“Pull a thread here and you’ll find it’s attached to the rest of the world.”–Nadeem Aslam
Sooo, I was in class the other day and we had a guest speaker (a good ole’ Ivy Leaguer). He brought alot of stuff home for me. He works as a “business consultant” and “life coach”. He totally freestyled the lecture.
His presence was magnetic. He sold himself instantly. No nervousness. No shyness. Not overly aggressive or I’m above and you’re below. But rather that perfect balance. He connected with us on so many levels. (He also demonstrated the attitude I need to adopt toward marketing this book)
—>Relevance? Ok, well he mentioned how every single thing that we encounter is related to us. Sounds simple right? Well, it is. Problem is, we usually walk around in state of oblivion. We’re texting, talking on the phone, wondering what’s for dinner, thinking back on that argument with so and so, etc. He challenged us by asking for an example…anything. I mentioned the ceiling.
With his hands in his pockets and his shiny bald head tilted back, he started describing it. “It’s white–well, it supposed to be, but it’s dirty. It’s only two feet over our heads, but yet it’s dirty. Why is it dirty?”
I rolled my eyes over to the left. “No one’s cleaned it.”
“Why hasn’t anyone cleaned it?”
Another student. “No one’s reported it, just like no one’s reported the broken blinds over there.”
“Why hasn’t anyone reported it?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we never really pay attention.”
“…What areas in your life have you neglected and have allowed to become the norm in your life? Now imagine if one of those tiles were missing. You would definitely notice then right? Which elements of your life would make you uncomfortable if missing? Are you also neglecting those elements?”
My body. I need my body, but I haven’t really been taking the best of care of it. My car. I’ve been meaning to clean it for the past three weeks. Geesh, my husband. I’ve been waist deep in getting this first book off the printer and into the hands of the reader and getting this short story trilogy finished.
As long as you’re submerged in the work, you’ll never notice these things. It’s not until you come up for air that you see the light. Or the dusty ceiling.