Alive time and dead time
More self-enquiry required
Robert Greene, the author of 48 Laws of Power, the 50th law, The daily laws, and many more extraordinary reads, lives the Stoic philosophy. This man is a lot of things, highly aware, a phenomenal author, and a fantastic guest to have on a podcast. The more I listen to him on that medium, the more insights I get from his brilliance which stimulates the curious stir for this article. In March 2021, I had Amor Fati etched onto my arm. It was the arm of my writing hand because I always want to remind myself when I write to be the lover of fate. The idea is to have that internal Q&A. I start asking myself, “The love of fate”, me? “You want me to love fate?” So, whatever happens, I must accept it?
I zoomed out and took the view of above (an ancient Stoic practice), and instead of thinking narrow, I could analyse through the wide lens view and with the advantage of a calm temperament I can discover how I show up in the world. This entry could run very deep because there are a lot of disproportionate conflicting arguments about how I show up (internally conversed), and not only do they not align my values, they show me as a person I don’t want to be, obnoxious, self-absorbed, entitled. This requires more self-enquiry before the share, so let me navigate it like this -
I immediately think of the type of people I don’t want to be/emulate when I think top surface. Rude, arrogant, unpredictable, narcissistic, angry, malevolent and the unconscious types. I don’t like being around people, which, although paradoxical to my profession (as my service to humankind is to serve), I need to be dumping these thoughts on paper, because just like the view from above, I can filter out the nonsense, and I can get real narrow, which in this case, focus on my realisation.
I am NEVER amongst people like the types I’ve mentioned, Fact! Why? Age, maturity, enlightenment, awareness, judgement, experience. *If you don’t learn daily, how will you deliver your best daily?
The majority of my professional life has been to serve people, whether it’s working for someone or working with people. I was always blessed by being tolerated.
Looking back to those traits above, I admit I have been all those characters at one stage of my life or another.
Not factual, but based on a self belief, this traces back to my childhood where I was the only child, and I had to entertain myself. I remember painting my parent’s garage on summer holidays, building ships out of wood and nails, building fortresses with the furniture in the house, being a massive WWF (World Wrestling Federation) fan and wrestling with cushions.
All by myself, I had to get super creative. I wanted no one around me, I felt like whoever was would invade my space. On the flip side, I wanted to belong, feel a bond, experience togetherness, gain validation, be a worthy contribution to a friendship, a relationship, a tribe. How and why am I so contradictory?
Amor Fati! The stoic practice for the love of fate.
When the weather is bad, I must decide to “weather it” and dress appropriately. When there is traffic, I accept it, knowing I could have started my journey too late, or there was an unfortunate accident that has slowed people down, or the sheer weight of traffic was the cause of the said traffic.
Being, becoming, or acting the Stoic and embracing Amor Fati needs work. I need work.
I had a YouTube video playing as I was journaling earlier to get some background learnings. It’s not a skill because, let’s face it, you absorb nothing except, possibly the occasional random bitesize knowledge nugget, which is what happened today.
Robert Green had a conversation with Ryan Holiday on the Daily Stoic podcast, and the nugget that was nourished on digested into this blog/articles title.
Alive time is the only possession you have. We own nothing apart from the knowledge that we are alive. Instead of making this entry a third party, let me direct it to myself. Why then do I want to give up that possession? Why do I give my time away? Robert Green continued to say, make it your own, take ownership, make it count.
Make your day, make your moments count. That’s my accountability thought.
Those are my thoughts.
*Authors opinion is only valid to himself.
