a.5 ‘the process of getting from point A to point B.’
The a.5 is the part where your morning becomes your afternoon, which then becomes your night. The a.5 is really where everything happens and those who try to jump from a to b, without thinking about the a.5 don’t always fail, but they sure have one hell of a harder time getting there when they could have been doing something better while celebrating their success and moving forward. The a.5 is simply the action that gives your process more momentum. And it’s a very important thing to take into consideration when also thinking in terms of your life. You want most of your energy devoted to the a.5, where instead of planning how to get something, you know one thing you know needs to get done today in order to bring you one step closer.
I’ve talked a lot about pursuing a life of passion. Well, the a.5 is where that passion lies and this is where you want to have most of your life sitting. I’m talking the disconnect between leading your life or letting your life lead you. Is there a huge disconnect between these two? Are you far away from the a.5 and don’t know how to make the plunge? Keep reading…
work to home, life to death, breakfast to dinner, monday to friday, night to day, inside to outside, little to big, dreaming to doing, ordinary to extraordinary, these are the moments that make up life.
There are two parts to myself and the world that I am connected to. There is the part inside of me, where every moment is a possible thought. Then, there is the part outside of me, where every thought is a possible action. Looking over the process I’d gone through on paper including an overview of goals I wanted to achieve in the year ahead initially made me feel overwhelmed. However, people can actually accomplish more in a year than what they think they would accomplish in ten.
What I’ve come to realize about transformation is that there are many ways to look at the map, but the important part is actually just taking a route…
I can really only remember one thing from my elementary school science education. I’m sitting in my second grade classroom with my classmates. We all have our ‘science notebooks’ open, where we would record our findings. I remember drawing a little kernel of popcorn as my teacher explained what was happening. “You see,” she said, “there’s a little molecule of water inside that very kernel of popcorn, and once it gets hot enough, the water turns into vapor and needs a way to release that pressure, so it pops out and makes for a very tasty treat.” I remember asking her “what about the kernels that never turn into popcorn?” Instead of saying that perhaps the water had dried up or there was never any water in them in the first place, my teacher responded: “Well, those kernels just never got hot enough to expand.”
My advice to you? Find a way to heat up that molecule. Spend every waking moment towards making sure that little molecule stays nice and toasty. What happens once it vaporizes? Well, then, I guess you’ll become one very tasty treat and I don’t suppose there’s anything wrong with that!
Preparing for this very exciting year ahead was not as easy as I thought it would have been. After sorting through a little over two months worth of mental malarkey muddling my mind, I am now at an almost completely calm ‘blank-slate’ frame again. It’s a calm I haven’t really experienced since the serenity of Spain that still stays with me into the new year as I reflect, each month, on the lessons it taught me. I used to have a real issue with thinking thoughts dead instead of just acting upon them. Once I finally learned that every first try is usually pretty shitty, I figured that at least it’s not as shitty as the other guy who never even gave it a shot…
Tied down by fears, we will never actually recognize our true potential. I have a friend who graduated from the theater program with me. Gorgeous, with a great amount of personality, she feels she lacks her own form of self-expression and creativity. That’s hard, but is she really doing everything she can about it? Is it something she has really decided to dedicate some time to? If so, has she tried every art form out there? Collaborated with a variety of artists in different mediums working to create something? Maybe she’s done all these things; she’s probably even read a few books on the subject. Whatever the case, I understand what it’s like to want something (to write) only to find myself frozen in front of a blank sheet or screen. I thought I had things to say earlier, I would think to myself. The thing is, you still do, but as I’ve recently learned, you will only stay as good as you already don’t think you are if you don’t just do them. I wrote one word, then another, then another. I wrote a page.
Furthermore, if you’re thinking that you have nothing to say, then you don’t, but once you start waking up to your true passion in this world, you will have the most original words and thoughts imaginable because you will be in tune to seeing each and every part of your self as a piece of the story and the world around you as your book. And once you begin letting go of who you want to be and just start being, you will find millions of words, paintings, photos, flowers, rainbows, and sunshine multiplying out of a place deep within yourself you’ve finally made peace with, and that is your inner artist, your true self, coming out, and once you can get that little fellow out, your life as an artist and human being will never be the same again.
My most difficult moments in my process of learning more about myself and practicing the craft of writing have been when I haven’t placed them in the context of my every day life, or rather, I haven’t made them rituals. Either, I’ve left them to completely take over my every waking moment for days on end, or forget them. A mentor and friend from my town recently had a book signing in London I went to. He’s one of those people who I’ve met on this path that have encouraged me in some way to continue doing what I do. Warning me of addictive behavior, he emphasized that writing could also be considered addictive if not properly incorporated. You don’t read a book in one sitting. It wouldn’t be the same experience than if you’d decided to live your regular life connecting with other people, going to the store, taking a walk. Generally, interacting with the world around you. Therefore, it misses something. What does it miss? Is it an overarching feeling of superficiality, perhaps?
Essentially, you need to move all aspects of your life forward in order to allow yourself to progress. I find with my writing that each time I leave a piece I’m working on for a day, I come back to it with a different set of eyes. Frustrated with a piece of writing that going nowhere except in circles, I went for a long walk. Once removing myself out of the situation and looking at it with an adjusted attitude, I was able to take things in with a new perspective and saw where the disconnect was. Perhaps it’s the concept of sense of unity, integration, a synergy.
Do you ever think about why we use disconnect when we think about a problem we are having? The fact is that when there is a disconnect, that is where you will find not just your problem, but also your solution. Your solution lies in the fact that there is a disconnect, and your job is to figure out how to re-connect that. If you can just look at life this way, you may find things a hell of a lot easier! Just don’t beat yourself up about it if you don’t get all the answers in one night. You already did the hardest part. You realized that there was a disconnect in your life and now that you’ve set that in motion within yourself. If you attempt to keep living consciously, you’ll soon be regurgitating some answers. That means letting every little of that life happen and take what you can from each moment of it. It’s not like you just develop this skill and all is solved. The thing is, you will never be able to completely do this and that is the point. Once you’ve started to attempt it, then you can at least know that you’re getting a top-notch, no-holds-barred bang for your buck out of life. Experience is the only reality we can truly perceive.
Like shitty writing, you can get no better at it, or dancing, or even at playing the banjo without just letting yourself get lost in the experience. When it comes to life, living it by seeking out new experience and making the most out of each one. The only things that you can really know for sure about this world are things you experience first-hand. One good example? How about learning the equivalent of 8 years studying Spanish in my first week living in Spain? Not only was I giving in to the experience, I was actually better at because of it!
So, stop saying you are horrible and let yourself be. Horrible writing will always be found no matter how much experience you have, but the quantity of it will be drastically lower if you begin to take the time now to allow it to be.
All my life, I’ve been told that I can do anything I put my mind to. Well, the Pilgrim {process} is essentially an attempt at testing this theory, ‘waking up’, and making the most out of every moment. As I’ve said before, goals aren’t just bullets on a to-do list. This is about time management, but more than anything, it’s an effort in lifestyle design. It’s making your life work for you, not working for your life. By making time for what is really important and leaving the distractions at the door, you can make life become the simple, successful, and fun experience you know it should be!
A Spanish expression, rather, an “unofficial” national motto comes to mind. ‘poco a poco’ (little by little) recognized at the rate of one day at a time, I can be one step closer to reaching my goal. That’s the disconnect in general people have with accomplishing their goals. They see them as bullets on a to-do list. I also believe that’s where the disconnect lies in people unable to transcend their lives to a more conscious plane of existence.
And that’s what I mean by just doing it:
Once figuring each step of that process, doing that one small thing right now that will get you closer. And then you have the next moment, and then the next. So many writers, myself included, think they need three hours to get something done when all they really need is three minutes. Three minutes to read the article, make the list, look up the phone number, write the email, well you get the picture. What can I do right now? Writing, like traveling, like life is just made up of a series of moments. Working your way down to that point, you can begin to see how those really little moments can pay off and how you can elegantly move from one moment to the next.
As I’ve been planning for my year, I’ve gotten myself completely overwhelmed. I’m just one of those people who thinks really far ahead, which is a great thing, but my problem lies in how to make that really far ahead make sense for me today. And then I freeze up.
This is where the A.5 comes in. It’s recognizing the little picture within the big picture and finding out the best way to make A and B work together. That’s also the beauty of a blog. It’s a day by day process. Fortunately, every day is a new one. As you drift off to sleep, how can you begin to know what tomorrow morning will bring?
Wake up! Do only what you love and do not fear the risk! Know that by doing so with passion and determination, you will succeed in what you do.
My biggest tip to you is: don’t be afraid to ask other people for help. In fact, seek these people out, share good information, and everyone will find themselves just a little more enlightened than before.
Whether it’s writing a simple blog post or becoming the best writer in the world, I’ve been coming to see that you really have to: just do it.
Now, to take action! Look at your goal. The trick is to first see the big picture, then break each step down one by one. Make every month, week, and day an “a.5” moment that is bringing you ever closer on the inside to where you want to be on the outside.
What creative approaches do you take to striving to become the best you can be? What sort of learner/teacher are you?
What are your 3-5 year goals?
Remember that list of lifetime goals I found? Well, those babies are my new candidates for finishing by 25! I just think the list is missing 5 more entries to make it an even 25 for 25! What do you think? What did you think of my {process}? Was it worth your time? Will dropping me a line to tell me be worth your time? I’d just like to say thank you so very much for reading this blog. It represents a lot of work, work ahead, and hope that other people out there also share my dreams for the future…
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February 14th, 2010 at 13:51
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