FOLLOWING OUR ELEMENTS TOWARD A VISION

I have reflected on these elements in many ways in order to explore this as a language for life. It occurred to me there is another very meaningful story in terms of applying this interpretation to life. This is in regards to how we set out upon our journeys and toward our visions It is understood that we rarely lead ideal lives. Chaos, unpredictable things, and disadvantages ask us to adapt and tailor our journeys to account for them. Yet it is still worthy of looking at the ideal way to go about doing things as reference to best practices.

FIRE. To tell this story let us do what I have done so far in this course. Let us begin with fire. To begin on any journey we need a spark, no matter how big or small. A reason, something in our heart that says, yes, this is where I want to go. We can head down a path on faith, perhaps with little, if any, inspiration or fire in our belly. And sometimes life asks us to do just that. In this discussion, we are pondering the ideal, which is to sit with our hearts and let them speak to us. Maturity and wisdom are often needed. Some have this wisdom in relation to their hearts at a young age while others must do some work, make some more errors in judgement to make sure they are listening to the wisdom of their hearts and not some misled desire. This was certainly my path. It all comes out in the wash, but we just need a little fire, maybe a big one, in our hearts, and we begin to follow next steps..

EARTH. Do we jump into action? Is that wisdom? What action? The actions we take and when we take them define whether or not we will achieve any vision that we have. This leads us to earth because we need to address what resources do we need to get where we need to go? And here we see where many people bail out on the vision in their heart. I can’t get the resources I need. I don't have this or that. This is the one who fails to see time as an ally not an enemy. If we expect all the resources we need now, and that is not possible, we will set our selves up for failure. If we recognize that given, 1, 2, 5 maybe, 10 years of making wise decisions we can find ways to get what we need, our visions are possible. Impatience is a weakness, perhaps even more than procrastination, a deal breaker for achieving anything as is the notion that we cannot be resourceful. So before we take action, we take our fire to a place where we trust in our ability to be resourceful even if that requires patience and persistence. We assess what are the resources we need to take our first steps, even if those first steps are figuring out how to get resources to take first steps, and then we worry about what else we need when we get there.

METAL. Next up we confront another challenge that is cause for many to set themselves up for failure, those who do not understand how to realize visions. This is the acknowledgement of the systems surrounding our vision. No, we don’t have to have everything figured out to pursue a vision. That is a grave mistake. We can’t, but if we deny systems, fear them, fear the obstacles they present, we will bail out of our visions the minute the systems show up to govern our paths. These systems are ones we create, ones we enter, and the ones that are placed upon us by the governing forces of our societies. I’ll give you an example of this. Let us say we want to open a restaurant. It is our great passion for work. We look at resources and may we can get them, or maybe the reality is it is going to take us 5, maybe 10 years to get to a place where we can get those resources. Fine. Step 2. Then we have to ask, what are wise agreements with investors? What will those systems ask of us to give back? What are the issues with human resources and the systems we need to set up? What are laws and regulations surrounding running a restaurant so we do not get fined or shut down? If we want to open a restaurant, we need to get that nothing is as easy as just doing it. Systems can be daunting in relation to what we want to do, but we need to trust there is always means to create and work with systems. If earth represents our trust in our ability to get what we need, metal is our reality check. We are walking into reality and we cannot fear the systems we will need to work with, nor the constraints those systems are going to put us under.

Issue 3. We can have profound understanding of systems and how to manage them regarding our pursuits, but if the food at our restaurant is not good, or no one resonates with our style of cooking, we better be ready to adapt. Systems are just one piece of the puzzle. We are acknowledging that success is not freedom from rules and systems. It is knowing or learning what we can bend or break and what we must follow. To have some sense of this before we embark will save us some of the shock and reality check that can make us want to give up just as we are truly getting started. When I was young, I was one of many who entertained the idea of being a musician as a living. I would not say I was sold on it or had that fire that this is what I must pursue. In my hearts of hearts, it was not my path, but a life of music has that allure. Unlike all of my young friends playing in bands, hoping to be discovered. I went to the bookstore and found a copy of a book that covered all the realities of music, the business side of music, the systems if you will. Touring, contracts, agreements, costs., percentages and case studies of successful bands and their journeys. It was a gut check of recognizing the reality fo succeeding at anything. The point was not to run away at the first sign of the reality of life, it was to understand every path has a version of this, so am I sure I want to face that reality as a musician? Systems give us a gut check on what we are ready to sacrifice and obey in order to realize a given vision.

WATER. The notion of water could easily be put first in our discussion as it is a place of visions. However, water is also the place we can get lost in options. Lost in a world of emotion and fantasy, we can find our selves drifting from our hearts as much as can find our selves following those hearts. Water can bring meaning and life to what we do, but it is not our fire. Water is what make us lie in our beds thinking of clever ways to go about things, ways to be inspired, things to be inspired about, but somehow we are still lying in bed. To this water is best brought in after we do a deep double take on our ability to embrace the fundamental rules of achieving things. Our water self, our ability to apply creativity to our paths, is great at filling in the details. We can want to open a restaurant, to stick with our example, nut choose not to define or commit to what type of restaurant until we assess our relationship to resources and comfort with systems. Maybe our head wants to open a grand restaurant catering to wealthy high brow customers. But our reality check makes us realize we would be wiser to open a food truck or small hole in the wall. Now our imagination can come into play in a much more wise fashion. Limitations allow our water to work with reality. Water also represents our intuition and sense of emotional connection to things. While earth and metal forge themselves into increasing fixed things as we move forward over time, years, water flows. This is our ability to adapt and adjust. So this is also a gut check to see if we are willing to adapt our visions to adjust to life, to feedback, and what serves others, which is what defines success.

Going back to our restaurant, this is one reason people work hard, sacrifice everything and fail miserably. They become fixated on their original vision and see success as being uncompromising. We can apply being uncompromising to doing what we do as well as we can. But if we serve food that nobody likes but us, and refuse to change because that is our vision, we will waste our life and end up in massive debt refusing to adapt. What flows energizes and brings rewards. Are we too obsessed with our goal to be able to adapt and understand that it is the flow of energy in our practice that leads to the success of our vision? Strangely as a water centric person, I have suffered and paid a great price for this misunderstanding. The price of teaching is that I have ot make ALL of the mistakes profoundly to speak to them with proper gravity. Be ready to adapt, and know that in the end it is not your clinging to specifics that is going to get you where you need to go. It will be in listening and adapting. I will even tell you, having been in the business world, that the number one quality investors look for in entrepreneurs is not the perfect idea. This is because investors know that ideas are seeds, they are not successes in and of them selves. Investors do not look for perfect business plans. They look for people who have the ability to adapt, to take feedback, and adjust as necessary. To realize they do not have all the answers but they can find those answers and make adjustments along the way. The ability to adapt is not something we should fear. Oh dang, this is not going where I thought it would or where I wanted it to go! Adapting should inspire us as that is what keeps the journey interesting, what adds the spice and keeps us on our toes.

WOOD. Finally. We have now entered a place in our pursuit where our most important asset and requirement is action. Overthinking will get us nowhere now. That time is over. Fear, sorry, no room for you to own my destiny. Too much at stake. We can still be afraid of things, but we cannot allow our selves to be obstructed by fear. Fear cannot be allowed to stop us from taking any action necessary. When will our work end? Never. At least as far as we are concerned. We cannot think in terms of when our work will end because that will only distract us from all the work we have to do. Our final skill. Wood is driven. A world without work, without moving forward, is no world worthy of living in for wood. So this is the final phase in our pursuit of any vision. Wood is, above all, the embodiment of persistence. Doing just to do. Maybe one day we are passionate about what we have to do and the next we have not an ounce of passion. We do anyway, just to do. Of course there is potential blindness and foolishness, an unwise way to go about endlessly doing anything. But this foolishness often does not stem from wood, our drive. It is most often a result from poor visions, an inability to adapt, following unrealistic goals, or failing to work wisely with systems. When we check those boxes, the right way, our persistence can be applied with wisdom and that wisdom will tell us when to put the breaks on or step back. Yes, wood must have patience and restraint, but its gravity is always forward, unlike water, able to take advantage of any window of opportunity to accomplish growth. Momentum fuels wisdom as much as anything. Who wants to steer a car when it is not moving? How long can we look at a map before we just need to go? We step on the gas and now we have a reason to navigate, adjust, engage, pay attention. Wood is the fruition of all that we are and, as such, it is not an end by any means. It is our doorway to never ending work, even never ending loss, as branches and leaves never stop falling. This leads to wood's wisdom, our realization that life is a thing of replenishing, re invigorating, recreating, as much as it is a thing of visions, planning, accomplishing or arriving anywhere. Are we ready for this ultimate realization? Then maybe we are finally ready to pursue that vision.

A QUESTION FOR YOU

Some of you are well on your way to a given goal. Maybe you have achieved it and are learning to maintain what you have accomplished or ready to move on to a new vision? If you are still looking for that vision, that ideal path, can you see a hiccup here that may be your weak link in finding your best path to a vision that suits you?

In our lives, we must look out fo self punishment. That has a shelf life and then it can only hold us back. Timing is everything, eventually. We absolutely need to be in the right state of mind to do a given thing. Our visions need to be like seeds. We need to protect them and trust in them and nourish them over the long haul and they will become what they are meant to become. Fear is also a seed that sits right next to our wisest pursuits. If we water fear for too long we will realize the fruits of fear, which is often, surprise, what we fear will happen. Even if our fears should come into fruition before our visions, it is never too late to pull the flower of our fear out and water the seed we have been ignoring. Proper growth is organic. We still need to let our seeds grow in accord with nature. This is a little reminder for late bloomers, as I am one myself, never rush nature, but never ignore the power to become your wisest self.

We will never master life. Life is it's own master. We can only be good listeners.

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