Alexandersmap

    Tag: Yin

    • The Two Sides of a Crisis

      “When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and one represents opportunity.” — John F. Kennedy

      Search that quote by JFK and Google AI will let you know that it’s not completely accurate. The character for “danger” is right, but the other character apparently doesn’t mean “opportunity” so much as “chance” or “point of change”. I say whatever—it’s mostly on point. And that point is, while understandably focusing on the risks associated with any crisis, don’t let the underlying opportunity to learn, grow or pivot that the crisis represents slip away.

      My day started with a series of work-related fire drills that needed to be addressed immediately. Where do we start when so much is coming at us at the same time? The answer is to prioritize the one that cannot be deferred, and then the next, and so on. Breaking the urgent down into manageable tasks allows us to focus on what we can control.

      “Prioritize your problems and take care of them one at a time, the highest priority first. Don’t try to do everything at once or you won’t be successful” — Jocko Willink

      Every day offers both order and chaos. To skate the edge between the two is challenging, but maybe that is why we are here, in this time and place. It’s our crisis to manage. That unique ownership bestowed upon us may be seen as a curse, but isn’t it also a gift? We simply need to figure out what that silver lining is and leverage the heck out of it after we put out the fire.

      “Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this.” — Homer, The Odyssey

      There is danger in every crisis, but there’s also a chance to set things straight somehow. Homer had it right. And so did Winston Churchill when he told the British to keep calm and carry on. A calm mind has the ability to focus on priorities and get things done. Viewing a crisis as an inflection point from which positive change may unfold is a healthy, productive way to step forward from however many steps back we’ve just dealt with. The character developed in a crisis is our own. Just see it through.

    • Orange and Order

      “Rejoice! The purpose of life is joy. Rejoice at the sky, the sun, the stars, the grass, the trees, animals, people. If this joy is disturbed it means that you’ve made a mistake somewhere. Find your mistake and correct it. Most often this joy is disturbed by money and ambition.”
      — Leo Tolstoy (via Poetic Outlaws)

      “No one is singular, that no argument will change the course, that one’s time is more gone than not, and what is left waits to be spent gracefully and attentively, if not quite so actively.” — Mary Oliver, Winter Hours

      Productivity and bold action have their place in this world, for progress depends on it. Progress for humanity, surely, but also for the individual. But we must remember too that we skate a line between Yin and Yang, and balance is the key. If Yang represents boldness and action, Yin represents temperance and reflection. It’s quite figuratively day and night, which may be why some of us find the orange hour in between to be our happiest place.

      Our best life is found in balance, and we feel the urge to lean in to both extremes now and then when our body and soul remind us of our imbalance. This disturbance of the Force (if you will) creates restlessness, which in turn triggers change. We all feel it in our own way. For me, it’s often the nagging question of “what’s next?” wrestling with the emphatic reply of “here and now”. Action calls, joy reminds. What will we listen to today?

      Somewhere along the way I’ve put aside some goals I’d been chasing for a lifetime. Somewhere along the way I’ve leaned into different objectives for the balance of my time. We are each in the process of becoming what’s next, and possibly even savoring what it is we’ve become thus far. Life is balance between the two, represented by orange and order. That balance is where the joy is.

      Orange Hour