Erich wrote an amazing article about taking advantage of this economic situation of a lifetime, and it really got my wheels going. Pun intended. It’s funny how the world works for us some time. He happened to mention a quote from the Richard Donner movie, “The Goonies”. Why did he have the Goonies on his mind? I don’t know. But earlier in the day, I happened to be driving up the Oregon Coast on the way to a seminar, and I stopped by Cannon Beach, where much of the movie was filmed. In fact, I took this picture of the HUGE rock that the pirate ship sails out of in the end of the film.
It was kind of cool to me that Erich and I were thinking about the same movie at the same time, without ever talking to each other about it. It’s almost as if sometimes there is something beyond our five senses that we connect with. Some may call it a sixth sense, others might call it God, sci-fi geeks may call it “the force”, etc., but its happened to me enough times, that I am beginning to really believe in it.
I was visiting my children this week with my mother (their grandmother, natch) and I noticed how much she was concerned about the timing of everything that we did during our air travel. When it was time to board the airplane (Southwest Airlines, cattle-call style) she was very concerned about making sure that we got on board as soon as possible, in order to get the best seat. I told her that it would be ok and that we should not stress out about it and trust that the line would move at the right pace and that we would find the perfect seats when it was our turn. She still hurried ahead and was able to get an aisle seat like she wanted. But when the plane was done boarding, we looked around and saw many aisle seats still remained open, as the flight was not full. Something told me that we would be ok to wait at this point. This happened a few different times on our trip.
Now, I know that this site is called Managing Actions, but what do you do when you have managed your actions to their limit? Sometimes, you can do everything right, and the plane gets delayed, the company cuts your job, you slip on a banana peel, etc. There are something in life that you just cannot manage completely. It is in these moments that we need to let go. There are mechanisms and systems in place in the world that will catch you. There is a balance between managing our actions and flowing with the world that is managing itself around us.
Just as I was leaving Cannon Beach, I noticed a marble block that had something carved into it. I came closer to examine it. I took a couple of pictures.
Getting back to Erich’s article making my wheels spin, I love the way that this piece captures the struggle for us to let go of what we have always known. The world is changing around us. If we hang on to that old world for too long, soon we will be grasping dust. If an opportunity presents itself, you have to first let go of your current reality in order to grab hold of the new one. Even if you have a great system for managing your actions, you may have to let go of a few things in order to experience something greater. Believe, trust, and release.
At the end of my visit with my kids yesterday, as my mother and I enjoyed arriving 30 minutes early to our destination in Phoenix, we both laughed as our bags were the first ones out of the baggage chute. It had been one of those trips where everything fell right into place. We let go of our stress and worry and let “something” take care of the things that we couldn’t take care of. Now, because we were so early, we ended up waiting 40 minutes for my dad to pick us up from the curb. So, I guess nothing is a perfect rule, but I am closer to believing that there is a larger flowing river going on around us. Sometimes it is best to quit swimming upstream, and go with the flow for a while.