Imagine

Imagine with me for a moment.

Imagine what motivates you, what makes you go ‘oh hell yeah, I’m chasing that.

Ok, keep that thought.

I am going to distill all those desires into money, your dream human and chocolate cake,

I invite you to substitute your personal wants and desires instead.

Now, imagine, you are barefoot, standing in a grassy spot on a warm sunny day, there is a slight breeze cooling your skin, 20 feet away, about the length of two cars, on a light-colored wood table is a large metal box, grey, riveted bands surround it and a large brass padlock, hangs open on the latch, in it, a million dollars,

next to that box is a chocolate cake and beside the table is your dream human.

Cake, you know, frosting swirled, several layers, you can smell it from here.

You can almost taste it.

That particular human, you can feel their arms around you, the taste of their lips, their scent. How you feel when you are with them.

Now, imagine walking towards that table, focused, breathing, steadily moving one step at a time, feeling the grass on the bottoms of your feet, till you reach the table.

The cake is yours to enjoy, as is the million dollars and the human is deeply in love with you.

Reset.

Ok, this time, all the before bits are still there, now there is a wood plank, in front of you.

it is 12 inches wide, a slightly rough surface, it reaches from in front of your feet to the table.

Again, walk slowly across it, feel the plank under your feet, feel the slight breeze on your face and finally you are standing in front of the table, you put your finger in the frosting and put your finger to your lips. The cake and the cool cash are yours, and you get to kiss your human.

Reset!

All the above is still so, the plank, the breeze, the sun, the table, the box, the cake, your favorite person.

Now, both ends of the plank rest solidly on a rocky cliff, grey stone, weathered, in between both ends of the plank is a chasm, deep, so deep, you really cannot see the bottom.

Now, walk across the plank to the table......

Really?

Consider, what has changed.

All that has changed, is the context, same plank, same reward, you are required to use the same muscles, the same balance and focus to cross. For most of us, adding the potential of falling, of dying, of failing, makes the task impossible. For me, it is a strong NOPE!

Our devices bring us a cascade of social media and news that feeds us a steady diet of all the things that are wrong with us and with our world, that will expose our inadequacies, that will kill us.

In the walking the plank metaphor all the death, doom, despair, embarrassment, fear of failure and shame are the chasm.

The plank is our life. It has a distinct beginning, and a yet unknown and still inevitable end.

Starting with merely getting out of bed each day, we walk the plank, each action we take is walking the plank. The comfortable and familiar is the grassy crossing. The unfamiliar and uncomfortable are the chasm

That “thing” you have always wanted to say, to do, to be, what if that is the deliciousness of chocolate, the possibility of freedom money might bring, the irresistible allure of romance and the possibility of trust and the freedom of vulnerability it brings.

We walk the plank every moment of our lives, in all the small ways and all the big ways.

We are both the pirate and the victim of the pirate.

Walk the plank ye swabby!

It is our perspective that creates the sunny day, the warm breeze, the excitement of success

And,

the Chasm, the failing, the fear of death, being seen as a failure, of falling down.

Perspective, it such an easy word to say.

Perspective, n; a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something, a point of view.

Perspective; eye view, angle, outlook, slant, standpoint, vantage point, interpretation, spin, belief, judgement, mindset, notion, and belief. A word that bears repeating. Belief, a word that bears repeating.

I am here to say, we do not have time to waste.

Waste, n; any substance which is discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use.

The time of our lives is the plank.

What if life is art, and art is life. What if there is no distinction between the two.

Art; n, the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.

Life; n, the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity and continual change proceeding death.

We do not have time to waste.

All this to say, notice your chasms, and what they cost you. Do they cost you your creativity, your art, any time of your life spent unfulfilled?

Do your chasms turn the precious time of your life into waste?

We do not have time to waste

Life is Art. Art is life

What if who you are,

what you do, Is what changes the world.

Your world and the world around you, as if there is a difference.

Mmmmm, damn! I do love me some chocolate cake.