A Conscious Life

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My last article on why I am moving away from blogging full time got a lot of response from readers. They commented on the article, wrote personal messages to me and some, who know me personally, called me to inquire.

Some people seem to be disheartened and saddened by the decision, they got the idea that I am giving up on blogging.

I am not giving up, I am not leaving blogging. The change in plans is based on certain beliefs I have. I have discussed these before and I will reiterate them here.

Modification to plans

I am just readjusting my plan, the goal still remains the same. To explain further, here is an example from Steve Pavlina that I have quoted before. A plane is off-course almost 90% of the time during its flight. Yet it reaches its destination. How? Because the focus is on the end goal. They just keep readjusting the route all the time and stay more or less close to the expected path. Not perfect, but close.

The goal is more important than the plan. The plan keeps changing, it has to change. Good plans are the ones that are constantly modified and improved as fresh lessons are gained. That is the reason I did not obsess on a strong plan when I started out on this. I tend to make a decent plan, and then jump in. Then I modify my plan along the way, as I learn.

There is another benefit to this, this ensures a lot of adventure. Things are not fixed and you improvise as you go. When you do this, you live life in the moment. You are more receptive to new inputs, to the lessons your journey has for you.

I find this also analogous to an advice often given for fiction writing, plot loosely. When  you just have a loose plot for a story and start writing, you allow your creative genius to bring in fresh and helpful inputs throughout the task. With a rigid plot, you leave no space for deeper insights you gain as you move ahead. You find writing boring because you have already written the story in your mind and are now just rewriting it. But with a loose plot, you keep the whole process interesting till the end. Why not do the same with you life?

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. -George S. Patton

Pushing myself into a corner

During a boxing class I once attended, a fellow student was careless with keeping his guard(his hands) up. The instructor kept telling him to hold his guard up but he will do that only for a few seconds and then let it down. The instructor then sparred with him for a while, hitting him in the face again and again. The guy got the lesson, his guard never went down for the rest of the class.

Discomfort is often helpful in your growth and improvement.

One intention I have with this change is to push myself into a corner. I have grown a little comfortable writing posts and doing little else, even though most of the writing gets done in 2-3 hours daily. I have accomplished a lot, no doubt. But there seems to be a plateau setting into my performance. So, with this move, I am trying to break out of it. I am creating a sense of urgency, I am making myself uncomfortable.

The thing is, when you are faced with grave danger or extreme discomfort, there usually are no confusions which direction you have to move in, you act impulsively to save yourself or feel better. You don’t think what is the right thing to do, or what will make you happy. You won’t feel lazy and you won’t be slow or lacking in your execution. You will just act, in the best way you can.

But when there is no threat or discomfort in your life, finding a clear, meaningful and motivating goal gets a little difficult. If this is your predicament too, don’t go out to buy a new toy, just make a change that your heart approves but that otherwise makes you feel a little uncomfortable and insecure.

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. -Proverb

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While change seems uncomfortable, while it breaks the status quo, it is the only thing certain to happen. If we can come to accept it and embrace it, we come to accept a lot of learning, adventure and joy.

What, then, is the true Gospel of consistency? Change. Who is the really consistent man? The man who changes. Since change is the law of his being, he cannot be consistent if he sticks in a rut. -Mark Twain

Image credit: David Castillo Dominici

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