Gooaaal !!!

Wise saying – ‘aim for nothing and you’ll hit it all the time’.

Sitting in front of my laptop, sick as a puppy, I ponder on a mail that I got recently from one whom I consider a great and delightfully forceful a personality. A figure, well known internationally in Christian circles, his message, sent out to a few thousand people, contained the following excerpt :

Eleven months of the year are now behind us.

Are you where you hoped you would be when, in January, you decided this would be your best year ever?

Have you produced new thoughts with dynamite power?

Does your life give more evidence of faith this year than it has in any previous year?

Are you spending more time in prayer this year than in any previous year?

Have you read your Bible more this year than in previous years?

Have you more fully and effectively involved your family in spiritual growth than in previous years?

Have you accomplished most of the goals you set in January?

You are going to trade tomorrow for something. What will it be?

I left out some of his questions along with the rest of his message exhorting me to get my act together but to say that these questions had me buckle as though a cricket ball had found its way into areas private would be an understatement.

Having met him on a few occasions, I picture him asking me those questions with the kind of intensity he applies to everything he touches. An amazing guy, all of 85 years old now, he has the memory of an elephant, a lovely kind of blustering arrogance that doesn’t offend, an incredible sense of humour bundled with the enthusiasm of a 5 year old.

I digress.

Not that I don’t have aims and goals n stuff and it’s not that I haven’t tried in the past yet held up to the harsh sunlight of truth, I can see a lot of places where the goal setting fabric has thinned. I can see goals that dropped off by the wayside either due to discouragement coming out of initial failure or just plain procrastination leading to apathy.

Execution. The difference between the wannabes and the producers, that stickability factor which keeps one going in the direction of choice. Visions capture my mind – especially if well and crisply worded – and have me stand up and declare pledges of allegiance to causes, most of which are good. The slip between fantastic visions and my lip tends to be – that word again – execution.

Will 2010 be a better year than this one was? Will I be able to look this set of questions, square in the eye without flinching in embarrassment? Will my world be a better place because of the efforts I can take via the goals I can set myself?

‘Aim for nothing and you’ll hit it all the time’. ‘Sad but true’, Metallica would’ve growled.

Its rubber-meets-the-road time……

C.

Going, going, gone……….

‘Never hesitate to sacrifice today for what you can be tomorrow; never let a comfortable today be a stumbling block to a perfect tomorrow.’

The letting go of habits, memories, people brings the Bard’s ‘parting is such a sweet sorrow’ to mind. Will assume that his context was the separation of people yet I think it holds good for other things too, tangible or otherwise.

Letting go is the hardest thing, whatever be it - poison or nectar.

Most of the time, the reasons are good. They might range from things that you should not have done in the first place to things that you need to cut loose from coz its for the best.

Reminds me of a scene from Heat (1995). Robert de Niro – chief bad guy – tells chief sidekick Val Kilmer, “Do not have any attachments, do not have anything in your life you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner.” His context was falling in love and being hunted by cops not generally going together as a lifestyle.

That line, strangely, has stuck with me over ten years now.

Not that I am a ruthless, will-climb-over-anyone sorts (in fact, I lean very heavily in the other direction) but there is wisdom in that line, so what if it comes from Hollywood ! Its about letting go; doing the right thing; seeing the forest in spite of ‘em trees: holding lightly to things…….

Sometimes, trying to explain certain statements are like trying to explain a joke. It takes away all the sting. They are meant to be tasted, chewed – if worth chewing – and digested to the satisfaction of the beholder/ be-reader / be-hearer. Yet I persist, probably for my sake more than anyone else’s.

Chances are that hindsight, being 20-20, would have us ponder one of two basic thoughts regarding a particular letting go :

• Am so thankful I let go when I did. Life has blossomed since for all involved.

• It was painful, it was necessary but I wonder, how would have it all turned out eventually if I hadn’t let go?

We clutch onto fruit forbidden coz they are like soft pillows at night; comforting, in spite of gentle reminders by that still small voice telling us to let go.

I tend to think with an either/or philosophy; black or white kinda, although I will be the first to admit that my life does not necessarily reflect that in all the decisions I have made. At most times,  I do realize that I cannot have the cake and eat it too yet boy, do I try !! Hypocrisy? Maybe. Frail human being? That’s probably a more comfortable truth.

Change is constant. The art of letting go will always be that, an art. Simply because it’s the first of the conjoined twins that comes out of the womb.

The other one is named ‘moving on’

C.