Start with a Simple Idea.
It’s as simple as that. Or is it? We hear stories about people who are fulfilled and successful, motivated and inspired. What many of these people have in common is that they started their Journey of Success with a simple idea that ultimately sparked growth in their personal lives while contributing to the world around them.
I had some crazy dream about Skylab, America’s first space station, last night — how I was trying to walk on one of its pinwheel arms while maintaining my balance in a gravity-free environment — not an easy task even within the fuzzy confines of a dream. All of which got me thinking, mid-dream, about what a wonder the whole contraption of Skylab is. Having experienced its interstellar wonder in my dream, I woke up thinking about how much research and groundwork and hope and intention and vision and forward thinking went into creating it.
Skylab didn’t just happen. It started with a simple idea and it grew. Maybe someone scribbled his or her original idea of it on the back of a bar napkin. Maybe it was the result of some astrophysicists having breakfast together at a conference. Maybe some scientist woke up with a detailed dream of it. I don’t know Skylab’s true genesis, but someone had to take it and move it beyond a doodle or an entry in a lab notebook.
In a TED talk (click on the link below), Tony Robbins tells the story of his family receiving an unexpected and generous Thanksgiving Day kindness when he was younger. As a teenager, Robbins wanted to pay this stranger’s kindness forward, so he anonymously provided a different family with a Thanksgiving dinner. This generous and simple idea grew into the creation of an organization that now feeds millions of people.
I love stories like this. Still, as inspiring as they are, they can also feel to be a bit overwhelming. The obvious questions enter into my thoughts: How did Tony Robbins grow the organization from this one simple gesture? How did he organize enough people to join him in his vision? Where did he get the capital to grow the organization into such a large one? Sure, the amazing and energetic and dynamic Tony Robbins could pull this off . . . but could I?
Details, details, details. I so often get lost in the details. If I were to look back on my life and pushpin myself onto any given past moment, would I have imagined all of the dynamics of Today? Parts of Today? Maybe parts, yes. But all of the amazing-ness that I now experience? No. I don’t think I could have foreseen a tiny glimpse of the bigger picture. I had to take one simple step. And believe. And know. And feed the vision.
Skylab was originally launched unmanned but there were eventually several different crews delivered to the station. On the latter missions, there was even an additional spacecraft orbiting to rescue the crew should they encounter any emergencies. Imagine these baby steps. First, unmanned. Next, manned missions. Ultimately, backup and support.
For a free download (in workbook format) of today’s journal prompt “Start with a Simple Idea,” provide your email address, and I will send you your inspiring journal exercise for you to print out and to start journaling. Time to make a differrence!
And to conclude on an uplifting note . . . This is such an inspiring TED talk: Why We Do What We Do. If you have 21:45 today to take the time to just relax and to open your mind to possibilities, this is a great TED talk. In fact . . . watch it before you begin journaling. The ideas that Tony Robbins shares will expand your thinking and your creativity and your perceptions of what is possible.
Being a person who enjoys words and writing, I was hoping that some neat turn of phrase might bubble to the surface. Maybe something profound or appropriately witty or, even better, both. Something that would neatly sum up all of the many memorable events that have marked the calendar these past six months . . . experiences that stand as fence posts upon which I have strung the minutes, hours, and days.
It’s the first thing that came to mind and now, after re-reading my list of Top 9 Fence Posts, it makes sense. Looking Both Ways implies some sense of caution, like what our parents tell us before crossing a street: Look both ways!
Can you remember that first time you were actually pedaling, steering, and balancing a bicycle all by yourself?
This truly struck a chord of sublime resonance with me. I felt completely busted — in a good way. It made me realize that rather than ignore or abolish these stuck spots in my life, maybe it was time to use them, like throwing down kitty litter behind a spinning tire in the snow, to gain some new traction: in other words, re-write my Repetitive (and oftentimes boring) Statements into Rev-Up Statements.
Next, I re-wrote my rants with a positive spin that was designed to get me up and going again. No more Stuck Spots! Putting the positive spin on things required ACTION on my part. I had to visualize and implement alternatives to just spinning into a deeper and messier rut. The great news is that I felt empowered by my own personal recognition of This isn’t good anymore. I want different. I caught myself and verbally stopped myself from launching into Rant Mode. It felt great! And I am guessing that my friends and family think that it is pretty nice, too! There is nothing like a broken record to put someone to sleep. It generates white noise that blocks a lively conversation exchange from taking place. Friends and family, I am trying to exercise new awareness!
The great part? This process works! I have been catching myself as I spin myself deeper into some repetitive statement . . . and I have been stopping myself right there.
Numbers.
There is simply so much cool stuff going on there. Quantity vs. quality. Count vs. noncount. We think of a life — a count noun — and we count the number of lives on the planet. But when we think of our our own life? We think “in terms of wholes that can’t be cut up into pieces.” It’s one whole life. It’s my life! And like grass, rice, and money . . . we don’t actually cut our own life up into pieces . . . even when we think in terms of annual events such as birthdays and anniversaries. It’s all one big whole that we truly prefer not to relegate to the Noun Category of Count. We want to make it count in the ways that are important . . . not in some grammatical or statistical way.
My advice to self: Just live and give it your best in the moment. You’ve got this. While I appreciate the concepts of mindfulness and how important it is to be aware and to be positive, there is more. There is life as a noncount noun. It’s okay to count the little things as long as I remember the bigger picture. And sometimes it is so hard to keep sight of this enormous, huge, ginormous Universe of which I am but a tiny speck.
The Unseen Words Project 