Deeply Shallow I May Be!
Author: the Wise Fool (aka Shri Yannam)

Here’s yet another myth we have subscribed to:-
MIND TRAP # 12
* ACHIEVEMENT IS BETTER THAN FULFILLMENT. *

I look up from my teacup to see a sparkling brunette bouncing down the street in front of my house. I see her every day. Clad in all black spandex, she pushes a baby cart as she jogs behind it. The baby is holding mommy’s Starbucks Latte in his little hands; a listless dog runs by her side; the headphones on her head are wired to her CD Walkman; she's talking into her cell phone while munching on a sandwich from the other hand. "Wow!" I think to myself as I sip my tea again. Sign of our times -- walk the dog, burn the fat, spend quality time with the baby, listen to music, talk to friends, have your dinner, plan for the morrow -- all at the same time! Talk about efficiency! Is there anything else she can take care while she jogs? I think not!

The odd thing is that though I see her everyday, I doubt I'd recognize her if I ran into her at the mall. The reason is that I know only her side-profile -- because she's never turned to look my way or at my front porch. Alright, my jogger does not really exist. I made it all up! Actually, she's a composite of what I see from my front porch everyday; it was easier to roll ‘em all into one person. Here’s what I am getting at.

Achievement is better than fulfillment, right?

Never mind that --
* multi-tasking is a superb way to dilute the experience of everything.
* our pathological need to go faster only serves to slow it all down.
* the easiest way to spread out far and wide is to actually go deeper (into this.)
* the greatest fuel for dazzling achievement is simply -- deeper fulfillment!

So if you see the mythical serpent on your sidewalk, slay it! If you can't, at least try to avoid it. Because this is what it wants to tell us --

"Achievement in preference to fulfillment is a recipe for shallow existence, which amounts to a life not lived at all! Why? Because with this mindset, we tend towards manic multi-tasking. And when you function this way, you strip the present moment down to nothing. Repeatedly! And when you dilute the present, you dilute life itself. Because life only exists in the present; everything else is pure fiction.”

Fulfillment is NOT about artificially slowing it down; it is about cultivating D.E.P.T.H. But an attitude of depth can only ever be cultivated by going deeper into THIS -- HERE and NOW! This means going deeper into whatever is at hand -- whatever that might be. And yes, to the exclusion of everything else. (You'll be surprised how much more you’ll actually get done with this mindset!)

The chronic under-achiever and the discontented over-achiever have the same thing in common -- "fulfillment is not the priority!" Sure, fulfillment is not a pre-requisite to accomplishment, much like gasoline is not a pre-requisite to owning a car. But how far can you go in your car without gas? Lasting accomplishment is secretly (but absolutely) contingent on fulfillment!

So how about an all-consuming love affair with that solitary apple -- in exclusion to all else? The fool dares you!

"Get deep into anything and you shall behold everything.
Skim the surface and you shall be left with nothing...except longing."
~ Shri Yannam (from the Serpent's Dance)






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Shri Yannam
http://www.ShriYannam.com
Author of a trilogy on self-transformation -- "the Serpent's Dance."

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