Spontaneity (January 25th)
January 25 – Spontaneity: Every hour today, do something completely “random”. Simply listen to your “gut” &/or flow with “first thought, best thought”. Choose to make all your decisions – major as well as minor ones – “on a whim”.
At first I though this activity would be exactly the same as the tasks mentioned on January 4th /or January 7th., and yet I would soon discover (much to my surprise) that the three are not even remotely similar.
January 4th’s task involved having the courage to follow seemingly random archetypes in one’s surroundings – “trusting” that there would be an act of service waiting at the end of that journey. It was a selfless act of Faith.
January 7th’s task involved using a random generator to make all decisions, thereby removing personal will & desire from each moment of one’s life. It was a selfless act of Humility.
Today’s task, on the other hand, seemed to access an opposing set of principles – it seemed strengthen my reliance on personal desires by encouraging me to simply engage whatever impulse I might have at any particular moment.
And this was anything but a selfless activity. While the former two tasks asked me to engage a conscient interconnection with my surroundings for the betterment of another, today’s task asked me to fulfill the whims of my ego, which are always designed to benefit the self – to do things that bring me pleasure, to think thoughts that I find amusing, or to gaze upon things for which I yearn.
Even though my day’s random acts seemed “silly” & “harmless” (standing up and twirling around, dancing in front of my dog, singing to myself, skipping around the barn, holding my face up top the rain), none of them did any other being any good at all.
And that seemed to define the all-important difference between submitting to random whim and interacting intuitively. They both felt similar, and it was almost impossible to determine whether one came before or after the other – whether one was “first instant” and the other “just after”.
It was always clear, however, that the former was always a mental journey inward for my own amusement,
… while the latter was always a physical journey outward to care for something in my environment.
The former always encouraged me to take care of myself,
… while the latter always in-Couraged me to care for another.
So, even though I will probably end up altering this task in the next version of the Calendar (probably by asking you to feel a whim for self and then do its opposite for another), it did enlighten me as to the all-important difference between selfless intuition and selfish hunch.
Fortunately for us all, we are always allowed to pause when experiencing either – and choose the former over the latter.
See You when I see you ..
… and until then, Be Now!
Scaughdt
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