Focus Tre…what’s your focus? What’s your objective, Tre? C’mon Tre..focus..focus…narrow it down…get it together…what’s your gameplan? long range plan? short term plan? plan !!!! Tre, what’s you’re plan?????
No that’s not a relative’s, a friend’s, or even a mentor’s inquiry…it’s the thoughts in my mind. I often have this insistent authoritarian voice that likes to bark the above when I’m feeling a bit like I need to hone in on the bigger picture kinda thinkin’ and get some kind of step by step process goin’ on in my life.
I’ve never been good at linear. Just haven’t. Opted out of cross country to jog on my own–where I wanted and when I wanted without the sprinting….dropped out of team sports to pursue dance and drill team. And whenever there’s errands to run, to this day, I always allow a ton of wiggle room to go wherever beckons. And it’s not unusual if someone asks ‘where ya goin’ for me to just say, “Oh, ya know…out and about.’
I adore wandering. Always have. Seldom ever feel alone or by myself and fascinate on exploring the untrodden. I’ve driven across country on my own several times, up and moved to new cities without a real plan several times, and even have journeyed a bunch on my own out of the country.
I just walk around and journey about with a real sense of connectedness and conviction that I will know what I need to know as I need to know it.
And while I adore this courageous free spirit about myself, I really rather tire of the day to day and the necessary schedule and routine that one needs to follow and pursue if one hopes to make progress toward a certain goal. And if you know me, you know I’m a star gazer and bigger picture thinker and the nitty gritty details and day to day minutiae at times make me really wanna run….especially when innermost longer term goals feel really unmappable.
Like my right now. I have this inner yearning to accomplish a certain task. And there’s no way around it. I have to plant myself in a specific locale for a certain time frame in order to achieve that task. Just have to. Can’t access what I need to in any other way except to go there and be there and do it.
Okay. But try convincing my free spirit she has to settle in for a long while and not use her wings to soar for a time. Oooh…it’s hard. My sense of soul beckons me venture on outings unannounced and I feel imprisoned and trapped when my journey extends longer than a few years in the same place…..
Well, there’s beauty to kaleidoscopic imagery and I’m finding of late there’s beauty to the imagery of thoughts even while standing still.
I’ve had to resolve to just move forward and do what I need to do in order to achieve this goal….even though it means dwelling in climates that I typically stay clear of….even though it means dwelling in a setting that sometimes makes me feel stifled and cooped up.
But truth? I’ve never felt freer.
A favorite author, Mary Baker Eddy, writes about keeping focus on a given goal this way:
Lots of times, I live moment to moment–with that expectation in view and just moving toward it as best as I’m able. Sometimes there’s doubt, sometimes there’s fear, but always there’s that inner knowing when I’m calm and shut out all the huggabaloo and muck of opposition.
How do you stay focused and shut out all the negative opposition that would thwart your footsteps? What has worked for you to keep your footsteps treading forward toward your goal?
Thanks for leaving any comments or questions….Til the next post, be well! ~ Tre 🙂