Philosophy
What’s Next
Mindfulness gained a foothold in the imaginations of workers and corporations in the last few years, as popular apps brought reliable and lighthearted training to the masses on their phones. Mindfulness asks us to pause and focus only on our existence in a certain moment. It calms the mind and allows us to observe the world as it passes.
So much of our cultural ethos is ladder climbing. Whether socially, financially, or on the job, we’re focused on getting to the next rung. When we finally arrive, there’s another rung for us to reach. On and on we go, lurching from goal to goal as the goalposts keep shifting.
We spend an inordinate amount of time asking, “What’s next?” I have this car, but which one should I get now? I got this promotion, now what job should I do next? I hit this financial goal, now what am I going to work on next? All this time thinking about the future causes us to miss the present.
Having goals is a good and necessary thing; so is being mindful in the present moment. The growth of our children is the perfect reminder that, while every stage of life has its challenges and frustrations, each stage also has its little joys. These joys can only be found when we ask, “What’s now?”
Start Now
Tomorrow is the perfect time to start anything. With the whole day ahead of us, no interruptions, it’ll be just right. I’ll do everything that I’ve been meaning to do for the last six months but haven’t quite gotten around to getting done.
First thing in the morning, tomorrow will be waiting with its pristine beauty, like a fresh driven and completely untouched snow, the exact right jumping off point to live the life I want to live and be the man I would like to be.
But when that doesn’t quite work out because I wake up still myself, and a new tomorrow full to the brim with promise and hope is just over the horizon.
Whatever it is, whomever you wish to be, don’t wait for tomorrow. There are a million tomorrows and only one today.
Trailhead
Three hundred and sixty-five days later, we find ourselves at another trailhead. The new year holds a great deal of symbolism in our world, although in reality it’s just another day. The beauty, though, of the special meaning to which we assign it, is that it’s another reminder of our call to constant renewal.
Pulling out our pen and paper, we sit down to list our resolutions. We turn our thoughts back to the person that we want to become, the life we ought to live. Plans are great things, but life doesn’t move in a linear fashion. Demands on our time, focus, and attention ebb and flow. Major projects, illnesses, and even just a bad night’s sleep knock us little by little off course. Slowly, over time, we deviate further and further from our objective, eventually looking up to see that we’re way off course.
Contending with life as we fight to live as we ought to is at the heart of constant renewal. God doesn’t expect us to radically change ourselves once and then live perfectly forever more. He knows and understands the struggle, the conflict, and that small corrections each day add up to big results over time.
We’re at a new trailhead: January 1, 2024. Win, lose, or draw, what tiny choices do we need to make each day this year to be closer to the person that we ought to be when we all meet back here on January 1st next year?
Some Greater Glory
Hopelessness is poison for the soul. With nothing to look forward to in the future, man starts to unravel. Slowly, we give up on reality, sinking into ourselves, captives to boredom. We lose the will to impose any sort of discipline on ourselves or self-control.
We live in a world that our ancestors could’ve never imagined. Every single fact is accessible to us from a single website, carried on a super computer in our pocket. We have years worth of entertainment options to choose from on our televisions, yet we usually just end up scrolling for hours instead. Food is plentiful and easily summoned to our front doors with a press of a button.
There’s nothing wrong with comfort or advancement, we’ve conquered many of the natural foes that killed our ancestors before they reached the age of 30. But we’ve lost our desire to achieve some greater glory.
Glory in ancient times was often found in battle. Seeking it, men marched to foreign lands, though a large number died of communicable diseases before taking the field. They braved harsh weather, rough terrain, scant food, and the great unknown, all to achieve glory for their name and their family. They endured all trials because they knew they had a purpose.
The softness and laziness of the modern era has sedated us, making us unwilling to pursue any objective or destiny. The path to sainthood is hard, so why start?
We need that higher purpose to call us on, to fulfill our true purpose, and to grasp that glory. We need to wake up.
Just War
As advanced as we all like to think we are, even in this post-modern era, still struggle with the same essential flaws. Though we long for peace, and the social and economic prosperity that it brings, conflict is a central theme in the human story. Wherever there are two or more people, there will be differences of opinion and, thus, conflict.
Modern technology has made war more precise. Laser guided weapons, GPS satellites, and a professionalized military allow for the brunt of the force to be focused on the intended target. Collateral damage, when desired, can largely be avoided.
Although armed conflict should always be a last resort, it’s a lawful tool for the defense of a nation. There are circumstances when, for the defense of innocents and the survival of a nation, war must be prosecuted.
When that point is reached, when ethical and moral justifications are present, there is no point to a restrained or proportional response. Instead, the only true choice is to eliminate the threat through a precise, targeted, and intensive military action.
The terrorist attack on Israel earlier this year, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, are the two latest examples of a just war. Israel and Ukraine did not start the fight, but they have the unequivocal right and moral justification to end it, with extreme prejudice.
Love the Path
In life, we often have to walk difficult paths to achieve our desired outcomes. Whether at home, at work, spiritually or in our relationships, getting from where we are to the place that we dream about requires an ongoing commitment and thousands of steps. Though it’s easy to be motivated in the beginning, how can we best sustain our good works?
Though the individual steps in our journey may not be desirable or even enjoyable in and of themselves, if we love the path, success is assured. Armed with the knowledge that the path terminates at our objective, we can be confident that by following it, we will reach our desired ends.
Every step of a marathon is not a joy, but crossing the finish line always is.
Natural Conclusions
There’s something about waypoints in our lives that lead us to become pensive. We reflect, look back, and plan for a brighter tomorrow. These endings come at regular intervals and for all sorts of reasons. They’re yet another reminder, in our busy frenetic world, to slow down and think.
I’ve reached one such moment. Everything in my life is about to change, as we set off on a new adventure. As I look back and the years that we’ve been in our current town, I start to see the good in things again. Those ordinary moments that shaped our family, the progress we made in taking care of our home, and the business that I’ve grown all take on new meanings for me.
We do not know the plans that God has for us, but with the benefit of hindsight, we can see the genius of it all. The little, seemingly insignificant events that ended up being turning points. I’m grateful for them all, and ready to see what’s coming next.
Inconvenience
The kids went on vacation earlier this summer without Alison and I. Grandparents Camp is a nice annual tradition for any child. We realized that an additional sleep machine would be needed, so at 1:34pm on a Saturday afternoon, I ordered one on Amazon. A 4:36am the next morning, Sunday morning, it was delivered. That’s stunning convenience.
It’s easy to get frustrated with the little inconveniences that we suffer throughout the day. The slow driver in the left lane, running out of our favorite coffee, the essential but unavailable items in our online grocery order. We have enough stressors in our lives to have to suffer these smaller, but still painful setbacks.
But what if we instead embraced the inconvenience? The slow driver is adding another two minutes to our trip. So what? We could replace the coffee with something else, or drive to a café and pick one up. Missing a key ingredient may be a way to spark some creativity in the kitchen.
When we let inconvenience loom large in our minds, we miss an opportunity to sharpen ourselves. We let a tiny detail derail our whole day. We welcome defeat without the least bit of resistance. Inconveniences happen; we choose our response.
Disrupt
Wall Street is obsessed with disruptors; those companies that take a stale industry and deploy an entirely new approach, dislodging the entrenched powers. We’ve seen it time and again is business, sports, and wars when a dark horse comes out of nowhere, changes the game, and beats the unbeatable opponent.
There’s a reason why disruption is such a useful tool: it works. We all work ourselves into ruts. Whether for good or evil, disruption breaks the cycle.
Personal change and improvement is always possible, and seldom easy. We have to fight against our biology, which tends towards the comfort of the known. We also have to fight our psychology and all the negative soundtracks that keep us from becoming the best versions of ourselves.
To grow as a person, as a spouse, as a parent, and as a Catholic, we must continuously disrupt the lifestyle choices that hold us back. It’s a well-worn concept, one that St. Francis took to fanatical levels. It’s what Pope Francis meant when he instructed us to go out into the world and make a mess!
We share the same string of defeats. Goals unfulfilled, plans that fell apart. Goals and planning are the maps to our destination, but before we can take the first step, we have to commit with our minds and our hearts. External factors can inspire us, but when your alarm goes off at 5:00am, and it’s time to work out and pray, no one can do it for you. You can be inspired to be a more loving spouse, but only you can make that happen.
When we have the fortitude and grit to disrupt our lives, we can begin to live in the world of the possible. We don’t have to stay stuck or stay bored, we do have to dig deep, practice patience, and become comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Limitless
There are certain things in life that we pick up and just can’t seem to put down. Rules, guidelines, suggestions, and ideas that we carry with us and that color our world. We begin our lives knowing nothing, and over the first few decades we soak up the world, slowly losing our curiosity and settling into a mental rigidity.
So much of life is a war with ourselves. We have to fight off inertia, laziness, fear, anxiety, and overcompensation. Our battles are fought in our minds, as we seek to maintain mastery and control of ourselves and our lives. This war is not a bad thing; it’s the reason God gave humanity the power of intellect. He wanted us to fight, to contend, and to reap the growth and benefits of winning. Only then could we be truly free, able to create and bring beauty into the world.
Rigidity is one of our natural defenses. We stick to what we know and feel a sense of safety. But it can also lead us to a life of mediocrity. When we feel stuck, it’s time to call an audible.
Let go of the false messages that you tell yourself. Be bold enough to break out of your element and experience the serendipity of newness. Reengage the spark of curiosity of your younger self. Climb higher summits, explore new horizons, dream of new possibilities. Why let your life be limited?