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12.29
I can only hope that the future holds even greater challenges.
If we pause to consider the past year, or the past five years, chances are we’ll be astounded at how far we’ve come. We’ve learned, we’ve grown. We are changed people. Most of our changes have been for the better.
What’s better about us is no accident. Because it’s not from having won the Tarkassian lottery. Or because some genie granted our wish. Most of our progress was earned.
And most of that came from being challenged.
Despite the fact that it was hard, grueling work at the time, having to overcome obstacles and climb mountains was good for us. Even the times we slipped, even when we hurt ourselves, the lessons were worth the pain.
And even if it’s a cliché, hardship does build character. Because the stronger our opposition, the more we must learn to be creative; the more we must learn teamwork; the more we must search our souls for inner strength. It is our Adversary that brings out the Hero in us.
Which is why Sisko could plead, in all sincerity, for a future filled with even greater challenges. For only then could he—or can we—continue to improve.
Our challenges are gifts to grow on. We are not given more than we, with help from The Universe, can bear.
I will list three things I’ve learned from challenges over the past year. I will think about my biggest challenge today, and what I might learn from it.
12.30
Those little points of light out there… the great Unknown beckoning to us.
Today’s space voyagers weren’t the first to gaze at the stars and see them as worlds like our own, complete unto themselves, teeming with other lives, other possibilities.
The writings of ancient Hindus hint at infinite worlds beyond our own, just as that tradition embraces the idea of countless lives beyond this present one—all of which are part of some grand Cosmic Plan designed to refine our souls to the point of perfection.
Points of light or points in our lives—these concepts symbolize what lies ahead for each of us. They represent a future we can only dimly imagine, yet which holds such vast possibilities that any direction opens up whole new worlds to explore, and even the faintest glimmer can illumine our spiritual path.
To feel the beckoning of those lights and lives is to accept the responsibility of existence. It is to acknowledge that we are ready to continue our Inner Voyage, to experience new things; to learn, grow… become.
We have done well to come this far, through times of happiness and sadness, joy and pain, ignorance and self-discovery. All we know for sure is that there will be more of each. And that we will be better for it.
I accept the challenge of the rest of my life. The strength to go bravely and boldly into my own future is all around me, and within me.
12.31
I envy you… taking these first steps into a new frontier.
It’s tempting to become nostalgic over the journeys we’ve already completed. We look back and recall the joy of discovery… our feelings of awe and excitement as we encountered new and unexpected possibilities… the thrill of finally breaking through barriers that would end up changing our lives forever.
It’s tempting because we forget the agony of learning painful lessons. All we remember is the ecstacy of arrival. Or at least our relief from having to pay any more dues.
And that’s as it should be. By envying others who are about to embark on their own explorations, we are sending them a message that their struggles will strengthen them, their pain will pay off. If we tend to gloss over the rough spots, at least we’ve affirmed that the ride is worth the price of the ticket. Others need to hear that.
But we’re missing the boat if we assume the message is only for their benefit. Our envy is also meant to inspire us, to re-invigorate our continuing explorations. Because we haven’t exactly reached the end of the ride, either.
What we interpret as “envy” is really our own longing to keep moving. What we feel are the vibrations of our inner voice reminding us that another frontier awaits us.
I will encourage others who are just starting down the paths I have completed. I am strengthened for the Voyages that still lie ahead.
1.01
A person’s life—a future—hinges on each of a thousand choices. Living is making choices.
Some decisions feel like they’re “forced on us.” Some events occur that seem beyond our control. And yet our lives are still basically in our own hands, if only because we can control our reactions to those “uncontrollable” events. We can choose to feel angry or helpless… or we can choose to learn from the experience and move on.
More importantly, we can also take the initiative. Because all around us are keys to our own future. These are the choices we make hundreds of times a day, that accumulate slowly, over time, to make us what we are. They’re the opportunities to stop and listen to another person—or hurry off again because we’re “late for an appointment.” They’re the frequent occasions we have to break old habits, to exert a little self-discipline; to say a kind word rather than an angry one; to forgive and release rather than hold on to the past.
We often fail to acknowledge how crucial these little choices can be. For they not only express Who We Are, they literally recreate us with each new moment. They take us along the same familiar path, or they point us in new, more promising directions—perhaps to where no one has gone before.
I am ready to go where I have never gone before, into the future I will create through my choices, by first accepting that I alone am responsible.
1.02
The greatest danger facing us is… our irrational fear of the unknown. But there is no such thing as the unknown. There are only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.
A similar refrain is repeated not only in Terran history, but throughout most other planetary societies: We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Biologically speaking, fear is a completely natural survival response. It tells us not to react hastily, not to get involved until we know what we’re up against. We need to better understand the situation, to consider our options—assuming there’s time. That’s only logical. Fear is what “the need to know more” feels like emotionally.
But when we concentrate on the “fear itself” instead of the situation our fear is urging us to investigate, that emotion can paralyze us. And then it no longer serves its biological purpose.
Fear is the emotional trumpet blast that calls us to advance, not retreat. It’s our sense of inner forces amassing themselves for The Mission, to go out in search of what is temporarily hidden and not yet understood.
Courage—boldness—is not the opposite of fear, not an “antidote.” These qualities are its offspring.
I will acknowledge and embrace my fears, and look beyond them to the wonderful opportunities The Universe is now arranging for me.
1.03
Chance is irrelevant. We will succeed.
It’s a bold, even admirable sentiment. But the fact is, many people who make this statement don’t succeed. Sometimes they fail… spectacularly.
What’s admirable, then, is not so much the outcome, but the determination. Simply to make the attempt—to overcome inertia and decide to act—is already a kind of success. One that’s equally spectacular.
In a parallel universe, a great sage taught his students, “Do, or do not. There is no try.” His point was well taken. For if our aim is merely to “try,” we often take our eyes off the goal. We focus on the effort alone. Or worse, we’re distracted by it, worrying so much about the energy and the cost that we forget what we’re trying to achieve. We soon forget the very relationship between trying and achieving until, at last, we see no reason to try at all.
But even this great sage would admit that, without trying, there is no doing. Doing is what trying turns into, if we keep working at it.
To say “Chance is irrelevant” isn’t to deny the role of luck—or at least the unknown and unforeseen forces that luck represents. But, as Captain Sisko says elsewhere in the record, “Fortune favors the bold.” And what fortune and luck often turn out to be, if only we have the determination to try, is The Universe itself rallying around us.
To try is to succeed. To make the effort is to give others, and The Universe, an opportunity to help.
1.04
I can’t sacrifice the present waiting for a future that may never happen.
As responsible Starfleet personnel we often think our goals should be about our next assignment, about career advancement, about future honors and achievements. Most of what we’re striving for is “out there.” We expect our efforts to be rewarded someday—when we’ve paid our dues, put in our time; when we’ve earned it.
If this attitude controls our thinking, we’ve made a fundamental mistake about what goals are for. Because planning for the future is not primarily about improving our conditions at some later time. The value of a goal is less in giving us something to “achieve” than something to guide our thoughts and actions in the present.
In short, we shouldn’t select our goals based on the difference they may make in the future. We should choose a goal for the difference it makes in our lives now.
Is the discipline and effort of working toward our goals fulfilling in itself, whether or not “someday” ever arrives? Do our goals inspire us to look more closely at the world around us, and enable us to experience the present more fully? Can we feel ourselves being transformed by the pursuit of our goals into less isolated, more spiritually-connected, more joyfully alive individuals?
The right future for me is the one that helps me draw more growth and fulfillment—and more lasting joy—from each present moment.
The above meditations were taken from Going Boldly on Your Inner Voyage © 1999-2006, IF Books.
To purchase your own copy of the book, please click here...
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