Decisions of Destiny, Tony Robbins, Sandy Hook & 12-21-12
As my Facebook friends know, I've been spending a lot of time at Starbucks lately. I wasn't a Starbucks person until a few weeks ago when I started the final push on my master's degree and needed reliable wi fi for hours at a time. Today, while taking a break, I decided to re-watch a video of Tony Robbins giving a TED talk. I found within it, not only some wisdom for my own life, but for recent and upcoming events.
Here's the video that inspired me today:
Tony shares "3 Decisions of Destiny."
1.What am I going to focus on? 2.What does it mean? 3. What am I going to do?
I won't discuss the nuance of each of these decisions. Instead I encourage you to watch the video for your own take on the decisions.
Instead, I think it is worth considering how we as individuals can use these decisions in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary and in anticipation of the great shift on 12-21-12.
Someone close to me once called me a social observer. She remembers me doing a lot of listening in group settings, then interjecting comments that would either make people laugh, take the conversation in a new direction, or both.
Since the news about Sandy Hook broke, I have been observing reactions people have had through social media. I have reposted the ideas of others if I found them to be in alignment with my own and today I have shared my views in some limited fashion.
I have witnessed people saying "don't blame the guns" and people calling for increased access to mental health care. Some are suggesting that increased access to guns would have stopped the shootings...claims that arming teachers is a viable solution. I even read a statement pleading for society to not condemn folks with autism (rightly so).
We are hurting.
Emotions are high. No matter where you stand on issues of gun control/gun rights, mental health access, ask yourself:
1.What am I going to focus on? 2.What does it mean? 3. What am I going to do?
Do. Something.
Sharing your ideas through social media can be valuable, but don't let it be empty rhetoric. Talk without action is worthless.
Decide what you're going to do, and make it happen.
It also seems appropriate to comment on all the speculation regarding 12-21-12.
There are the doomsday sayers who believe the world will end. Personally, that's the day I travel to be with my family for the holidays...I sure hope the doomsdayers are wrong.
Jokes abound about the Mayans running out of space on the calendar and that nothing will happen. I read Facebook comments about all of the "idiots who believe the world will end" and what lame excuses they will come up with when they wake up on December 22.
A local car dealer is running radio ads for a sale and they guarantee that if the world ends, you'll never have to make a payment on your new car.
Without going to far into my own beliefs, I again encourage you to examine:
1.What am I going to focus on? 2.What does it mean? 3. What am I going to do?
I think in general, whether we are discussing things like Sandy Hook or the end of the Mayan calendar, it's a good idea to tell the people you love that you love them, every day and to live your life like every day may be your last.
I really identify with ideas that were popular during the Middle Ages when death, mostly from disease, was a regular part of the human experience. It was common to inscribe a Latin phrase meaning "perhaps the last" on clocks. The phrase "memento mori" was common as well: remember that you too shall die.
I've found that in today's world, many people are uncomfortable with these macabre notions. One place I worked I had "memento mori" and the translation as part of my email signature. I had a co-worker write an impassioned email stating that SHE did not need to be reminded she was going to die one day.
The truth is, we never know how much time we have.
Make yours count.