Juggling the Pyramids

"Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on." (Samuel Butler) The people who seem never to respond, or to adjust, or to improve their production of squeals and screeches in living are those who least practice awareness. To age without placing at least a brick or two in your Path of Wisdom, or without mastering at least three chords on a ukulele is a tragic waste of creative potential.

When you see someone who excels in a sport, or opera, or dance, or writing, or music, or relationship, or whatever area of living, you can be reasonably certain that they practice, exercise, and apply themselves daily in a full measure of concentrated effort at what they excel in. Aware practice may not make you perfect, but it will certainly make you better. A favorite saying (among many) of mine is: "The more I practice the luckier I get." Has there ever been a great golfer who said, in candor, "I depend on luck to win"?

When toiling in the field of creating a life, it works best for me when I avoid trying to be perfect or marvelous, and simply aim to be three steps past good. Good (social) is more likely to be within the range of my possibilities... and good is a pace that is "sweatable" for me on a moment-by-moment daily basis.

Is a yawn and a happy smile better than a migraine and a barking grimace? Just as you set your alarm clock at bedtime, set your daily attitude each morning at the first wake-up call. Decide then, and periodically throughout the day, that you will respect everyone you encounter... including yourself. Open your "awareness option," increase your joy-level and harmony by creating respect, humor, patience, and productive activity in your daily affairs. For you caffeine-and-sugar bunnies a nice add is medjool dates and double espresso. Give the freeway "bump and grind" the gift of respect. It will do wonders for your mood, for your blood pressure, and for your daily productivity. Humor is the most patient of the senses.

Make yourself a "mirror sticker." A private, in-your-bathroom awareness-sticker that can be moved on the mirror. Move it, and read it at each mirror visit. Let vanity's motive work in your favor. Those stick-on small note-pads work, but wilt with steam. Here's a quote I spotted in a southwest Texas gas station's men's room: "Do life... get outa Texas. Despair sucks!" You may prefer others--"Smiley faces" work for some people. Personally, I do better with words.

Two sayings I use are: "A monk's work is never done!" and the "Old Hickory" (Andrew Jackson) line, "Damn the man who knows how to spell a word just one way." I display these two to myself in my briefcase, which I use as a daily companion and portable office.