The moment was full of contradictions.
It certainly felt inspirational but it was also a little unnerving, with perhaps just a dash of danger.
You see on our last walk on Christmas Eve, quite close to midnight, in the quiet park space that divides our apartment mega-complex, our quiet reflections were suddenly disturbed by a skateboarder, rushing dangerously close to Vlad and me as he passed.
He was all in black with a billowing overcoat and a hoodie.
And he was also sporting something I didn’t know even existed: a black backpack that had LED lights in the back.
Of course, I have no way of knowing if it came with this way or whether our mysterious midnight rider programmed it himself, but the message flashing felt quite clear, if not cosmic.
In bright red lights it proclaimed:
Never Give Up.
There wasn’t time to pull out my iPhone and document the moment to prove that it happened, but you have my word that it did.
For most people I know, the past year seemed particularly challenging, so feel free to take it as a message for yourself as well.
Interestingly, at first, I thought it was a contradiction to the theme for January––new meditation HERE––but now I see, that if anything, Reinventing Yourself is indeed all about never giving up.
Speaking of which, I’m teaching a free online workshop on Monday January 15th at noon EST HERE.
Like the midnight skateboarder whizzing past Vlad and me, I’m aiming to keep it brisk, probably 45 minutes or so.
I’ll probably be sharing a few exercises from my new course, Tell A New Story, but I promise there will be minimal selling of anything.
Instead, the focus will be on Reinventing Yourself in 2024, a simultaneous process of discovery and going deeper into who you really are.
If you want to attend––and YES, there will be a recording––you just need to sign up HERE.
I’ve been musing about the differences between Discovery and Reinvention, where they overlap and how they’re different.
Discovery usually involves uncovering something that already exists but either isn’t yet known (at least by you and your crew).
For example, you might discover hidden gems or some mysterious plant growing in the jungle or even a “new” constellation.
Curiosity, exploration and the joy of encountering the unknown are all involved in Discovery.
Reinvention, on the other hand, involves all of those qualities but adds something new and essential to the mix: creativity.
One is either taking apart an old concept (or even something physical) and in some way transforming it.
It’s a process where we break away from conventional thinking, where we adapt, perhaps even breathe new life into the familiar.
I’ve written recently HERE about how there are scores of examples of products––ranging from Post-It noted to Play-Doh––that are reinvention success stories.
Nowhere, however, is it more challenging––or rewarding––than when we apply that concept to ourselves.
Last year I also wrote about the paradox of the ship of Theseus, a famous thought experiment.
Here’s what I shared:
If each year a new component is replaced on Theseus’ ship, until ultimately nothing original remains, when does it cease being the same craft?
Does the slightest change create an entirely new vessel…?
Or, if after a hundred years all the wooden parts are gradually replaced with metal, does it nonetheless still remain the same ship?
Ultimately, the Paradox of the Ship of Theseus asks us to question the persistence of personal identity.
Are we really the same person we were in college…or frankly even yesterday?
Since you can, in fact, change so much about yourself––from gender to hair color, political views to dessert preferences––what original components must remain for “you to be you?”
This month, as we explore Reinvention together, I’m eager to see what we all discover.
This week, I also stumbled across a poem I really like that’s also connected to the ancient Greeks and their ships, specifically to Odysseus and his journey back home.
Here’s a part of it.
Ithaka
By C. P. Cavafy
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
Essentially, the poet argues (beautifully) for journey over destination, yet in my mind the key question is always if the person who set off is the same as the person who (finally) arrives.
Sometimes reinvention requires a little disruption.
If the skateboarder hadn’t startled us, Vlad and I might not have noticed his flash of neon LED wisdom.
Indeed, sometimes it takes a while––or a billboard level sign––for us to get the message.
Indeed, although I feel like I’m constantly quoting T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, it seems inevitable here.
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
If you’re interested in Reinventing Yourself––and I think all of us are––I hope you’ll join me on this January (and eternal) journey.
First, with the new meditation HERE, and more interactively perhaps, with the Tell A New Story Webinar HERE.
Most importantly, like traveling to Ithaka, I hope that 2024 gives us all that kind of “marvelous journey” together.
Namaste for Now,
