The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Thursday, December 09, 2004

I.D.E.A.

Instinctive Designation of Energy and Attention.  This is one of the most important concepts in Lifewriting.  In life, one way to ensure success is to learn how to apply the proper amount of energy and attention at a given moment, to match  the "wave form" of focus to the task at hand.  To be appropriate.  To sleep when it's time to sleep, dance when it's time to dance, study when it's time to study, drive when it's time to drive.  No more and no less.  To be able to tune our energy and focus up and down as it is required, and be dead on.  Better still, you need to do this automatically, without thinking.  This, friends, is the road to mastery: to do instantly, instinctively , what you would do if you sat and thought about it for an hour.   this is not jsut something lofty and unattainable, you can place yourself on the road to such power and strength and precision. How do you develop this?   By setting balanced goals in the three major areas.
1) Relationships.  Take responsibility for your relationship history.  Heal yourself until you are able to attract and sustain a healthy relationship with a significant other, then make that relationship as honest and passionate and healthy as you can make it.  If you're not in a relationship, work on your "internal family", your relationship within, between yourself and God.  Our inner and outer relationships are mirrors.
2) Career and education.  You should do what you love, or love what you do.  Life is an intelligence test, folks.  Even a worm will move away from pain and toward pleasure.  Set a goal of making a living doing that which you would do for free, something you love.  Or of learning to truely, deeply love the thing that you do.  All you have is the days of your life: they should be filled with passion, contribution, learning, pleasure, knowledge, and honor.  Anything less is a waste of life.
3) Health and Fitness.  When you  strip, do you like what you see in the mirror?  Would you want to jump your own bones?  If not, you are not in alignment with your own values.  Got plenty of energy?  Wake up rested?  Can you work hard all week and still party on the weekend?  No?  Then you have work to do.
###
ALL THREE MUST BE ADDRESSED SIMULTANEOUSLY.  This is awesomely important.  By addressing all three, I promise that every excuse, every lame reason you've ever had for not being who you want to be will rise up.  But by taking responsibility for all three, and the results you have gotten, for the first time, you will have an accurate life map.  You'll know where you are, and where you want to go. Without both, a map is useless.  With both, you develop a feedback loop both simple and profound.  You will begin to develop your instinct.  This is the very core of what I've been teaching.  It is, in my opinion, the very best thing you can do for yourself...get a good I.D.E.A.!

No comments: