Step onto the ground

Be free

Now
Gratitude

Is strong
In me

Thank you
God

I will
Prevail

I will
Be
The flow

You’re going down
A peculiar path

You’re going in
A different way

Peculiar how?
Different where?

The trodden path
Will show
With time

Without fail
For everyone
To see

Out of despair

I create
Something

New

May all that is unforgiven in you,
Be released.

May your fears yield
Their deepest tranquilities.

May all that is unlived in you,
Blossom into a future,
Graced with love.

(John O’Donohue)

The mind
is quiet

The soul
takes a breath

The dark side
of the soul

Needs to be
exposed

To the light

of reason
beauty
and faith

The responsibilities
Pile up
And tilt
Come crushing
Down on you

Time to dig
Yourself out of 
The rubble

Freedom
At last?
At least
A lighter load

So you could
Breathe
Walk
Laugh

And maybe
Only maybe

Dance again
Love again

From wanting to
Be special to
Wanting to
Be

From being
Special
To being

Depression, Purpose & Anxiety – Almost a year ago the perceived lack of a purpose made me notably depressed. I tackled the situation by relentlessly reading and annotating the content I had consumed.

Until I put everything together for a talk about Meaning, Suffering, Time & Imperfection which I gave to the Opal Book Club. The audience was visibly confounded.

Then, a few weeks later, almost out of nowhere, meaning, a purpose found me. And with it came: anxiety.

It felt weird – why, all of a sudden, did I not feel contentment, but anxiety, the little sister of fear? Because I cared about what was put into my lap. Because emotion was involved.

In my business and private life I have had arrived at a stage where I thought it best to quell all emotions. Be cool, be equanimous. I was still functioning – but, as if I were on remote, far, far from my A-game.

My newly-found purpose on the other hand had me emotionally involved. It confronts me with all kinds of constraints – something I had not anticipated and that I felt needed to be resolved.

I started with a book: ‘A Beautiful Constraint‘ by Barden & Morgan – which Seth Godin had listed among the suggested reading on the topic of ‘constraints’ in the altMBA that I had completed a year ago.

And there, in the book, I found it: Anxiety is essential when dealing with constraints and change. From the book: “If you can remain insecure, yet optimistic, you’ve got a pretty good chance of changing the world.” (Dan Wieden)

Alright, then. Anxiety is my new friend and I’ll team her up with Optimism, my old friend, and bring in the support team: intellectual impetus, capability, creative tenacity.