Meta Values - 21

A powerful writing has a wonderful awakening power to change one's life for good.  Ever since I read these lines, I try to evaluate myself everyday and try to change myself with time. 

And this happened yesterday. For 18 years I was always home for Max's birthday on March 21st. This year, I am scheduled to travel for work on his birthday. 

I can refuse to go and follow the pattern for the rest of my life. But I need to change with the situation. 

I have become Max and he has become me. Where it starts and where it ends is blurry to say the least. 

Home is where Max is and I am Max. 

So for the first time in 18 years, I will not be home for his birthday and I will treat my mind as a river. 

Mind as a River

Understand: the greatest generals, the most creative strategists, stand out not because they have more knowledge but because they are able, when necessary, to drop their preconceived notions and focus intensely on the present moment. That is how creativity is sparked and opportunities are seized. Knowledge, experience, and theory have limitations: no amount of thinking in advance can prepare you for the chaos of life, for the infinite possibilities of the moment. The great philosopher of war Carl von Clausewitz called this "friction": the difference between our plans and what actually happens. Since friction is inevitable, our minds have to be capable of keeping up with change and adapting to the unexpected. The better we can adapt our thoughts to the current circumstances, the more realistic our responses to them will be....

Think of the mind as a river: the faster it flows, the better it keeps up with the present and responds to change. The faster it flows, also the more it refreshes itself and the greater its energy. Obsessional thoughts, past experiences (whether traumas or successes), and preconceived notions are like boulders or mud in this river, settling and hardening there and damming it up. The river stops moving; stagnation sets in. You must wage constant war on this tendency in the mind. 

- The 33 Strategies of  War by Robert Greene