I had a great conversation with my friend Binsen this morning. He told me about going to the ocean yesterday and diving into the cold water.
Pure surrender, he said.
I wondered what was going on. The day before I jumped in the pool and felt the cold water remind me that life is good and worth living wholeheartedly. It was also pure surrender for me.
Our parallel cold water experiences (cold water is relative here given that we live in South Florida and the water was probably 75 degrees) got us talking about what it means to do meaningful work. We came back to a familiar theme that when we are on our death beds (if we are fortunate to have the experience), we probably will only remember the people and beings we have loved and have loved us in our lives.
We asked ourselves why we waste time on not doing the kind of work that would give us more connection, more love, more meaning? Why do we put up with what does not satisfy?
So much of modern work is based on some sort of oppression. Money becomes the means of coercion to do what we don’t want or makes our hearts sing. We work to pay bills and too often the cycle of personal and communal unhappiness continues and deepens because we just can’t come off that hamster wheel.
Ah. Sounds pretty depressing, but thinking about what we do and how we do it can lead us to unexpected possibilities. Questioning is important. It’s a gift we offer ourselves and more significantly, we offer all people who are searching and wondering what to do with their one precious human lives. I also can’t help but think of these things as a teacher and as a parent of young people starting out in their professional lives.
As I look at the year ahead, I know that I want to live and do more of that kind of work that connects me to others, that allows me to expand my heart, serve wholeheartedly, and become more alive and engaged rather than less. I want to do this not only for myself but also for the people like me who are working out this desire in light of an economic and social structure that often deadens us rather than invite us into our fullest expression of life.
As you can see, the dip in the cold water did more than refresh my body.
If you have a body of water you can jump into today, I highly recommend!
Let me know what happens.
