Thunder & Lightening & Awe

Thunder & Lightening & Awe, Oh My! 

Recently, as I was driving from

Big
Town to Little Town along side the
Pacific Ocean, I was witness to a marvelously awesome display of Natures’ beauty and power.  The roaring thunder and magnificent bolts of lightening remained fairly constant and active for the duration of my thirty-0minute drive. I pulled over to the side of the road several times so that I could more comprehensively absorb what I was experiencing without becoming a distracted hazard of the road. 

Besides the powerful splendor, I was struck by how much awe was generated by this skyful display. Quite humbling, actually. My smallness relative to this grandeur. 

If I had been a pre-historic individual witnessing this display, what would I think and feel? Without scientific explanation or this mighty phenomenon, would I shudder in fear of this mysterious occurrence? Not ‘knowing’ what this was, how would I absorb such awesome and all-encompassing power? 

Such are the meanderings of my mind, wondering this and imagining that. Childlike, I suppose. 

Whether a child, a pre-historic, or a member of contemporary culture, how do individuals and collectives organize around mystery? Mystery such as thunder and lightening, for instance, sans scientific rationale.  How long can a cognizant person or people co-exist with a mystery prior to attaching ‘definition’ and ‘story’ to it? At what point does mystery unexplained become a stress that fetters the quality of life? 

Stories seem helpful. Likely for thousands of years, humans have been creating stories to explain away and absorb the uncertainty that comes with mystery. Rituals, myth, religion, and science are all apt venues for such. ‘Writing down the bones’ may be another way by which mystery can be absorbed if not explained by and for an individual. 

All of this seems our humanly humble attempt to defuse and dissipate the stress and strain that comes with the ultimate mysteries and uncertainties of life. Oddly, when one becomes myopic in ones’ adherence to the particular story embraced, then more stress ensues when it seems as if another story is seeping and creeping in to what is held as ‘true’.  

Sigh…I love a good storm. 

 

What Stories Do You Use?

Psychological Playbook

  

  

No matter what you do, no matter how precisely you plan, the proverbial ’shit’ will always happen. There will always be a fan waiting for it, to thoroughly spread it beyond its’ molehill status.

Are you ready for the eventual crisis?

Lately much of my work has been in assisting individuals who choose to create their own personal playbook, a psychological playbook, if you will. A plan for readiness that has nothing to do with a knowledge of science, math, history, or other of the subjects traditionally taught in the schoolhouse.

I suppose it has something to do with the kind of training that seems sooooo lacking this day and age. Training on ‘how to be in the world‘. The stuff that comes from mentors, parents, siblings, and other such players in ones life game.

We all have innate skills and intuitive intelligence as to how to respond to crises and other disruptions in our ‘comfort-zone’ based routines and stability. My work is to help cull that knowledge and wisdom out and to morph it into a pragmatic plan of contingencies should the fece hit the fan.

It takes a bit of introspection, and many feel they don’t have the time or energy to engage in such a seemingly frivolous pursuit. “Introspection, you say? What is this stuff, introspection?”

My response to this question is that it is path to your gold. To what will become your psychological playbook in the event that your default habits prove meaningless and unfruitful.

WHAT IS IN YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL PLAY BOOK??

deorre

Find Your Path & Make Your Mark

Finding and/or creating your path is hugely important. A path is the direction and destination of a life. It is how you make your mark. It is where you invest your personal energy. And if you don’t, it is what takes your personal energy away from you.

The way I see it is that what you do today is going to move you into tomorrow. The choice each person has to make is whether they adopt the ‘one day at a time’ approach or the ‘full planning’ agenda. There are benefits to both, and perhaps it is safest and wisest to imagine a continuum that we are plotted somewhere upon.

A touch of spontanaiety and a touch of planning. This empowers the ‘free spirit’ that resides within to meet the ‘promethean’ task master that is often associated with the mundane. When teamed, these two forces of energy have a synergistic effect that may very likely result in success and satisfaction and meaning while in the process of ‘making our mark’ in the world.

deorre