Posts tagged Inaction
Time To Live
Sep 21st
In life, there is action and there is inaction. No other options exist. The memorable life is the life where honest, working and genuinely effective action is taken. The unmemorable life is the life where dishonest, ridiculous and ineffective inaction happens, and action is not taken. No other realities count or exist. Life is both game and serious, but no matter what, you must take effective action for either to count. With that, I begin this message. Sure, we can all live lives, but the question is: How will they count for something? I have the answer, it all counts through effective action and good results.
Reality is everything that can be experienced. For reality to be logically livable, that experience must have at least some satisfactorily happy experience to it. Happiness is self made or self undone by perception and actions. What do I mean? Perception is how we view situations in this case, actions are the actions we take upon those perceptions. We can either make a perception bad or a perception good, but in either case what we act upon is what we experience. To my way of thinking, and this is just my way of thinking, all perceptions are good no matter what. So what are all actions that follow from those great perceptions being the inverse paranoid that I am. Even the worst situation has a good ending in my mind for me.
Remember all actions stem from perceptions and in life there is action or courage and there is inaction or fear. So I consistently take the action. I did not say I was perfect, I just make a decision and take the appropriate action until I get it right. That simple, that succinct. Indeed, even the best situations have the best endings for me because of this logic, as well as the worst. If the worst happens, what is there to be afraid of? As long as you have a chance, start over and work up to success and the best, that is all you can do with life. Reality and engagement is winning, unreality and avoidance is losing. So always consider your positive options no matter what, because what is negative is not always as final as it seems.
An illusion is a fearful picture. A concrete reality is a courageous decision. Choosing to face everything as a whole is a courageous decision. Facing nothing is impossible, because, nothing unreal exists, even thoughts, so you have no choice even if you do not want to face yourself. Yourself is always real to you no matter what, even if you do not want to face that. If you try to cheat yourself in that sense, you “sucker punch” yourself by missing everything good and real in life that will even benefit you, sure you miss the harm, but you miss the benefit too. Time may be able to be wasted, but reality cannot be, in that when you miss it all, you miss it all and it cannot be replaced except if you get started now.
Even if you avoid the good and bad, and miss it all, with existence existing there is always a chance while you have consciousness. That is what the Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe is about essentially. As long as you have a consciousness and time to do it, you have a chance to change things. As long as you can perceive and act, you have a chance. Sure, this is a big warning to heed, but you are reading it, take it to heart or leave it, but it is there and it will not change. Especially if you print it. Reality is like that, we must act to create what we want or not act, but either way there will be a result. That is the point, and that is not a “fair weather point.” It is an eternal “all weather bulletin.”
Stillness is a Powerful Movement
Feb 11th
“Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat.” ~ Lao Tzu
![]() |
It’s a bias of our culture that stillness is regarded as lazy, as being stuck in inaction, as a negative. It’s not. It’s an action, and a powerful one. What’s more, it can change your day, and in doing so change your life. You’re in the middle of a frazzled day, swamped by work and meetings and emails and interruptions, or hassled by kids and phone calls and errands and chores. |
You pause. Stay still for a minute, and breathe. You close your eyes, and find a stillness within yourself. This stillness spreads to the rest of your body, and to your mind. It calms you, centers you, focuses you on what you’re doing right now, not on all you have to do and all that has happened.
The stillness becomes a transformative action.
Stillness can be a powerful answer to the noise of others. It can be a way to push back against the buzz of the world, to take control. It can remind you of what’s important.
How to Practice
Stillness, oddly, doesn’t come naturally to many people. So practice.
1. Start your day in stillness. Whether it’s sitting with a cup of coffee as the world awakes, or sitting on a pillow and focusing on your breath, stillness is a powerful way to start your day. It sets the tone for things to come. Even 5-10 minutes is great.
2. Take regular stillness breaks. Every hour, set an alarm on your computer or phone to go off. Think of it as a bell that rings, reminding you to be still for a minute. During this minute, focus first on your breathing, to bring yourself into the present. Let the worries of the world around you melt away — all that is left is your breath. And then let your focus expand beyond your breath to your other senses, one at a time.
3. When chaos roars, pause. In the middle of a crisis or a noisy day, stop. Be still. Take a deep breath, and focus on that breath coming in, and going out. Find your inner stillness and then let your next action come from that stillness. Focus on that next action only.
Let stillness become your most powerful action. It could change your life.
“Through return to simple living Comes control of desires. In control of desires Stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.” ~ Lao Tzu


