Distinguishing What's Important

When we read, we constantly evaluate which details matter most to the meaning of the text so we know what to pay attention to while reading.

The same applies to living: We need to know what matters most so we know what to pay attention to while living.

When people fly hot air balloons, they must routinely jettison unnecessary objects which no longer serve their original purpose if they are to continue to rise into the sky and reach their destination.

We must do the same in our lives: jettison the obligations that are not serving us, that are weighing us down, preventing us from soaring.

To do this, to determine what is most important, look over the edge of your life as one might gaze over the edge of the basket of their soaring balloon, and find that horizon you seek. Name it. Know it. Claim it. 

Then chart your course, keeping close those people, books, thinkers, and organizations that will help you reach that horizon. Those that would hinder? 

Well, by this point 

I think 

you know 

what I would 

do with 

those.

Comments

[Carey]

So true, you need to filter out what is bringing you down. I've found that most people who are negative will really hurt you and you should avoid when all possible.

[Stephanie Griffin]

Another thought-provoking post, Jim. I really like the hot-air balloon metaphor. In this day and age, I think a lot of people lose sight of one of the most basic concepts inherent to us as humans--that of choice. We have more choices in our lives than we realize a lot of the times. This post, and especially your point "jettisoning the obligations that are not serving us", make me think about choice and how because we choose so many of the things and outcomes in our lives, we also have control. Control to jettison those "obligations that are not serving us." That is a very empowering concept. If something is hindering us or preventing us from achieving success, we can make a choice to change something--to get rid of something negative or to obtain something better. We also have complete choice, and therefore control, in how we react to things that happen in our lives. Maybe for those things that we cannot jettison, we can just (I don't want to say "simply" because oftentimes choosing to react one way over another is not typically easy) change the way we react to the things that happen in our lives, ultimately learning to think about and leverage these experiences, these events, these reactions, in ways that CAN serve us and help us in learning and growing into better people.