No doubt you’ve encountered occasion on which your developing perspective is less than complimentary, times when you feel more acquainted with friction or obstruction than progress and accomplishment. It is an unsettling toxin and certainly one from which immediate removal is preferred. Regrettably the synthesis of objectives is not always evolutionary; or if it were, the alteration can be punishingly obscure or protracted. Make no mistake ingenuity insinuates not only what we imagine to be a favourable credit for oneself but also what blends with the private ambitions others may have. Metaphorically the journey upriver is fraught with unexpected deadheads, weeds or the mere contradiction of what is no more elegant or calculated than the natural flow of the river at that particular juncture.
Going with the flow is however not the resolve I have customarily adopted as a prudent means of settling anxiety or delay. In those instances where I am frustrated by the overwhelming persuasion of others – or merely by the annoying poison of what I characterize as inconvenient inactivity – I pursue an investigation of the cause. The immobility is likely afforded by circumstances inapplicable to the common goal. And of course there can be no answer unless one identifies the question.
The overall question is how to proceed upriver, the symbol of passage in life. I say this to emphasize that no amount of accusatory allegation is either possible or reliable; we have no truck with what concerns others as wishful as the speculation may be. The universe is ultimately personal; we stew in our own odour. As long as the paddle is smooth and not contradicted, the issue is no more offensive than the cumulus clouds in the distance. But when more immediate impediment is at hand I find direct focus is required. It is in part motivated by the further belief that one’s instinctive projection has value. But the direction must always be the cause not the condition.
If I were to share any wisdom or intelligence regarding achievement in life I would first hasten to remind both myself and others that the similarity of dominion in the lives of each of us is never to be discounted. We are ruled by identical contaminants. How often we allow ourselves to succumb to what we arrogantly equate with insight when at best it is self-reflective description.
In short there are two ways to get down or up the river. Either you know where to go or where not to go.