Blank Slate
The Moment Of Change
04.18.06, 6:00 PM E
Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins that may buy you just a moment of pleasure,
But then drag you for days like a broken man behind a farting camel.
-Hafiz (Ladinsky)
You have the power to reinvent yourself. The difficulty lies in the objectivity and honesty you need about a very subjective topic–yourself. You’re fairly objective about improving or upgrading things, like your car, or your stereo, or your golf clubs. Reinventing yourself requires a similar objective assessment of the most important thing of all. Your life. Buying a hybrid car, or a cutting-edge computer or communication system, or changing investment choices, or even trying out a nontraditional style of sexual relationship, are often unconscious substitutes for the inner signals urging you to change something about your life. It just seems easier to do something in the outer world. When you’re aware of inner messages about your life, there’s a far bigger payoff than any worldly thing or activity can return. You increase your options by being aware of the reasons you’re choosing what you do, but more importantly, you are able to distinguish between a moment of pleasure and a moment of quantum change. Reinventing yourself, in my book, is more than just possible, it’s a lifesaver.
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