My Mum is the source of today's posting title. It is something she has envoked to me on many an occasion (usually when I am bi***ing or complaining about something). What this has helped me understand over the years (see Mum, I was listening) is that there really is very little in your own world that you cannot affect.
Aldous Huxley, a pacifist, humanist, and writer said:
There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.
This really captures my own quest for 2010.
In many facets of my life I am in the continuous pursuit of improvement; better life (health, education, fun ...) for my family, increase in my own skill set at work (writing, project management, knowledge) to my more personal pursuits of overall fitness (running, yoga, nutrition) and general pastimes (photography, gardening, home renovations). In these pursuits I often, as I think a lot of us do, look to outside sources and materials to affect the improvement. Whether it is buying the latest gadget be it a gardening tool, the latest running technical gear, or most up to date SLR camera, or subscribing to the litany of self-help/teaching magazines, RSS feeds or journals, where I think we really need to start is with what we have at that moment; ourselves.
Start with a recognition that if we truly work with the gifts (patience, time, health, intellegience, strength, will, ...) we are all given to improve at something; whether it is something that comes easily, or something that we have to work at to even achieve a modicum of mediocrity, giving ourselves the permission to try and fail, and then try again adapting the next attempt from what we learned the first, second, third, .... time, then that is one of the best lessons we can learn.
So that is why I will encourage my children to stick with something they enjoy, no matter how tough it gets. And why I will continue to get up early on the weekends to sweat it out doing downward dogs and hill repeats. Because I recognise that when I stop paying attention in equal measure to my successes and failures that this is when my corner of the universe will stop improving.
Here,here.
ReplyDelete