Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Jan 4: Transparency

When faced with a choose of lying versus truth, why is it human's lie?  In the last year of my life, I have first hand witnessed so much disregard for other human beings with the two largest being:

Human Trafficking
Corporate Fraud

Sometimes when you focus on the future or the past, it is easier not to make the right decision in the moment. It may be possible to construct stories in your mind to justify the decision to not tell the truth. 

If this child is given up for money/good, we will have more resources for those of us who remain. If we falsify these records, we will be able to get more $$$ for our company and I may get a promotion.

If....we live authentically in the moment, we realize that we must live a life of TRANSPARENCY in order to be true to ourselves.

Transparency, as used in the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. It is a metaphorical extension of the meaning a "transparent" object is one that can be seen through. Transparent procedures include open meetings, financial disclosure statements, freedom of information legislation, budgetary review, audits, etc.


We must be willing to be openly communicate and accept accountability for what we do in each minute- not what could have been or might be.  If I look at myself in the mirror and recognize that it may be easier to lie- but I choose to live with transparency so that I can love more deeply and serve my fellow man for fully.  This is the only way that be true to myself.

Jan 3: Momentum

Today when I walked outside down the driveway, I closed my eyes, placed my arms out with my fingers open, and felt the wind whipping through my fingers.

The wind is like a force driving us forward.  By living in the moment, the force that is driving us forward, like the wind, is MOMENTUM.

  1. capacity for progressive development: the power to increase or develop at an ever-growing pace
  2. forward movement: the speed or force of forward movement of an object
  3. measure of movement: a quantity that expresses the motion of a body and its resistance to slowing down. It is equal to the product of the body's mass and velocity.
Sometimes in our lives, we all lose momentum.  Whether it is friction caused by a failing relationship, a loss of passion in job, or maybe just the aging process, the loss of momentum can cause us to either refocus and rebound or to break. 

Living in the moment requires momentum- a concrete choice to get up each day focused on making the most of the day and not dwelling on past or what might be in the future.  To change what is not working so that progress occurs in each of us.  We are each a work of art being sculped one minute at a time.

We each need to find our wind, our momentum.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Jan 2: Sunrise

This morning I got up refreshed and energized to face the day. It is amazing what enough sleep will do for a person. As walked outside in the frigid cold temperature to get the newspaper,  I look up at the sky and saw the skyline painted with pink, orange, yellow, blue and white.

SUNRISE

sunrise
Definition

1. coming up of Sun: the rising of the sun above the eastern horizon each morning
2. glow from rising Sun: an atmospheric glow and coloring near the horizon as the Sun rises
3. time Sun rises: the time at which the Sun rises above the horizon in the morning

Sunrise is like a new beginning, a fresh start, and a renewed energy.  From the depths of darkness, a new light emerges from the sky and paints the most magnificent portrait of what could be.

If we live in the moment....

Jan 1: New Years Day

New Years Day.... it is simply another day.  Or is it?  For most people New Years Day is filled with aspirations of what they will become, what they will do better, of resolutions and goals.

Why?

Why would you not have the same sort of resolutions and goals every day?

FOCUS

Definition


1. main emphasis: concentrated effort or attention on a particular thing
"The committee's focus must be on finding solutions to the problem."
2.  area of concern: an area of concern, responsibility, or investigation
"an inquiry with a narrow focus"
3. concentrated quality: a concentrated and unified quality
"to bring focus to the problem"
4. sharpness of image: the quality that makes an image sharply defined with clear edges and contrast
5. sharpness of vision: the condition of seeing images sharply and clearly

Just as New Years Day brings people to a place to allow them to refocus - living in the moment does too.  The difference between the focus people have on New Years Day and the focus that one gets from living in the moment is that New Years Day only comes once every 365 days and living in the moment comes every 60 seconds.

Today's lesson: FOCUS on who you are and who you want to become.