12:35 am
There is nothing new. I think that is the problem. There is a dire need for novelty.
On Silence
I have noticed how we inherit silence, the weight of it heaving on our shoulders.
We say something over and over and then become silent.
Silence is the aftermath of pain—the proof of acceptance.
Accept what you can’t change. Or maybe we accept what we accept.
In the hospital, there is a kind of silence that we pass around inadvertently.
We acknowledge what is missing.
Then, we focus instead on our timeline.
We won’t be here forever, so we dip our feet first into the sticky swamp of silence before putting our whole body in it.
It feels right, and then it doesn’t.
A patient comes with a prescription, and their eyes are trailing the drugs they have just received.
They are silent. I am silent. It is our collective totem.
Harajuku Moment
In Tim Ferris’s blog, he gave two reasons why people suck at following advice.
One of the reasons is that the pain isn’t painful enough.
The second is that there are no reminders.
Then, he explained the Harajuku moment using the story of Chad Fowler as an example.
Chad had travelled to Tokyo with his friends and went to Harajuku to see if he could shop for fashionable clothes.
Then, while lamenting how unfashionable he was, he caught himself saying this statement
‘For me, it doesn’t even matter what I wear; I’m not going to look good anyway.’
That was his defining moment.
There and then, he realised that even as he was a solidly successful person, the statement reeked of helplessness that showed he had no control over his health.
Chad later lost 70+ pounds in less than 12 months, even though he had been obese for more than a decade.
Chad believes that many people need this moment to fuel change in their lives.
This is what Tim Ferris calls the Harajuku moment, and I have thought about it over and over.
During Apostle Iren’s sermon on ‘Starting Early’ using the story of Jacob and Esau, I also observed this moment.
In Genesis 27, Jacob seemingly stole Esau’s blessings, and Esau was heartbroken.
However, Isaac tells Esau, ‘But the time shall come when you will grow restive and break loose, and you shall tear his yoke from off your neck’.
Restive means unable to remain still because of dissatisfaction.
To me, this is where the pain is now painful enough.
The Harajuku moment is the moment that turns a nice-to-have into a must-to-have.
Mastery
Mastery often sounds like being in the middle of a heated war zone.
Robert Greene has been trying to make it sound sexy to me, but in my head, I hear guns firing constantly.
Even Dan Sullivan's story of Michaelangelo is a proof.
Michaelangelo knew learning anatomy was essential to his art as he worked on his first life-sized 3D sculpture—a 9-foot Hercules.
He was desperate enough to rob graves just to learn anatomy.
However, he couldn’t get the corpses of the rich because they were buried in family tombs while the middle class corpses were surrounded by religious ritual.
So he found the corpses of the unwanted—the poor, orphaned, and the beggars.
For months, he taught himself human anatomy by dissecting dozens of corpses.
His mastery of anatomy became unmatched by other painters.
One of his pupils reported that he worked on so many human anatomies that those who had spent their lives at it didn’t know as much as he did.
Michaelangelo was not born a great artist, but he became one.
More guns firing.
Witchcraft
The senior Pharmacist in front of me is reading a book titled ‘Victory over the Power of Witchcraft’, and she seems to be enjoying it.
I don’t know why I am not surprised. Instead, I peer at the letters as if waiting for them to jump out.
I notice how she glances intermittently at my helix piercing when she talks to me, as if she is contemplating its normalcy.
There are two things the hospital does to you.
It is either it makes you aggravated or complacent.
I observe this in the recycled conversations and the contagious yawn that flies around.
I observe this in the inherited silence that we cherish.
I observe this even as I ask for the umpteenth time, ‘Where is the Amoxil syrup?’
10:00 pm
There is nothing new. I don’t think that is the problem. I know.
It’s like bullets ricocheting in every sentence. Like an eagerness to share this new found knowledge.
Profound!
Chilled!
The piece, the author, thanks.
Riveting!