December 14, 2021 by Brian Weiner No CommentsChanging The World One Thought At A Time., Lessons From The Mountain

There are no rules about leaping into the new, because no one has been there before.

ZORINA BRAM

Of course growth is uncomfortable, you are headed into uncharted territory. It can make you feel ill at ease, nervous, trepidatious and literally sick to your stomach.

Good.

These are all actually good signs.

Why?

In my opinion, stagnation is a horrible waste of a life. Finding a groove and staying in that groove is comfortable, and certainly more chill than venturing into the wilderness of territories unfamiliar while traveling on the road less traveled. At the end of living a life of certainty, perhaps there is a greater sum total of happy moments in life. This formula works so very well for a majority of humans, so it would appear to be the wiser solution… and perhaps it truly is.

I opted for the alternate. I do not claim to be right. I know my choice is most certainly not for all folks. But I want to make a case for it, nonetheless.

In the previous scenario, you find a path, hit your mark, and step and repeat (for decades) and finally pass away. Your life may have been full of family, friends, happy times, trips, and good experiences….. Sounds pretty damn good, all things considered.

The alternate scenario gives cause to really determine who you are and what you are ultimately capable of. In this scenario, whenever things start to get a bit comfortable, you accelerate head first into the unknown. You take a leap of faith and jump straight into it.

For me, Patrick Overton said it best, “When you come to the edge of all the light you have, and must take a step into the darkness of the unknown, believe that one of two things will happen. Either there will be something solid for you to stand on – or you will be taught how to fly.”

This makes growth tremendously uncomfortable. It is full of moments in which you have achieved a new stasis, and you are finally comfortable again, and what do you do? Disrupt that comfort completely by going headfirst into the void with full expectation of seeing a positive outcome.

Why does this work for some people and not others? Part of it is upbringing. A child who is coddled and tended to is far less likely to learn to fend for itself. Whereas a child that is given a solid foundation, but left more to their own capacity to expand, will find that path in life sooner and faster.

Today’s aphorism comes from one of my mother’s best friends. When she said it, I wrote it down more than 40 years ago. She said it in passing and it just grabbed me by the brain and took hold.

Leaping into the new. It sounded so magical. So brave. So experimental. So daring. In reflection, perhaps this was one of the most guiding aphorisms of my life. I became obsessed with alternate realities of every kind and simultaneously, determined to forge into territories heretofore uncharted. Before I would later learn of their horrible dark side, the heroes of my youth were Magellan, Columbus, Cabrillo, Erikson and others. They were the explorers, willing to cross into the seas of the unknown, in search of new territory. It sounded so brave and daring, I was very intrigued.

If you are predisposed to follow such a path in life, I can guarantee you that there are plenty of moments of regret, remorse, disappointment, fear, trepidation, consternation and all out anxiety. If these qualities of life are not for you, take the path of certainty. Find your direction, set your compass, live your life and enjoy every minute of it.

I know for me, that I could never do that. That would feel like a life sentence to me. One that creates a continual cycle of coming and going, but really feeling like I would be going nowhere.

If you can handle all of the previously stated negative states of mind…. You may very well discover things that no other human on earth has discovered. You will be the one in 7 billion people to have done so. That experience will either bring you the greatest satisfaction that life can deliver, or it may never bring any of it at all. It is a huge risk, fraught with penalties for being wrong, disappointments for veering off course and a life that could end up void of any of the great things that just staying chill and predictable will potentially deliver in spades.

Internally you are left with options. Be happy with who you are, or discover who you might truly become.

Happy Tuesday!

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Zorina Bram

Written by Brian Weiner

When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!