I lead a relatively zen life, but it wasn’t always so. It took decades of sowing some pretty wild oats to finally come to a peaceful existence. For me, that’s as it should be. As the old saying goes, if youth is wasted on the young, then wisdom is wasted on the old.
So true, but then again, every day I get to just sit here with my dogs, writing, looking out over the serene Santa Cruz Mountains, is worth a thousand in my chaotic youth. Not to mention the wine cellar.
I often talk about the two sources of true wisdom and perspective being experience in the real world and exploration of your inner world. I know that sounds wise – and it is true – but I never said I’ve known it for very long.
The bulk of my world exploration came in my 30s and 40s. And while I tooled around in my head a bit back in college (with the help of some excellent chemicals), things really had to calm down before I could return for more introspection. That’s been ongoing for the better part of the last decade or so.
To summarize: the first couple of decades were about surviving the streets of New York and my dysfunctional family. The next couple were pretty tumultuous – flying all over the place, conquering the tech industry and whatnot. And it’s only recently that I’ve begun to get my shit together. In other words, it’s a journey.
There’s a lot of pressure on people to perform and accomplish, these days. Social media adds to it by making it look as if everyone else is so successful, doing so much, and having such a great time, but that’s nonsense. In reality, folks are just as confused and miserable as they’ve ever been.
Everything happens for a reason. Everything happens in it’s own time. And that’s exactly as it should be.
Zen Shmen. Just chill and enjoy the ride.
Thanks to Jon Kabat-Zinn for Wherever You Go, There You Are, Laura for The Ten Bulls of Zen, and more than a little professional help (from those who shall remain anonymous).