Let's close our eyes.
I was watching a movie last week.
Something from that movie just resonated with me so deeply.
It said,
You would do really well alone,
But with others,
You would do magnificent.
And as I sat with it during the weekend,
I realized That being alone is so Looked forward to nowadays,
As we live very isolated lives.
Especially as the winter is rolling in,
The days are becoming gloomy.
What we really need is company.
What we end up choosing is isolation.
Don't get me wrong,
Enjoying your own company has its charm like nothing else.
And we already spend enormous amounts of time alone.
We might not recognize it.
When we are in our offices,
We are alone most of the time.
We're watching TV,
Scrolling our phones,
Driving.
We are alone.
We go for a walk or workout.
It's all alone.
Whatever contemplations we need to do,
Explorations,
Questions that we need to ask ourselves,
We have a lot of time to do that On a daily busy day.
But then there are these times Where we think of people,
Not specific people,
But just company in general.
And then we choose to be alone.
Those are the moments that I'm talking about today.
Where our hearts long for company,
But we muffle that soft voice.
Lately,
I've been thinking a lot about culture in general.
At work,
The culture of a particular house or friends.
You need people for culture.
As the professional life is transitioning into more remote work,
The culture as we knew it is disintegrating.
Sure work and productivity is going on,
But culture is the underlying theme of every work that gets done Or doesn't get done.
Any culture that is intentional Requires a lot of effort.
Physical,
Emotional effort.
It's easy to be isolated for the short term.
Choosing to stay at home Instead of hanging out with friends.
And don't get me wrong,
I'm not judging anyone here.
Every choice has a place in life.
But that movie had an impact on me.
What would magnificent look like?
Am I even considering living a magnificent life?
Or am I happy doing well?
Is what I'm thinking about.
And the intentionality of the culture that I'm talking about Has everything to do with being intentional.
Being intentional about choosing who we hang out with.
Being intentional about what topic around which we are hanging out.
When we are a part of intentional gatherings,
Either arranged by us or attended by us Around a topic that we are interested in,
Therefore everyone else is also interested in that.
More often than not,
Those gatherings end up being very uplifting.
And if they happen to be a little longer than a few hours,
Maybe a few days We will feel that bittersweet pain of leaving those who we were hanging out with behind.
Every time I go for my 7 day retreat,
It's painful to leave on the 8th day.
Strangers on day 1,
Best of friends on day 8.
Because a retreat is an intentional gathering.
I've tried attending those retreats online.
And the teaching is available online.
But the culture is not.
That's what my heart longs for every time.
It's too much work.
Actually costs a lot of money to go for an in-person retreat.
But it is absolutely worth it.
Just like that.
It's too much work to host.
And gathering around an uplifting reason and intention is a lot of work.
But it's the food for the soul that comes at the cost of physical labor.
Somehow our mind shies away from physical labor and creates a mental resistance behind these gatherings.
But if we are able to overcome this and see how fulfilling it can be,
We can meet this resistance with understanding and love.
This is the same resistance that shows up when we have to go to the gym or go for a run.
The anticipation of physical effort creates such a thick mental barrier that somehow doing the physical effort is easier than overcoming this mental resistance.
Wisdom is to know which is which.
There are so many instances in my life now that I look back.
Where I've had a taste of being with people,
Being in a culture,
Either in a gym or a trip or gathering at home or someone else's home for something that I liked doing alone.
But have I always ended up enjoying working out with other people,
Hiking with other people,
Celebrating with other people way more than I did it alone?
And if I were to justify,
I would come up with very meticulous reasons on why doing all these things alone is better for me or is quote-unquote better for me.
But I won't be able to shrug off this clear feeling that I have,
That I've had doing it with others.
I cannot override my explanation.
I cannot override my feeling with my explanations.
It's more work to eat our lunch in the cafeteria with other people.
It's easier to eat at our desk.
It's more work to go to office than to be at home.
It's more work to organize a random hangout party with our friends we haven't seen in a while.
Eating is more work,
But sometimes having fun takes a lot of work and we shouldn't shy away from work.
Helps our bodies and minds stay young and functional.
Doing what is needed versus what I want keeps us honest.
I don't know where I'm going with this contemplation today.
I don't have a fixed end in my mind.
I just wanted to explore and share what I have been exploring with everyone.
If any of my words touch your hearts,
Then great.
If it didn't,
That's also great.
Not all journeys need a destination.
Sometimes the journey is the fun part.
