Monday, October 19, 2009

Pesadilla




Despierta sobresaltado, con el corazón golpeando su pecho. No encuentra, en la casi total oscuridad, una referencia que le tranquilice o le permita bajar la guardia.

Nota que está sentado en la cama, respirando agitadamente, y no en el mar, como se temía, ni rodeado de escualos de gélida mirada, como sentía en su sueño.

Recuerda al guía de mirada pícara que le avisó en la barca, antes de sumergirse: “No baje si padece de pesadillas, o se va usted a meter en una eterna”.

Lamenta no haberle hecho caso. Enciende la luz y observa que su cama está en una gigantesca pecera sin salida, rodeada de agua por todas partes, en la que nadan despacio escualos de gélida mirada.

(Imagen de Enrique Saavedra, con mi agradecimiento)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

La falacia de lo neutral (II)




La semana pasada colgué un post escrito por Jonathan Fields, bajo el título de THE NEUTRAL FALLACY.

Os dejo ahora el link de una interesante web que trata, de manera muy divertida, algunas de las grandes preguntas de la vida.

http://www.fivebigquestions.com/


Es interesante atender con calma a las preguntas que formula la presentación en flash y observar cómo uno se resiste a bajar a la arena y a contestarlas. Hay una especie de resistencia a contestar, quizás porque a uno le da miedo enfrentarse a ciertas cuestiones de manera seria y meditada, y prefiere seguir metido en la inercia disparatada que casi todos sufrimos.


Creo que cuanto más se resiste uno a este tipo de cuestiones más necesidad real tiene de pararse a valorar ciertas cosas. Y, ojo, no estoy preconizando un "déjalo todo y ponte a filosofar en la selva", sino simplemente un parar un momento y pensar qué estamos haciendo y qué nos mueve a seguir haciéndolo.


Recomiendo vivamente THE WAR OF ART, de Steven Pressfield, un libro que describe como pocos el mecanismo de la resistencia a hacer lo que en el fondo sabemos que tenemos que hacer. El autor se refiere a la escritura, pero sus palabras resultan clarísimamente extrapolables a cualquier otra cosa que resulte importante para cada persona.


Si estás en modo filosófico, piensa que a veces, aunque pactemos el sistema de retribución a destajo, hay que dejar de cortar árboles y detenerse para afilar el hacha. Si prefieres pensar en términos económicos, haz memoria y recuerda el principio de los rendimientos decrecientes.

En tu caso ¿te preguntas alguna vez sobre el motivo de hacer cada día lo que haces? Sé bueno y contesta a la encuesta de la columna de la izquierda.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

The neutral fallacy (Jonathan Fields)


Este es un post escrito el 5 de octubre por uno de mis autores favoritos, Jonathan Fields, en su blog AWAKE THE WHEEL(http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/). Aunque lo he incluido en la lista de blogs que sigo (ver columna de la izquierda) os transcribo entero el post porque me ha parecido especialmente brillante. Visitad su web porque merece la pena.

I’ve been asked the question a lot since Career Renegade came out in January…
How do you handle fear?

- “Well, comes my answer, “that depends. Fear of what?”

- “Of failure, of course.”

- “Wrong fear,” I add. “You wanna be afraid, really afraid, take a look at what your life’ll look like not if you try and fail…but if you keep on keeping on for decades. That’s the real nightmare scenario for most people.”
Whaaa?
-
Simple fact, there is no sideways, no coasting…no neutral.
Not in relationships, not in business, not in spiritual growth, not in life. There’s only up or down, though the rate of acceleration and the magnitude of the progress in either direction often leads us to to some very warped perceptions. When we’re rising quickly, life is grand…though very likely unsustainable. When we’re plummeting rapidly, life blows and, similarly, with even a modicum of intervention, this path is rarely sustainable either.

In each of these scenarios, though, the speed and magnitude of the change in the way we experience life is so great and, often, so outwardly apparent, that we or those around us are moved to act to either support or redirect our trajectory. Action in the context of such powerful movement is a near mandate.

But, what of those periods where we’re sliding ever-so-slowly up or down?
In those periods, we’re often governed largely not by action, but by inertia. The desire to not have to rock our own boats. “Hey,” we say, “life’s not so bad. So what if I’m not making what I’d like to make, I’m getting by. So, what if my marriage ain’t great, it’s not THAT bad. Who cares if I’m a little fatter, sicker and in just a bit more pain. It’s not such a big deal.”
Problem is, “I’m getting by, it’s not THAT bad and it’s not such a big deal.” may be “workable answers now. But, the only reason they’re workable is because you’re assuming that you’ll stay largely at these same levels over time. That if you don’t do anything substantial to change, 10, 20 or 30 years from now, your business, income, health, relationships will just keep going pretty much sideways, coasting…and you’re okay with that.

Except there is no coasting. There is no neutral. No sideways.
It’s a myth, an illusion. There’s only up or down.
Which means, if you’re teetering on the edge of happiness, health, liquidity and contentment now, then 10, 20 or 30 years from now, if you really paint a vivid picture of your “do nothing to change” scenario, your life will likely be somewhere between really unpleasant and really dead.

Because unaddressed over time,

Nagging pain becomes chronic, acute and debilitating

Unrewarding work becomes soulless, lifessucking agony

Passable health becomes obesity, disease and, for many, early death

Unattentive relationships become estranged, angry, bitter, dysfunctional and nonexistent, and

Your currently “passable” life becomes increasingly painful as you enter the long, slow slide toward death. Because you failed to accept the knowledge that there is no sideways, there is only up or down. Even if the pace is slow, barely detectable. There’s no such thing as sideways.

Which leaves you with a realization and circles back to my original question.

How do you handle fear?

Don’t just ask the fear of failure question, add two others…
What if I succeed?
What if I do nothing?

Then, paint lush, vivid, highly-sensory pictures of each. Play out your failure scenario, along with it’s recovery. Play out your success scenario. Then, play out your do nothing scenario, 10, 20 and 30 years from now. For far too many, that become the real nightmare, the outcome most important to abort. Then tap your fear of manifesting that outcome as a core driver to break your state of inertia and go after the vivid success scenario.

And, the next time time you feel like inertia, sideways, coasting…neutral is enough.

Think again.