Hamster Wheel

It’s easy to think
that the things
other people want us to do
are more important
than what we want to do.

It can seem
that doing what we want to do
is selfish and bad
while doing what others want us to do
is altruistic and good.

And yet,
we are the proverbial “other people”
to somebody else.

May we pause
to deeply wonder
what it is we’re doing
and ask ourselves
the wonderous question
of “why?”

Why have we prioritized
certain tasks
over others?

May we live life
as the wonderous
and paradoxical
mystery
that it is
instead
of merely a series of problems
to be solved
,
otherwise
our lives
can easily turn into something
akin
to a hamster wheel.

Word vs Meaning

Words often mislead us.

This is normal.

In fact,
I spent much of my first book
talking about how words like
courage,
humility,
respecting,
listening,
considering,
acting,
had misled me.

Words do often lead our attention.

Yet, where the attention is led
can surprise us,
because words only have meaning in context,
And that context resides
not only with the person uttering the word,
but also the person interpreting it.

So much of our verbal disagreements happen
because we are unwilling
to let others lead our attention
to their meaning.

We’re more interested in arguing
that their use of the word is “wrong” or “bad,”
while our use is “right” or “good.”

Perhaps.

Except we’re back to the problem solver’s mindset.

Let us be honest.

Is this mindset helping us solve the problem?

If so,
great.

If not…

It may be time
to switch
to the paradox dissolver’s mindset.