TRINKETS

“We live in a world of things, and our only connection with them is that we know how to manipulate or consume them.”

—Erich Fromm.

What would we give for the smallest of novelty items? Plenty. Even our way of life. Esau gave up his eternal birthright for a meal of red stew—a “trinket” of a meal. These ‘elegant tradables’ make the world run round. How hard is it to get someone to attend a meeting they don’t want to be at? It’s not hard at all. It’s easy. Offer lunch. People generally can’t resist food.

In negotiation terms, an elegant tradable is something that costs you nothing but it buys a lot of good will and even tangible wares.

We live in a very false world, seeking for the main part only to manipulate or consume—and why? Because we cannot stand our own sense of spirituality or to go without. We’d rather go ferreting through a dumpster to sate our overweening desires.

Trinkets both entice us and make the true life evermore elusive, for every time we vie for the trinket over the real things of worth in life we are destined to fall short of anything close to the best on offer for both ourselves and others.

Driven by trinkets we do more and more—and get, for our trouble, less. The old adage, ‘But, wait, there’s more,’ speaks all over this common phenomenon.

Steak knives there are in abundance but no spirituality of soul to be found (generally). Sure, pleasantly, there are exceptions.

What do you want out of life? What do you already have? What is worth the most to you? Chances are, the things that are worth the most to you, the things you can’t put a price on, are not things at all—and they’re certainly not trinkets!

The key truth in Erich Fromm’s quote is when we consider the world of non-things i.e. our relationships and the important people in our lives, we suddenly find the currency of manipulation and consumption is worthless.

It’s like having paper in your wallet when gold is the only thing changing minds and lives.

The only currency of worth in relationships is manifest virtue—a spiritual, totally non-materialistic, non-trinket thing which requires a forged character enshrined in God’s love. This is a character that spots the trinket and walks away quietly laughing to itself. It would never go there. It would never forfeit everything for nothing.

Swapping the only thing of worth—the development opportunities of a moral character of virtue—for a millennia of things that are worth-less should be a no-brainer. But, unfortunately, we all seem bent on having our trinkets.

It’s a challenge for every one of us! Living better with less. We’d all be happier.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

Time to Do Everything?

Fact of life: there will never be enough time to do everything. It is indeed interesting that none of us would disagree with this statement, yet by virtue of the way we live our lives, we deny its truth much of the time. This is evidenced by all manner of stress, fatigue and hopelessness, and forward onto disorders of anxiety, fatigue, depression etc.

We cannot do everything.

Yet, we’ll all try to skate by on as little sleep as we can, struggling, burning the candle at both ends... running headlong into a catastrophe of our very own making.

Our only choice is to accept that which we cannot change. Missing some things in life now is better than missing everything later; that’s a potential reality if we breakdown or have a heart attack or stroke and die.

There is wisdom in not planning too much. We can legalistically push ourselves far too much, demanding that we journal and record and plan and consider. For those who are already diligent, what is wrong with just simply living life?

And diligence is the key. Balance also. We must strike a wilful balance relating to our diligence, for too much diligence—onto a wanton frenetic discharge of life; a life gone crazy—will most certainly (and paradoxically) bring lack, sooner or later.

Those of us who’ve genuinely felt some of the sting of burnout will know how thin our capacities run. We feel so capable and we are—yet what a fine line it is; the capacity of one human being: mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Let’s not kid ourselves any longer. The smartest person finds time to do the things they must. They don’t simply “do,” they make the necessary things happen.

The rest of life is voluntary, “desirable criteria,” for the passions; for pure love.

When we take a huge breath in and then exhale all the way out and then simply look, emptying the thought-drenched mind and the heart heavy of things to do, we slowly (but surely) have the cognition of a wonderful reality.

Time: there’s truly an abundance of it. Not to make the most of everything. But to truly appreciate this thing called life—to reflect upon the many varied things that are required of us, which we do achieve.

We cannot have all things in this life. Accept this and we master a great many things in one foul swoop. And acceptance is, finally, the golden key.

We can never do all the things we want to do. Rest easy in the knowledge of that and watch out world—here we come!

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

A Reflective Thank You for 2009

One more year survived. Regrets, sure, but overall many good times and many successes have come. By far and away, it’s been a very good 365-day year, overall.

During this time it was gained, a growth toward things; a growing in things. Circumstances adapted to, sadness’s relieved, trials overcome, frustrations eventually subsided. There’s an abiding sense of achievement and reflection, beyond it all.

By no means is the journey over, not in any stretch of the imagination. For we remain, even now. Past the present time we cannot bother—we’re here now and that’s all that counts.

Plans have come to pass and some still are in progress. Of course, as is now often simply expected, some plans actually came to nought. And, yet, smiles abound—smiles ahead. Philosophical thoughts of what might’ve been shroud harmlessly over the conscious mind. Time to reflect is golden, despite these losses, failures and tumults.

People came in. They made life what it is, for the most part. Being alone isn’t half the fun it would be without people to bring meaning to the loneliness. Some people live on in the thought-stream, some for entirely the wrong reasons. Still, people have made their contributions, however sad or happy they’ve impacted this life we know most personally.

Then there are the loved ones. These present a confusing reality. Life takes the person and ransoms them over their families. Parents know all too well. Grandparents have known this reality for a generation, at least. They can be taken from us in a blink. For this, to be thankful? No, but to wonder for the opposite continuity of family that graces most.

Health is fleeting like almost every other thing known to humankind. Nevertheless, it’s good not to take such a thing for granted. Every person—every physical, mental, emotional and spiritual person—billions of physiological, psychological and supernatural experiments going on every moment. Utterly mind-boggling. And still hardly anbody thinks twice about it!

The senses have it. Another thing taken almost entirely for granted. A look out the window says it all; such a simple thing, a look. Gaze out at a splendour too fine for words. It’s a marvel.

To have endured it all, to have lived and loved and longed, is evidence of the tantalising truth of life. Yet, there’s next year. A year to endure? Perhaps a year to savour.

In all these things, and so much more, we marvel. We have so much and there are so many things to be appreciative for. Is there any limit to our thanks? No, there isn’t.

Thanks in abundance is still far too few.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

A Golden Goal in a Golden Age – Courage Has It!

Fear is part and parcel of life. To live without fear—or to have our fear so controlled as to not be weighed down by it; notwithstanding even micro-fear—must be the nexus of living now, into eternity. It’s got to be the final frontier toward freedom, however we define that.

Is it love (fear’s opposite) that gets us there?

No. It is courage. It’s that ability to mould usefulness out of the chaos of panic and the unknown, gripping phobia of anxiety. As far as nerves are concerned we’re told:

“Nerves and butterflies are fine—they’re a physical sign that you’re mentally ready and eager. You have to get the butterflies to fly in formation, that’s the trick.”

—Steve Bull.

We have the very real opportunity to address our fear, attacking it with bold courage, almost whenever we want. Yet we shriek from these opportunities, letting them almost unknowingly defeat us, one day at a time, typically. Think about it. We run and hide, finding a comfortable place, out of the hold of the sun’s awkward, parching, revealing rays. It occurs in a surfeit of different ways, routinely throughout our day. It doesn’t need to be this way.

It’s far better when we’re attuned to taking the risks we need to take in backing ourselves in when we feel internally of externally pressed. The risk noted here is to back our judgment and simply stand by ourselves, despite the fear. In the 1950s, theologian Paul Tillich called it, ‘the courage to be.’

And “be” we must be. Why do we shirk from ourselves and our world so much, wasting the precious life-source we have within us? The life-source gives us life in a golden age.

How could we think this age is not golden? We live; we’re blessed with life right now after all.

And to truly live, being fundamentally ‘operational,’ we must restructure our fear, bridling and harnessing it, for fear will control us if we let it. We must learn to appropriately deny it. Normally denial is not good; but if we deny our fear in wisdom we’re actually blessed. A large portion of our fear is best denied and moved on from in faith—‘good faith.’ Google it.

Aberrant fear is such a common constraint on our humanity. This is because three-quarters of our being (mental, emotional, and spiritual) is affected and shackled by it. Even from a physical viewpoint we’re caused to fear over our physical safety and wellbeing.

Together with our fears we eye opportunities to develop healthy, appropriate courageous strategies for managing and channelling our fear. We must learn to be grateful for these opportunities.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

Seeing is Believing – Is That Really So?

I have been given a book called 2010 Ripley’s – Believe It Or Not! It’s a stunning book that enraptured my eye as soon I pulled the wrapping paper from its cover. This literary work features many things you wouldn’t believe, unless you actually saw physical evidence of it. It says, ‘There’s nothing stranger than the truth.’

My first working-life career provided many of these sorts of lessons, albeit in an innocuous form. Working with mechanical machinery—pulling it apart and putting it back together—provided many opportunities to literally be surprised by fact.

When something won’t come apart or go together when it should, no matter the force you apply to it, it can be utterly tormenting—all because you can’t see what prevents it. Yet it is there. I recall working continuous shifts in fitting this 12 inch diameter steel pin. We’d use thousands of degrees of heat and hundreds of tonnes of hydraulic pressure and it still wouldn’t go into the clevis. We measured more than once and it should’ve fitted but there was still no way it was going in.

It was only later that someone noticed something very obvious in its way—if only we’d have thought, ‘This is ridiculous—there must be some logical reason why it’s not working.’

But, we didn’t. And we—as human beings—continue not to see many obvious things a vast majority of the time.

We prefer what only we can see; we close our minds to the possibilities. But we must somehow start looking objectively at the evidence. That massive steel pin was not moving when it was clear it should have been. It should’ve been obvious there was a problem but it wasn’t that obvious to us. We blanked out any limiting possibilities from our thinking. And what was the sum of our thinking? ‘More force,’ that’s what. Simply ‘more force’ doesn’t always work.

What are the broader lessons? What are we missing in the broader context of life?

Not everything we see is believable.

Not everything we don’t see is not believable.

Yet, we stand in the face of objective evidence; say for the existence of a Creator God—there’s enough evidence to seriously get us thinking—especially for those interested in science.

What more could we get from life by simply having a more open mind to things about us?

Not everything we see is real. There are things we don’t see which—one hundred percent—are true, real... incontrovertible.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

Striking Back at Harmful Competitiveness

“There’s no ‘I’ in team.”

I talked with a friend recently who’s having a hassle with their overly-competitive supervisor. It seems that (for whatever reason) this supervisor is threatened by the grasp their subordinate has on their role; good performance is being punished—the supervisor might be thinking that doing well is perhaps a license for showing the boss up?

It also seems odd that my friend has started to watch their back, not knowing what angle the supervisor might begin to strike from next. It’s a competitive environment not conducive to the best outcomes, professionally or personally.

There’s no shortage of competitive people in life is there? These people, who act like enemies, can come from our very workplaces, and even our families! Everything suddenly becomes an issue of win/lose and win/win collaborative efforts go out the window, and so for that matter does trust. Fear is accorded a present high value in the relationship and fairness is no longer the gauge; aggression is.

How do we contend in these environments? How do we adequately fight back, especially when we feel we don’t want to fight and we just want to get on with everyone?

There’s little to be gained from competing the way others do. If we did this we’d be competing with the enemy’s preferred armoury and that would get us next to nowhere. We’re still no closer to finding a good way out of the mess.

The answer lies in defusing the situation of any competitive advantage. We do this by changing the rules; not the rules of the game, but how we play.

We don’t fight, but we wisely wait patiently to do what only we need to do.

We keep a level head and manage our emotions skilfully.

We don’t resort to email and we try not to engage in lengthy discussion. Small doses face-to-face does the trick.

We leave plenty of time to reflect over issues.

We try to keep things very simple.

We play on a level field, on neutral territory, where possible.

We stay calm and don’t panic.

We forgive ourselves (and the other person) if emotions do get frayed. We make quick amends.

We understand it is they who feel more threatened (somehow) than we do. Fear is the basic cause of most aggression.

We seek people—friendly people—to talk out our issues, so we at least have sounding boards and modes of expression in our corner.

We place ourselves in a fair situation.

For all these things demonstrate we have some sense of proactive and responsible control over the situation at hand—and this is not to be underestimated. We’ve made our own rules and we’re even “managing” those above us when we do these things. Everyone wins. That’s the hope in any event. For, if everyone wins, we do too.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

Inhale or Exhale: What’s Your Problem?

To live in this life, well, we need to breathe... in, out... in, out. No brainer?

Seems simple doesn’t it? Yet, most people in this life refuse to breathe properly. I know this because I’ve had the problem numerous times, and you can’t be much different to me, surely! Physical subsistence relies quite heavily on breathing and in a physical sense, of course, we do it. But, in another more metaphorical sense entirely people do, at times, forget to breathe properly.

There are those who breathe in well, but don’t breathe out effectively.

They begin and they attract a lot of things and always seem busy—their lives look a tad cluttered and they always seem to be taking more on when there should be a call to say, ‘Enough, already!’

These are their own worst enemies as they are driven by a plethora of whims to the external, betraying any semblance of peace knocking on the door within. There’s never a limit to what can be achieved. But, for what though? These, as an archetype, are probably quite basically into a lot of denial—both about past frustrations and hurts not dealt with, and with the present chaos which also defines them quite poorly. Or perhaps they’re greedy or conceited.

We have no pity on the person who cannot exhale and relax, especially when they complain about their workloads.

There are those too who breathe out well, but don’t seem to breathe in effectively.

Busy exhaling and ridding their lives of any suitable meaning or responsibility, these don’t even engage for fear of commitment, involvement or ownership. They skate through life unnoticed, if that were possible. They’re intent on finding the back door and then leaving through it at the earliest, least conspicuous opportunity.

We have no pity on this person who denies their very life, and tragically, their involvement in the lives of loved ones and friends all around them.

A better balance—metaphorical inhalation and exhalation

All of life ebbs and flows. It cycles us through busy and quiet patches. If we get stressed by the workload, all we generally need to do is endure it for a short time and then the pressure does eventually subside. It’s the same when things just aren’t busy or interesting enough.

Another thing: watch your physical breathing. If you feel your life is out of balance your physical breathing might actually begin to mimic your metaphorical ‘life balance’ breathing.

A key life attitude regarding metaphorically breathing in and out—regarding our life balance, and our investments in the activities of life—is knowing when to do both.

The happiest people manage this. Their wisdom and patience to run with the flow of life blesses their very lives, and the lives of those around them. They seem “fitted” to the very time and situation they’re in, right now.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

What We Don’t Know About Ourselves and How to Fix It

It’s one of the saddest truths for us to get our heads around. We will always be unaware, to any certain extent we choose, of our own unawareness’s. There is, however, hope.

At a party, a workplace meeting or a social function, we relate with people from our unique worldview and we do so quite unilaterally—we do not generally see through others’ eyes or hear through others’ ears. Face it. We have one set of eyes and one set of ears; these equal one set of antennae for establishing the known context from which we respond to the world about us. It’s a pretty linear outlook. Well, that’s the jumping-off point.

This problem is probably central most to all our relationship “issues.”

Awareness

When we’re acutely aware of this lack—that inability to know our many situational faults until it’s too late—we’re then possibly motivated to break through and force change within ourselves.

Impetus for change is mandatory if we’re going to want to be aware of our faults and be courageous enough to face the truth. And the benefit? Solid relationship outcomes. More confidence. Better and more frequent opportunities. The list goes on.

Awareness is the key issue, particularly regarding a problem relating intrinsically to a lack of awareness.

A process for increasing awareness in social situations includes:

1. Start to see yourself through the eyes and ears of others. Think, ‘With what I just said/did, what would Todd/Jessica (and others here) be thinking?’

2. Importantly, you don’t need to overanalyse the above situation there and then. You simply ask the question, thinking for a moment—ensuring you get a visual and audio recording of the cues to others’ body language—and then you forget it, moving on in your socialising. You then leave your subconscious brain to do the background work for you. (Our subconscious minds are marvels for this very thing.)

3. Sooner or later, with lots of practise, you’ll begin doing this activity quite subliminally—without being that aware of it—until you find yourself doing it. Then you’ll be rather impressed with yourself.

4. Don’t stop there though. Action is needed and that involves more analysis.

Action

Addressing the stimuli brought up in the process of becoming aware simply takes more courage. We’re masters of our own destinies. The more ruthlessly courageous we are in addressing our shortfalls the better.

But, likewise, this above must also be matched with a rising sense of self-worth which facilitates critical thinking over whether to capitulate or stand one’s ground—for not all stimuli we get is of value. Do we take heed of everything? We employ our judgment to discern what we’ll heed and what we won’t.

This is where wisdom must enter the rooms of our hearts and minds, swathing a path of truth for both our wellbeing and development. Here wisdom clears out the rickety furniture and cleans the walls and carpets to good effect—character makeover bound.

Action is the final frontier in character development, especially regarding emotional intelligence. Let’s go through a process that can help:

1. Choosing the Behavioural Analysis Method: Depending on your personality type you might wish to simply either think deeply about the behaviours you might wish to transform about yourself or you might even like to write them down. Others—especially extroverts—might want to employ a coach or mentor.

2. Pinpoint Development Areas: Keeping it fun, you identify no more than two or three key personal traits to do either less of or more of. You must now work out the specifics involved in each. If it’s focusing on the other person to the exclusion of eavesdropping on others’ conversations you might focus on each word said, visualise the sentences, practice the ‘listener’s head-tilt,’ maintain eye contact, practice asking for specifying clarifications to prove you’re interested etc.

3. Visualise: This is a key ingredient even for those who wouldn’t ordinarily get into visualisation. It’s important to see yourself in the situations you’re endeavouring to develop in yourself—see them both through your eyes and through the other person’s. And thirdly, see yourself as a neutral observer (or third party) would. Only through visualisation do we get to practise our techniques before they’re performed “live.”

4. Seek Feedback: No one will be upset at you for being humbly honest. Find a couple of trusted mentors (if possible) and with their permission task them with giving you feedback. You must then seek the feedback. Receiving feedback will require courage from you, but most people find that once the elephant in the room has been identified they can then simply work with it. The fear’s stripped away very quickly. This is paradoxically very empowering.

Gaining the insights of others and truly being able to see a full picture of reality in social situations is a skill almost anyone can learn. It’s not simply a case of peripheral vision or hearing—it’s even more insightful and dynamic than that.

This ‘sixth sense’ can give us some great advantages in helping others:

è Feel more comfortable as we predict their needs, serving them;

è Find interacting with us inspiring and desirable;

è See that what they’re thinking about us, and our corresponding reactions, gives them a—‘They took notice of what I was not saying’ (in other words, ‘They’re listening to me’)—higher esteem for us, and likewise, makes them feel more positive about our rapport; and,

è Feel at ease with us. Having a trusting rapport helps as we light-heartedly cut to the chase with the other person on issues that might otherwise hold us back.

We can have almost anything our hearts are set upon if we have others truly at the centre of our focus.

Good relationship outcomes for others are generally always good outcomes for us too. That’s got to be our focus: others first. Get this right and everything seems right all of a sudden. You’ll see!

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

Moments of Harrowing Reality – Mastering Them

“It takes a couple of years to master the discipline of eating properly.”

—Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle Dockers AFL Footballer).

We all find the going tough in the truth of life—no wonder there’s so much substance abuse and so many addiction-based problems in the world. Life is just plain hard and so very unpalatable, whether it’s boredom or pain and all levels of discomfort between.

The Sandilands quote is a very good one that points us to a broader aspect of truth—we can easily apply it to a great many practical things we struggle with.

I’ve mentioned several times that the last frontier for me—my penultimate struggle—is managing my food intake. Well, I think I might have finally mastered it, provided I maintain my self-discipline. And this is the key most of the time. We know what we know and that’s fine, but how often do we skimp or overtly disobey our very selves?

Taking food—a thing that nearly all people in the Western world lack self-control over given the obesity epidemic—for example, getting to a point of being not only able, but willing, to forego many tasty treats is the key to most of our battle. Sandilands is probably referring to the athletic context, but therein lays our key; professional footballers are almost constantly managing and monitoring their weight.

The point is, if we don’t give up, and we’re prepared to struggle for years (it’s not like the option not to struggle is even that viable), we’ll master that nemesis—the harrowing reality; that thing that bores us, or pains us, or brings us vast, aching discomfort.

All harrowing realities are really there for is for us to learn how to overcome them and to experience the exhilaration of victory over ourselves and the world we’re inherently part of.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

Physics

In a fluid storm, temporary yet seeming permanent, the pounding wave finally washes over and a frantic breath of air is taken. Gee, that rip was scary! But it’s not the half of it! It is, however, a reminder in solemnity of the powers of the earth—the physical world. We respect it or we eventually succumb to it.

Only the fortunate few do both.

The forces and flows of energy dictate to such a large degree our way through life. We deny these to our peril, real or conceptual. We respect them and we’re called wise. Respect them and still be taken; legendary.

The physical world speaks first and foremostly of a Deity behind it all. Something, especially something this grand, cannot be created from nothing. But the Deity is most assuredly Constant—a reliable force manifest in the way things are i.e. the way they’ve always been, and probably always will be.

It all approaches wonder. This bunch of senses we have certainly attest to it, in awe.

In a U2-ism, this physical world—certainly the earth—is ‘even better than the real thing.’ We can barely contemplate it. And to our averring denial we use her and we abuse her. We think of ourselves; possibly our kids and grandkids—at most.

Something has changed in this constant world. It’s the advent of industry and an exponential mode of living that sees us outstrip and outdo each year. “Progress” soars. Change, as an effect, is an understatement.

Is it a time to stop and just exist? Yet, can we? Just do that, I mean. Can we stop the monster we ourselves have created? It is improbable. Legislation is being, and will be, tried. We think we can possibly destroy it. A dangerous thought that is.

The physical world, however, always has the final say.

The concept of nature and the time-attested laws, like those crashing, pounding waves, remind us that we don’t have the answers. The Deity does. Yet, this Deity gives us a role. It is for us to work it out in collusion with our comprehension of the physical world.

It is no less the key role of action. One beginning with personal action.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

Dedicated, in some part, to the memory of Steve Irwin.

SCOUT

Industry of expectation. Contribution of investigation. Power to live life tracked to purpose, a cause to take us, to believe in.

The talent scout has an eye for one thing. They search it out; focused on the aspect of uniqueness that will make all the difference to the organisation they’re ruthlessly committed to. Travelling far and wide the mission is to find that one prospect, and bring that prospect home—if not directly, indirectly via the facilitative relationship. Not only the eye, but the personal person too.

The hawk too, flying at great height, scans for prey in the barren landscape below. It has this one role, beyond only its own protection. It keeps life simple. That’s its function.

There’s a wider more translucent truth. The role of investigation into inquisitiveness is always rewarded in life provided the focus is pure, unadulterated and focused.

Focus is something we do at several levels.

We start at a centre; at our soul. We move out in our focus beyond ourselves and our own needs—investigating our problems and fixing them—to the needs of dependent others, and again onto others in general. In this, we serve. We don’t stop there. A higher power is calling us... investigate. Be the scout. Our spirit’s attest.

There’s a common resolve. Curiosity opens up to invention. Creation becomes us. Our whole world opens up. Nothing confines the person in this mood. Inclination gives rise to the mood; the mood onto a genre characterising the season; the season, a habit; a habit into a lifestyle.

Scouting is something for the next decade, indeed this, always. To be a scout is the devotedness to things beyond a ho-hum life—a life expecting and investing more.

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.

What Can Jason Bourne Teach Us?

I love a good movie as much as the next person. But, when I watched The Bourne series recently (twice over) I recognised a spiritual significance in the character of Jason Bourne (played magnificently by Matt Damon). There’s a very special depth of resilience and ingenuity to this skilled CIA-trained assassin. His hunger doesn’t stop until he gets to the source.

Anyone who’s heard and read a little of NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) will know it’s all about the modelling of human behavioural excellence and the development of spiritual awareness. It’s the rudiment of emotional intelligence. Putting both high-performing spirituality and NLP together, we can get a great deal of spiritual enhancement from modelling upon the person, Jason Bourne.

How’s he set apart?

Cool and Calculated

Bourne only gets angry when it will serve a good, objective purpose. He is otherwise crystal-cool and able to calculate his actions decisively and precisely. He exudes a quiet, unshakable confidence.

Honed Judgment

Bourne’s judgment is impeccable. We might consider that this is just a movie, but all the same, he’s representing a genre of person we’ve all come to admire. It’s that trait of timely judgment, or decisions implemented just in time that brings us inspiration and clarity of purpose.

Prudent Use of Resources

He wastes nothing unless he no longer needs it, and therefore he doesn’t hoard anything. He travels light and innovates with the things he has without worrying about the things he doesn’t have.

Patience, Poise and Daring

How do we wait well? Answer: with a high degree of emotionally-calm control. No matter the flurry of thought, he waits, externally an ostensibly calm person—though fully operational within. He is shaman-like.

Knows When to Change a Plan

Most of us stick rigidly to our plans—too rigidly. Not Bourne. He anticipates moves and tweaks his plans accordingly, staying three steps ahead, and always seems to have contingencies in place.

Moral Courage

Bourne could kill at will, and in this movie series he often does. But, he also exercises much moral courage in taking time to do things right, even at high personal cost. In this is not only emotional and mental self-control, but raw moral courage to do the necessary but personally risky thing.

Physical Endurance

How many can run flat out for half a mile (800 metres) and still think straight. Bourne can. He brings a balance of aerobic and anaerobic fitness and this only enhances his mental capacities.

Never Gives Up

There’s never a time when Bourne gives way to dejection. He always sees a way out, and more importantly, not just negatively out of his present problem, but positively toward the source. He is driven and tenacious when the chips are down.

He might only be a movie character to us, but he represents an ideal, does Jason Bourne. The key is he transcends his situations and the labels that are placed on him. In this way he paves for himself his very own unique identity.

And so it is for us. We too can become anyone we want to, but best of all—ourselves. Time to design and construct!

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.