I try my best not to judge others, but in the end I’m just a human, especially since they make it very easy. The attention hoggers who make every bit of step they make a news worthy of our attention. Oh, it’s the food they are eating for the first time, a friend they’ve not seen in forever, a cup of tea we might like (common, it’s your damn cup of tea).
In the event that things don’t turn out the way we plan for it to, all hell has the potential to go loose. It is instinctual to want order in our lives. But one of the most dominant things in our existence is the ever presence of chaos, unpredictability, the unknown–in the weather, in the response and reaction of others around us, in the future. We are surrounded by uncertainties and it is normal for us to want to exert control and authority over the things closest to us, over the people around us. It is only human of us to want to be in charge of something, because then, we don’t feel so helpless and useless.
Maybe having a routine and sticking to it isn’t a bad thing. Maybe spontaneity isn’t always as prized as it is rumoured to be. Routine actually gets shit done. It is discipline, even when you don’t feel like doing what you need to do. It is being responsible for your life and actions.
The problem of one hit wonder is that it is like smoke. It is gone before you realise.
Why? Because it entails gaining the spotlight before you learn how to work the lights. It is gaining massive recognition before you have attained mastery.
I was in the middle of my devotion this morning (one of my morning routines) and as I was meditating, I was thankful for my position in space-time, my lacks, my wants, my families and friends, my life. Then a simple phrase just popped into my mind, right in the middle of my appreciation:
MEMENTO MORI
It was so profound and resonant that I had to pause and listen clearly. It came again: Memento Mori.
You are going to make a lot of mistakes in life if you are intent on growing or not. You are going to fail constantly, you are going to feel pain. That’s one of the costs of living.
However, not everyone sees mistakes and failures the same way. Some will fail and keep failing, moving around in circles and failing at the same thing repeatedly. As it has been rightly said, those who do not learn from the past are bound to repeat it.
You are going to make mistakes, but you are not supposed to keep making the same mistakes. Failures show us the way by showing us which isn’t the way. If you cannot learn from your failures, if you don’t understand why you failed the first time and avoid those pitfalls, you are destined to keep failing at the same thing. And trust me, that’s terrible.
The point of failing is so you can make progress, because then, you know which isn’t the way forward and you take another path. But if you refuse to acknowledge that the path you are on is not leading anywhere, then you keep going in circles and keep coming back to where you started from.
When you consider how everything around looks, how the economy is, the state of the nation, the state of your own personal life and how everything sometimes feel like an uphill battle, it’s not do difficult to lose sight of the important things.
One of those things is gratitude.
I made it a habit to always write down something I’m grateful for in my daily journal entry but after reading a couple of books, I realised that there is a difference between writing down something you are grateful for and actually feeling grateful for that thing.
