If not- it goes like this:
"The definition of 'madness' is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each and every time..."
I'm roughly 8 hours into the New Year, this '08.
Actually, I woke up to the sounds of fireworks, shouts of "Happy New Year" and my going-on-two year old's night-fright shrieks so the New Year and I are already acquainted. "Madness" in the sense of the idiom we're discussing is already a well embedded psychological trait- being a parent pretty much saw to that 6 years ago.
Still; stepping into this new year I had a chance to ponder this particular entry and what I'd say.
To be honest I hate the concept of "New Year's Resolutions". It's BS. Why would a person choose to wait for anything that would in effect help to better themselves?
Why wait to quit smoking?
Why wait to cut back on sweets?
Why wait to start even a daily five push-up ritual?
Anything that improves a person should wait for no man- even if that man is himself.
To me, a resolution is not a commitment- it's simply an affirmation to "give it the old college try".
Last time I checked- I never really "tried" all that hard in college- I was no gazelle when it came to the grades- but I knew how to "F" off and still pass with a better than average grade at the end of the semester. A "college try" is slightly better than the combination of a Kevin Smith movie slacker and a Revenge of the Nerds aptitude watching as your grade is determined by the actions of the student and the whims of an indoctrinated and entrenched Secular Progressive professor.
What this world needs is more promises. Real promises.
When I say promises- I'm talking about those types of promises that border on sepuku induced, honor crushing commitments to success if one fails. The world is so full of half-assed commitments it's little wonder we don't count the population by 1/2 as much.
Personally, my promises to myself and to this world will have to be for another time. I take my commitments seriously enough that I make no lists, make no affirmations and I most certainly will have success at them regardless how easy or hard.
For me, a purpose driven life means rewarding my family, my world and then myself- even if that self reward is nothing more than silent pride in a job well done: Increased self-actualization a strident goal that may or may not be complete at the end of my days.
If there's one thing I may state for you, dear readers- if one is just dying for something philosophical from 'Dear Russ'- so here's a 'hard one' from me.
I'll commit to letting go of those things that hold me back.
Letting go... Sounds so infantile in its simplicity- right?
Try this on for size...
- I'll let go of the trappings of what others- which subsequently become 'me- consider "wealth".
- I'll let go of the limiting fears of what a job entails, demands or expects.
- I'll let go of those things that seem so important "for-the-moment" and thusly tenaciously hold on to those things that truly are worthy of importance.
- I'll let go of my Crappaw- who's death has brought me closer to my own recognition to everyone's mortality.
And only once the commitment is made does one realize that the journey itself may in fact be the only possession- an intangible thing that becomes a reward/relic to the spirit. Something both my Grandfather and my Father-in-Law had shown me in their passing but where the grief and tribulation of the loss blinded me for the last 3 to 4 years, only now am I seeing the richness of that somewhat 'lopsided' gift and lesson.
So...
What commitments of honor are you willing to make dear readers?
What levels of "madness" are you willing to let go of so that you can accept something so much better?
A few forms of madness I'll continue to hold close will be my sense of humor and that I continue to be:
Russ
No comments:
Post a Comment