Where shall I place my first footstep if I don't know in which direction I am going? It seems obvious enough, but more mornings than not I rush into my day without any kind of a plan. There is a famous quote from an executive at FedEx that goes something like, "We start every night with the perfect plan and watch it fall apart." And still, more times than not, my priority overnight package is on my front step at 8 AM. This is a result of a perfect plan that didn't happen.
So, an effort every morning to start off right. Which means morning prayer before sunrise, because that is right. And it means reviewing my plan. I was surprised a few weeks ago to read something on my New Year's Resolution. Surprised! How is it supposed to direct my year if I don't even know what is on it?! And then a look at the calendar for the day and a mental rehearsal of what the perfect day will look like. This entire process is meant to take an hour, in any case not less than 30 minutes. It is at the moment the single best thing refreshing how I live my life.
Just today, finished reading The Act of Will by Roberto Assagioli. I was going through Davis Library purposefully toward some distant stack and happened to notice it- a sunshine yellow binding and that title. In the book he doesn't speak directly of existentialism, but the book is something of a handbook for the existentialist life, between Tillich and Getting Things Done. And he does reference Paul Tillich, as well as Viktor Frankl and Rollo May. Despite having read all of them, I had never heard of him. Unless the worm in the brain becomes distracted (entirely possible), I foresee several posts about Assagioli and his book. For today, just the reminder that the will is nothing if the goal has not been envisioned.
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