Boundless through boundaries?

For a long time now, I've thought that leaving this country would be to let go of all things that bind me here.

Not having important worldly possessions, like a house of my own would certainly ease the process. It has occurred to me that it might not be so linear. Some of my most bitter experiences in life have made me need a place to come back to. Having someone there would be fantastic, but still, a place of retirement were you go to lick your wounds and recover from life's blows. Something I eventually called my Zen place.

In truth, life is as complicated as we make it. It's really very simple to work things out if you don't just up and panic. Remaining seated and thinking of the problem with logic is often much more productive and even reassuring to those that surround us. Leadership qualities.

Sometimes it's even better to put a problem to which we don't have a clue, inside a mental drawer. Let it simmer; come back when you think you have the answer. Repeat until you do. Thinking straight requires serenity. Inner peace is what gives you your balance, and with balance you can achieve many things. Here we can work on a static level, wondering about philosophical problems, for instance.

However, in the modern world, things are far from being static. Dynamics seem to be the answer to everything. Fast and furious. Not so fast Jack. Hit the brakes, your are going down.

As any Martial arts student will tell you, most of the techniques they use would be impossible to achieve without one wonderful thing that was probably invented even before civilizations. Leverage. Brute force can take a lot of energy, wear you down, and you might not even get the job done. So a direct approach can be a bit dumb sometimes. However, by using a lever you can multiply your effectiveness and achieve your goals with a lot less strength.

If you have read some of my blog earlier, and paid enough attention, you know by now that no small subject is without a catch. So where is it? Elementary, my dear Watson... Leveraging can be used in every day chores, so it can save your ass. Try to spend a day picking up sacks of cement and you will get an inside view of what I'm talking about.

Wonderful thing about mankind, no matter what we say, we are all lazy. Being lazy is not a bad thing; it just means that you want to spend as little effort as possible in a task. That is why Man became inventive. So, to save his and his fellowman assess, he invented a machine to pick up the sack of cement. Nice, isn't it? Now he can get the job done, faster and with little effort.

Social wise, Man also discovered shortcuts, or longcuts, if you will. Thing is, we became aware that the shortest distance between two points may not always be a straight line. Or the fastest. You just can't do without avoiding dead ends. Learning to deal with people is much harder than learning to deal with machines. Believe me, I know.

Robots might be a stupid thing, but they always do what you tell them. People don't. And they might not even have a reason for it. So it's up to us to be emotionally cleverer, so you can get others to buy your ideas or do what you want them to do. Social leavers. By paying attention to details, small subtleties and working on them, you get to make fabulous things happen.

Think of Formula 1. There really are no bad teams or racers. All of them out there are capable of high performances, way above the common mortal. The difference between really good and excellent sometimes is just a fraction of a second. And what makes them beat that fraction of a second is working hard on details. The closer you are to your limits, the harder it is to make progress.

So what has the initial idea of this post to do with all this? In what way is a Zen place connected to Martial arts or Formula 1? Easy. No enterprise can be achieved thru stress. Turn on the panic mode and you are bound to screw up. You will have to work harder, use more resources than necessary, you won't think straight and if you get by harmlessly it will be plain dumb luck.

I just realized that I have looked most of my enterprises in life like a monster that needed to be tamed. I panicked without a reason, and basically had all that I described above happening to me. The last 10% of my life put me through ordeals that led me to the edge. Either I changed my perspective on things or it would mean the nut house.

Being here writing this is in itself a proof that I've changed for the better. The reason for writing this is that I already embarqued in an enterprise that I feared would bound me and prevent me from ever leaving this country, and that I always saw as a monster. Funny thing thou, I feel more free than before.

So, can it be that it is possible to be boundless through boundaries? That a place to come back to isn't castrative? Actually, my bindings have always been in my mind. That is what always prevented me from taking the next step. I was actually so focused on the problems at hand that I didn't take the time to look for solutions. You guessed it, panic mode. And no, you can't become boundless thru boundaries. What you can do is not get entangled in them.

Boundaries will always be there. Either your own limits, friends, a house to live on, your personal stuff, a girlfriend, kids, and so on. All that help make our lives what they are.