The Light

Educate. To educe, to draw out, to develop from within.

A recurring and major theme for this project is inspiration.

Your journey is yours, and you can make it as exciting and wild or mundane and unfulfilled as you wish. Throughout this project I want to provide a pathway for others to use as a reference point, not a road map.

Just like skiing in fresh snow, you want your own distinct path, even though everyone is going down the same slope. I want to show people the slope that inspires them to make positive changes in their lives and communities.

The pathway to self improvement is riddled with introspective thinking, big picture analysis, and honest self-evaluation. Do not proceed if you are unwilling to be honest with yourself.

At the end of the pathway is the courage to step out of your comfort zone, stare your fears in the face, and make things happen for yourself. To do things no one thought you could, or should, for that matter.

So chase your wildest dreams and don't ignore your needs in the area of new challenges.

'Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered: it is something molded.'

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"The Art of Non-Conformity" by Chris Guillebeau

For a while now, I have had a growing sense of urgency.  And I think only recently have I been able to name it.  This sense of urgency comes from the desire to live a life of purpose.  No longer can I work for nothing more than a paycheck, striving for the Zion that is retirement.  At this point, I don't even want to "retire" in the traditional sense.
Guillebeau, in "The Art of Non-Conformity, discusses how to achieve that freedom.  Far from becoming independently  wealthy, he champions a sustainable lifestyle, chasing after what is really important.  This requires some serious introspection, and moving beyond fear, especially the fear of failure.
As I read this book, it met me right where I was, with an open and honest message.  This is exactly how I hope the Canoe to the Future project will be for followers, something that others can relate to. The question I ask myself, and any reader of this blog : Are you ready to jump face first into a life redefined?

Progress

Progress -

My last core value.

'Success is steady progress towards one's goals.' - Jim Rohn

Constantly working towards what you really desire in life can be tough. Especially if you don't know what THAT is. Once you figure out what you want, you must experiment to obtain it.

If you go down one path, and find it dead ends or leads somewhere you don't want to be, that's okay. Cut your losses, backtrack, and find the next path. But don't quit.

You will find what you're looking for, usually right after you were about to give up.

The universe works in mysterious ways, and should you ask it for something, with enough effort, time, and sweat, that which you seek will produce itself.

Not always in the most obvious ways, but it will come.

The Canoe to the Future journey so far has produced paths which we originally thought were direct, only to find a massive cliff at the end.

It has challenged our personal beliefs, our ideas on community, and most of all our will.

Wisdom

It is so easy for me to become focused on myself, to see the world as a cost-benefit analysis of my current happiness.  In this effort to gain some kind of control over my environment, it becomes so hard to not become cinical.  I start to believe, if only for a while, that others should care about me as much as I do. 

This self-focus is a way of looking at the world, one that seems so narrow to me. Yet, of course, I can slip into it often without a notice. 

The opposite of this view, I believe, is wisdom.  Wisdom is seeing the world the way God sees it, or moving closer to this vantage point.  This is to see others, God, and ourselves, as what we truely are, and loving.  Once I put God in his place, and myelf in my place, somehow the need to control  this momentary happiness fades, and the eyes of my soul turn outward.

Wisdom is the first, and most important, of my five core values.

mission

Starting with my fears, I am on a mission to understand myself in a productive way.  This is going to require some heroic honesty and introspection. I don’t want to wear confidence like a blanket of armor, protecting myself from others knowing that I don’t have it all together.  The type of confidence I seek is one that flows from a life dedicated to understanding and the fulfillment of God’s purpose for me (Craig’s current subscription to the atheist worldview will make for great discussion).

"Because the unexamined life is not worth living" - Cuttingagroove.wordpress.com - Mark Taylor