…for he was a man who looked to what ought to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man’s act …

Book 1 – Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

What is there to be done?

Identifying one’s meaning, purpose or vision in life is ambiguous and not clear. I speak on behalf of myself, the question that tends to pop up in my head is, what should I be doing?

The term ‘should’ is limiting, bordering and imprisoning. It frustrates me as it entails the compulsory action of abiding by a certain list of expectations of cultural norms.

To be present is to stop over analyzing future decisions that don’t exist, dwelling on past negative events and to try to continue to learn, read and START the habit of writing ( hence this blog).

From this, I had read the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (link leads to the book on Amazon) which lead me to create my first every personal mission statement.

“be present, positive, and creative. to be challenged, and be true to myself.“

personal mission statement

My personal mission

To be present is to be fully aware of what one is doing and for what purpose at any given time. Also to STOP this wasting of time when there are no commitments.

Having a busy mind isnt the goal here, I recall a reel I had watched on insta of Denzel Washington saying ‘dont confuse movement with progress.’

This is such a great statement, as he continues to give an example of erractically going around in a circle and not actually getting anywhere.

PROGRESS is the goal!

The art of doing nothing is therapeutic and a great reset, but to aimlessly keep myself ‘busy’ for the sake of it is a disease, a habit that isn’t serving the greater self purpose. Keeping yourself ‘busy’ reverts you back to habits of the procrastinating kind that don’t fit within one’ mission station.

It also falls into my intent to enjoy life more, to act on interests as opposed to dwelling on them, and to not let fear guide my inactions and indecision.

Being present ensures that I am a man who is conscious about my mission, and to be aware of what my current actions are doing in order to meet that end, and ‘not to the reputation’ of imaginary expectations or status from the community guiding my current actions. ‘What ought to be done’ needs to be enforced in one’s mindset.

We are programmed from the start of school to attain gratitude and status from a stagnant, never changing, soul evolving standard who only prepares you to’ work for the man’ without the necessary life skills or ability to THINK.

To reprogramme yourself is probably the most difficult thing to do. The image that comes to mind is being deserted in the middle of the ocean, looking aimlessly into nothing but water, without direction or any sense that what you are doing will lead to success.