It's now on.
I've never been a resolution person. I've always believed more in doing the right things year around. But I'm throwing some weight behind the ritual this year.
Rituals can be good for us humans. They provide structure, a general framework for us to follow. Not everything has to be rigid, but not everything has to be fly by night, seat of the pants. I'm seeking a balance between the two. To have enough structure to not get lost, but not so much that I can't do things on a whim.
So Happy New Year to everyone. The Chinese new year is coming up soon as well. Close to my 30th birthday. I'm still trying to decide what to do for that one. Should it be a blowout, or just something quiet and get out of town? That's for another day.
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2 comments:
If a tree is too rigid, it's strong, Very strong. It will stubbornly resist movement and change. At the same time, it's also brittle, and can easily break when too much force is applied to it.
It's better to be flexible, to be able to bend and sway with the prevailing winds. That tree can move - just enough - when needed. It won't snap during a hurricane.
A tree should also firmly root itself to the ground. It should stand where it stands, and should always try its damnedest to prevent being displaced from where it has chosen to root.
Rigidity vs. fluidity is a false dichotomy. It's not bad to be completely rigid on some things. I, for example, will never smoke. Never, not ever. It's also not bad to be completely fluid on some things. My political and philosophical thoughts are constantly in flux.
Not every structure has to be a prison. On the contrary, a structure should be what gives our life its shape. It should be rigid enough to allow us to stand upright, and yet flexible enough to move and morph as our lives change around us.
Your structure is like the roots of that tree. Your structure is a direction towards an unfulfilled set of possibilities. A prison is a structure that limits your possibilities. "Take 1001 pictures" is a structure. "Take 1001 artificial-light portraits" is a prison.
Certainly, the building of one structure eliminates the possibility of building another structure, and may even necessitate tearing down another structure, but isn't life all about choices anyway? You can do anything, but you can't do everything. So choose some things to do well, and go after them.
Spontaneity needs a context.
Insightful as always.
Lack of flexibility is in the details, as it were.
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