Hey pals,
I am behind on my own quota for number of posts this year, wanting to do one a month. So if you’re reading this and are enjoying it and you maybe think about it one time when you’re nose-deep in mashed potatoes or kayaking in the middle of the fjords of Norway, and it smacks you in the face like a clown throwing a floppy salmon in the face of some foreign dignitary, “shit Tyler hasn’t written one of those posts lately, bastard!” then just send me a quick message and help me hold me accountable.
I hope this post finds all of you healthy-ish in mind and body, spirit and heart, and if not then I hope it inspires and conjures the strength inside of you, which is there and is always, though sometimes dormant you just need an accidental nuclear test in the Bikini Atoll of your consciousness to wake it from it’s deep slumber so it will arise and start wreaking awesome and productive havoc on a major metropolitan city in your world. Let this post be that accidental nuclear test you needed in your life. Welcome, fam.
The song is by one of my favorite ever artists. It’s so cool and simple (two adjectives which are both subjective and universal, weird), a classic driving song, and I think about it a lot. There is a version by the lovely Norah Jones as well whose voice is such a beautiful and bright flower placed next to Waits’s rust-covered-but-still-amazing vocals. Both versions are awesome, I just happen to prefer Waits’s at the time of this post. The song is a proper fit on a musing about paths. Enjoy.
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dem pathz
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We do the hard and difficult things for a while, we muster the gall1 and the will to do these things and we slide right into a routine, fitting into the rhythm of the day and the life we live. And one day something comes along, something good and bright or something bad and full of shadow and it throws us off of the routine, knocks us off the path. And from there a new trajectory begins, one that is different from the one we were on. It feels different. We feel different. We see things differently.
It’s easy to get pushed off a path onto a different one.
I think the paths are constructed and perceived as we are on them, only in our minds, seen and known only by us. And they are even more easily seen in hindsight after we have jumped to or are shoved to another. Sometimes we are established on a path and believe it to be the right one for us at the time, only to realize in the future after some distance that the path was wrong for us. Other times we look back and think “if only I would have made x & y change six months ago, things would look different for me”.
There are an infinitesimal amount of paths we can choose. I think what’s most important is to have the awareness and knowledge that we have the ability to choose our reaction to certain stimuli, and within our reaction comes our responsibility and decision to take action on choosing a new path, one which will lead us closer to where we want to be. That eventual horizon, the one with the snow-covered mountain sitting on the edge of existence, it’s a futile finish line. We all really know the truth though we are good at trying to pretend otherwise, that the real finish line is our mortal death. We will always find a new wheel to spin and a dial to turn and a rock to push up only the steepest of hills in an act of perpetual denial. It’s never ending, a cosmic jedi-mind trick. We try to fool ourselves daily by thinking we are immortal, forever skateboarding along the precipice of time and space. And yet that day will arrive where it will all stop, some how and some way and it will arrive to everyone. That realization should be powerful and invigorating, not morse and morbid. Live now! is what it should incite
This is why it is so important to realize the paths we are on and to choose one that is most aligned with where you want to be, with who you want to be, and to remain flexible and open that you will have to change course at some point. You will have to navigate around and through obstacles, you will be thrown off course by circumstances outside of your control. You will have to make the tough decisions and the ones that are not fair for you to make, and you will also (sometimes) choose the wrong path. People will attempt to direct you onto a particular path if you let them, because they too are on their own way. You can choose who you let influence you, but you should also realize that there is a constant war out there for your mind and your attention. Even when you believe you are the ruler of your own sphere of free will there’s all sorts of science and voodoo out there which flies missions completely undetected by radar, which gently nudge you off course.
A one degree deviation doesn’t seem like much today, or tomorrow, or over a week. But a one degree deviation over a long course of time will set you back more than you can sometimes handle.
Try to know the path you’re on. And if you’re not on one, choose a worthy cause for yourself and get to it. Stay open to change, stay aware of unconscious and disguised deviations. Be open to change, know that your wants and requirements and desires will change as you grow and continue to mature. And lastly, if you get thrown off a path, it’s not forever lost. Get your ass back on the track and get moving.
rock and roll.
-tyler
in chinese traditional medicine the gall bladder is a “yang” organ; the actual function is that it stores and excretes bile. It’s said to strongly affect and control our passion for life, inspiration, and assertiveness, among other things. I found this out from listening to a podcast with Dr. Andrew Huberman. Makes sense now when we use the term in conversation, “they had the gall to make that decision..!” etc