Its clear to anyone who doesn’t live in a cave that there are many problems in the world right now. There’s children starving in countries gripped with war and conflict. There are incurable diseases, terrorist attacks, people losing jobs, and fat cats laughing all the way to the bank with their hard stolen money. There are so many people working on the ground level to deal with these kinds of things but as with all complicated problems, not only do we need to catch the water dripping from the leak… we need to patch the roof.
I was recently read a post by Jonathan Mead at Illuminated Mind about starting revolutions and it got me thinking… if I was to start a revolution what do I honestly care about enough to devote myself to it.
The idea of finding what your passionate about through the lens of what you would be willing to start a revolution for strikes me as a powerful tool for any person trying to find fulfillment in their life.
What in the world means so much to me, what am I so deeply committed to that I would be willing to wake up early every morning and go to bed late every night. What do I love so much that I would answer email, hand out fliers, spread information with all the passionate frenzy that makes up the life of a revolutionary?
There are so many injustices and things in the world that I feel passionate about, so many political situations, so many people suffering who I want to help but then I have to ask myself… Whats the most I can do for these people utilizing the skills I have and the things that I know I’ll be able to wake up and give 100 percent to for as long as it takes?
Sure, I could sign up and volunteer for an organization that moves food to the third world. I could even just go and volunteer for the local Food Not Bombs group in my town and feed the hungry here. These are great ideas, necessary ideas, but what about something a little more abstract. These kinds of activities are curative… what could I start a revolution in that was preventative.
I slept on it the other night, focusing on the question before I went to sleep, ‘what am I passionate about that I could devote my life to it?’ and some point in the next morning I had my answer.
The thing I care about the most, the very activity that lies at the root of all misunderstandings is the human race’s inability to pay attention. I want to start a Revolution in Attention.
Now I know that kind of answer might seem too simple for a lot of people. I don’t mean to imply that paying attention will cure all our ails but lets stop and think about what our lack of awareness about the world and the people around us has brought us to.
Daniel Goleman writes about a form of intelligence he calls ‘Emotional Intelligence’ as opposed to the more cerebral left brained sort of mind we usually associate with problem-solving and remembering information. What this means is that some people are better than others at processing data but might not be as developed in other areas like controlling and dealing with their emotions and the emotions of those around them.
Now I don’t want to fall off topic and get into exploring the specific ins and outs of Goleman’s philosophy which is already written about ad infinitum in other blog posts and articles all over the web. I only bring it up because I want to touch on the fact that I personally believe emotional intelligence is the outcome of practicing the simple act of paying attention.
While the role genetics plays can’t be left out, the amount of emotional awareness a person will have about herself and the people around her will be dramatically increased when she makes paying attention, rather than living in her own head, a priority.
When we stop to look around us, at the people, at the environment, at the technology… it’s impossible to not care. Its really even more than just mindfulness I’m talking about here. I’m talking about simple understanding in an intellectual sense too. Do you know the name of that person you pass in the hall at work every day? Do you know what’s two blocks south running parallel to the street you drive down every single day? How often do you just look around and explore… just for the hell of it?
This week, find some time to explore the things you already think your familiar with. Explore the people, places, things… just for the child-like enjoyment of knowing. Take a walk somewhere you haven’t been, maybe even start a conversation with a stranger you always ride the bus with because *gasp* it’s allowed and you might even end up having a great experience. Really start to pay attention, not only to your feelings and your own thoughts, but to the subtle expressions and cycles going on all around you.
That’s my revolution, which in a sense I’m already working on right now. Its a revolution that’s been going on for thousands of years really, maybe even more, ever since the first proto-human began living more in his own thoughts, fantasies, and fears than the rich green living world around him. Perhaps my revolution isn’t even a revolution at all in the usual sense. We aren’t taking to the streets, we aren’t marching with picket signs past the white house. My revolution doesn’t make much noise Its coming quieter than that. My revolution is about looking around you, looking inside of yourself and taking the time to notice what life is really like… then making the decision to act. Who knows… maybe you’ve passed the person who will change your life a thousand times already… but you’ve been too inside your own head to say ‘Hi.’
How often have you made a promise to yourself and ended up dropping the ball on it. How many times have you told yourself that this year, or this month, or this week will be different… This week I’m going to get that raise, start hitting the gym, or whatever your new resolution is.
The first day or two is always easiest. Your still riding high from the excitement of a new goal. You get up first thing, you make it to the gym, you have a great workout and you go home feeling great that you’re finally doing something different with your life.
Then comes the wall.
The wall is the little nickname I give to that day, usually a few days into it, when you wake up and you really… really…. REALLY don’t want to go to the gym today. You lay in bed performing some emotional gymnastics in order to make yourself feel better about breaking your promise to yourself. ‘Oh I’ll make it in tomorrow and just work twice as hard,’ or ‘I’ll pop in on my off day and catch up.’ But then tomorrow comes and hey… since you’ve already put off one day why not one more?
You’ve hit the wall.
Before you know it you’ve dropped the goal all together and it becomes one of those ‘Man… if only I had the time I’d get back to hitting the gym, its really just too much right now.’
How does a person avoid breaking a promise to himself? When its so easy to just put off doing something like going to the gym, how are we supposed to push through those ‘wall days’ when we just won’t feel like we have what it takes to make it.
The answer is so simple that I’m suprised it took me so many years of breaking my own promises to myself before I figured it out.
Or to put things bluntly, you put your own ass on the line.
Lets take our example of going to the gym again. The reason a commitment to work out and stay in shape is so often hard to stick with has to do with the fact that its only a commitment to YOURSELF. So your the only person who’s feelings on the issue you have to think about. While for some this pressure is enough, for the majority of us, a promise to ourselves isn’t pressure enough.
Now contrast this with times when you had SOMEONE ELSE you were commited too. Take a grandpa of three who just found out he has high blood pressure, and the early beginnings of a potential heart attack.
Putting it on the Line.
Everyday he gets out of bed and starts working toward better health. He wants to be healthy as much as the next person but he also has the added motivation of three little grandchildren making sure he takes his daily walk, weight trains, eats right etc. Hes not taking care of himself just for his own quality of life… he’s commited to preserving himself for his grandchildren’s sake as well.
I think that is the crucial difference. At a certain level of self mastery, a promise to yourself is just too easy to break, there’s not enough at stake. So next time you commit yourself to a new goal, do more than just tell yourself your going to do it… TELL EVERYONE your going to do it.
The old phrase ‘you can’t step in the same river twice’ is doubly true for the human personality. Its easy when your coming down from a peak experience or the excitement of making a commitment to change to tell yourself your going to do something and then find out the next day that you just don’t have that same level of enthusiasm about your goal as you did the day before. This is a normal part of pursuing a new challenge. Your going to have energy highs and energy slumps. The smartest thing to do is create a situation where you simply CANNOT go back on your promise to yourself.
Don’t tell yourself that tomorrow you’ll quit smoking, then have a pack of cigarettes laying in the top drawer in easy reach. Toss them out, tell the local 7/11 employee to kick you in the shin if you try to buy another box, or better yet, start associating the taste of cigarettes with something you hate until the conditioned response to seeing a cig is one of disgust.
If you’re trying to write that novel you’ve been telling yourself your going to start writing for years now, don’t make a quiet promise under your breath to no-one in particular. Tell all your friends what you intend to do, tell them that if you don’t manage to have a chapter a week for the next six weeks finished they can finally start calling you the lazy good for nothing slug you are. Then never give them the chance.
Don’t be afraid to really put your reputation out there, stand or fall on your own words. It might just be the pressure you’ve been needing to work out of that rut.
Sometimes it happens when you are driving.It can strike at work or in the home.Auto-pilot.Youíve been on the highway for some time, the radio has been playing a steady stream of familiar songs and by the time you get to work, or where ever you are going, you have not experienced the event, rather played it through by reflex.At work we are sometimes thankful for mindless periods when we can work from rote doing our jobs with our experience somewhere else, or nowhere at all.Where did we go?It is argued by D.M. Armstrong, J Levine, P. Carruthers, and other twentieth century philosopher of the mind, that our higher-order perceptions shut off and we stop perceiving our experience.
In Loneliness of the Long Distance Truck Driver, by William G.Lycan & ZenaRyder, it is shown that instead it is only our awareness of our higher perceptions that is switched off.The capacity for consciousness and abstract thought is too hard wired to be turned off, continuing in the background even when we donít notice it.If it is ongoing, innate, in-stifleable tuning it out, going into auto-pilot, is time that our brain has the capacity for incredible abstract meanderings that go tragically unobserved.We can use this time, be aware, and mindful of our own inner states.
One great way to remind ourselves that the journey of life is made up of individual steps is Buddhist Walking Meditation. I find walking meditation, as opposed to sitting allows a rhythm to breath along with when concentration is difficult. Slowing the pace of the walk and meandering aimlessly allows the mind to relax while focusing on the journey and not the destination. For those of you new to mindful meditation walking has a naturally calming effect that makes the transition into a relaxed fully aware state simple to achieve. Check out this easy walking meditation instruction by Howcast.
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