I am indebted to Eric Edberg who inspired this conversation.
Good Morning! I
awake
every day into a new space, a new
clearing,
a new
opening,
a new opportunity, a new possibility. Calling it a new space implies
there's
nothing
in it. Yes it's new. But there is something in it ie
there's something already in it. There's something already
present
in it. What's already
present
in it is my given
word.
Rephrasing that with
rigor,
what I
awake
into every day, is a new space in which my given
word
of what I'll do today, is already
present
- that, and I also
awake
every day into a new space in which what's already
present
is a certain
question.
It's always here, this certain
question,
waiting for me. This certain
question
is "What are you going to do today?". And it's
actually not an unanswered
question.
Neither is it a vague
question.
It's not woolly or nebulous, and it's not unclear. Nor is it asking me
to make up something to do. Rather it points very specifically
to what I'm going to do today, which is what I said I'm going to do
today. What I said I'm going to do today, is what I'm going to do
today. And when I've done doing what I said I'm going to do today,
there's time (and room) to do something else new.
Does this allow for spontaneity? What about allowing for dealing with
those circumstances ie life's interruptions and emergencies which occur
seemingly unplanned and randomly? It does. Actually it's hard for me to
imagine
living a
full,
well-functioning life without the flexibility to include its
interruptions and emergencies which occur randomly of their own
volition, even though they're not explicitly included in what I said
I'm going to do. Life teeters perilously close to the abyss of abject
failure if its interruptions and emergencies aren't included and dealt
with decisively, yes?
Some of what I'm going to do today is dealing with life's interruptions
and emergencies, incidents I didn't specifically say I'd be doing.
That said, the most worthwhile areas of life, the most satisfying
areas, the most
fulfilling
areas, the areas with the experience of the highest quality of life,
the
times
when it's
clearest
I'm living a life I
love,
are those in which I've had some say in what I'm going to be doing ie
those areas in which I've pre-staked a claim by saying what I'm going
to do. I don't know
why
it
works
this way - yet this is the way it seems to
work
best: those areas of life in which I've pre-staked a claim by saying
what I'm going to do, bring the experience of the highest quality into
my life and to
Life itself.
So when I
awake
every day, I look at what I said I'm going to do, and I do it. The form
this takes is scheduling an occasion to do it (that is, if I've not
already scheduled an occasion to do it), and then when the time comes,
doing it. What I call this ie what I do and how I manage my life ie how
I lay down the track for what I'll be doing today and for the
foreseeable future, is
leading
with my
word.
Everything else including dealing with life's interruptions and
emergencies which occur randomly of their own volition, then gets dealt
with in the wake of (if you will)
leading
with my
word,
and therefore in the process of
Life itself.
This for me is what
leading
with my
word
is. This is where my first priorities are assigned. Everything I need
to get done, gets done as if in the wake of
leading
with my
word
- carefully,
completely,
fully,
thoroughly. Look: this is new for me. I grew up learning there was
a world
out there, and that the
word
I
spoke
ie the
word
with which I
led,
described and matched ie fitthe world
out there. I'm not so sure it's that way any more. What's probably so
(ie what's
closer
to
the truth)
is it's my
word
with which I
lead,
which calls
my world
into being. Said explicitly, when I was growing up, I
spoke
with a
word
to
world
fit ie my
word
fit
the world
out there (I knew of no other way - no, there was no other
way). In
transformation,
Werner
teases out the possibility of
speaking
with a
world
to
word
fit ie it's your
word
which brings forth
your world
ie
leading
with your
word
brings forth
your world.
Speaking
with a
world
to
word
fit in whose wake it all gets done, is what
leading
with my
word
is.