all up:
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“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.”
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Enjoy the journey. The journey is now.
Go well!
Arjuna
PS.
I’ve teamed up with my good friend Alex Myers, who is an excellent coach and understander of what makes us tick. He’s an incredibly inspiring guy.
(You can hear our latest podcast together, here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Zfd8rX0rxI5Ix1U791lF0)
We’ve made a small, intimate creative retreat for anyone who wants the time and space to make significant progress on something important to them.
In this busy, urgent world, the retreat is about creating Quality work that makes a difference …
It’s about removing all distractions,
– learning tools and techniques for focusing and bringing out your important work,
– using deep rest and recovery blocks,
– and having the time and space to actually do the work,
with full coaching from us and the support of a close group of inspired people in a beautiful and peaceful location.
Dates are 6-10th March, here in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
Now –
We want cool, dedicated, tuned-in people, so if you’re interested hit reply and we’ll arrange a time to chat to go over details and see if this is something you’d be interested in.
Just hit reply and let me know. Be great to talk more.
PPS.
The 3-5 February Ascension meditation course is sold out, which is awesome. The next dates are 31 March - 2 April (starts 7pm Friday).
More details here – https://www.arjunaishaya.com/ishayasascension, or just ask.
And of course, if you’re not ready for that yet, my free mini-course in meditation and mindfulness and coaching group, The 200% Dojo, is here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/708920116904793