Sunday, August 17, 2003
Preparation
We spend our entire lives in the process of preparation. Kids are in school getting preparation for their future. Parents making preparatory plans for the family. Almost all education is preparation for something. For example learning to drive a car starting in the parking lot or on a Sunday when there is no traffic. As a Jehovah's Witness we did stage rehearsals for meeting people out preaching. We would watch 2 individuals pretend to have a biblical debate on the platform and the rest of the congregation would learn from it. It was a form of preparation so that we would be ready to make a good defense and have a logical process of thoughts for discussion. Have you noticed how many times you are making subconscious mental rehearsals in your head during the day? For example, a husband contemplating what his wife is going to say or how she will react to something, so on his drive home from work he is rehearsing possible dialogues and preparing his lines of defense, he is in anticipation of her lines cause he knows her so well, so he already has a good idea of how things will turn out and what sort of beating he is in for. I remember at home me and my brother rehearsing conversations we would be having with our mom or dad or both when we knew we were in serious trouble. Your mind is racing.
So our minds are always thinking in advance preparing, preparing our next words our next actions. Everything is rehearsed. Well alot of things are.
One of my teachers told me: "the degree of preparation determines the degree of success", I really took that to heart-it made alot of sense. I could see that life is not predetermined and that the things you want in life don’t just fall into your hands. You have to MAKE them happen. And in order for events to turn out according to your liking, has alot to do with how well you prepare in advance for situations in order for them to turn out successful.
An example of someone who takes preparation too far: someone applying for a job lets say a middle-aged woman, gets herself prepared-puts on her face and clothes making sure everything is perfect, she is rush rush rush, trying to stand up tall and act confident-knock everyone dead. When she is heading towards her job she is mentally preparing, either on the subway or driving her own car. She is constantly checking her reflection in the mirror and brushing off every loose strand of fabric touching her clothes. You cant sit beside her cause you can feel the stress and tension within her and sense she is ready to kill to meet her appointment. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the employer she was trying to impress with her presentation in his office were actually someone she rudely brushed against on her way to the appointment? Or was actually watching her reflection in the plastic subway windows as she made everything look perfect?
So WHO are we trying to impress with all this preparation? When you are sitting amongst others dressed up to the sky and everybody around you is too tired of the game to give you any praise or compliments or sometimes even notice or care, than what's it all for? Sometimes you are so overdressed that you feel embarrassed and out of place. It’ s like that in Toronto around Bay/Bloor. People act like they are doing the catwalk with their latest fashion clothes and expensive cars parked outside the small shops. I take care of a patient in that area; my pathetic self is pushing my friend in his wheelchair to grab a coffee at SecondCup, enjoying the nice weather. Our presence sort of snaps these people back to reality during their show of glitz and glamour.
Than their is the under prepared individual. I believe preparation is most valuable during adolescence, where decisions you make affect the rest of your life. Mainly with regards to spouse and career, and who is in a better position to help these one's prepare other than their own parents who have so much wisdom and hindsight, the one who carelessly doesn’t prepare finds him or herself (herself in this case) pregnant with a kid without the means to support it alone, what a much better life a child (another human being) would enjoy if that person prepared to have him/her prepared to spend time with him/her and set aside money even for a future education, life would be completely different if it was prepared properly. Thinking in advance.
Being over prepared and contemplating our every single footstep rips the joy out of life and you feel like a robot performing rituals and tasks. Everything is a chore. When you prepare a good outline and know when to let go and act spontaneous and natural, everything seems to flow (TY Dale for the other day)
Jamie
We spend our entire lives in the process of preparation. Kids are in school getting preparation for their future. Parents making preparatory plans for the family. Almost all education is preparation for something. For example learning to drive a car starting in the parking lot or on a Sunday when there is no traffic. As a Jehovah's Witness we did stage rehearsals for meeting people out preaching. We would watch 2 individuals pretend to have a biblical debate on the platform and the rest of the congregation would learn from it. It was a form of preparation so that we would be ready to make a good defense and have a logical process of thoughts for discussion. Have you noticed how many times you are making subconscious mental rehearsals in your head during the day? For example, a husband contemplating what his wife is going to say or how she will react to something, so on his drive home from work he is rehearsing possible dialogues and preparing his lines of defense, he is in anticipation of her lines cause he knows her so well, so he already has a good idea of how things will turn out and what sort of beating he is in for. I remember at home me and my brother rehearsing conversations we would be having with our mom or dad or both when we knew we were in serious trouble. Your mind is racing.
So our minds are always thinking in advance preparing, preparing our next words our next actions. Everything is rehearsed. Well alot of things are.
One of my teachers told me: "the degree of preparation determines the degree of success", I really took that to heart-it made alot of sense. I could see that life is not predetermined and that the things you want in life don’t just fall into your hands. You have to MAKE them happen. And in order for events to turn out according to your liking, has alot to do with how well you prepare in advance for situations in order for them to turn out successful.
An example of someone who takes preparation too far: someone applying for a job lets say a middle-aged woman, gets herself prepared-puts on her face and clothes making sure everything is perfect, she is rush rush rush, trying to stand up tall and act confident-knock everyone dead. When she is heading towards her job she is mentally preparing, either on the subway or driving her own car. She is constantly checking her reflection in the mirror and brushing off every loose strand of fabric touching her clothes. You cant sit beside her cause you can feel the stress and tension within her and sense she is ready to kill to meet her appointment. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the employer she was trying to impress with her presentation in his office were actually someone she rudely brushed against on her way to the appointment? Or was actually watching her reflection in the plastic subway windows as she made everything look perfect?
So WHO are we trying to impress with all this preparation? When you are sitting amongst others dressed up to the sky and everybody around you is too tired of the game to give you any praise or compliments or sometimes even notice or care, than what's it all for? Sometimes you are so overdressed that you feel embarrassed and out of place. It’ s like that in Toronto around Bay/Bloor. People act like they are doing the catwalk with their latest fashion clothes and expensive cars parked outside the small shops. I take care of a patient in that area; my pathetic self is pushing my friend in his wheelchair to grab a coffee at SecondCup, enjoying the nice weather. Our presence sort of snaps these people back to reality during their show of glitz and glamour.
Than their is the under prepared individual. I believe preparation is most valuable during adolescence, where decisions you make affect the rest of your life. Mainly with regards to spouse and career, and who is in a better position to help these one's prepare other than their own parents who have so much wisdom and hindsight, the one who carelessly doesn’t prepare finds him or herself (herself in this case) pregnant with a kid without the means to support it alone, what a much better life a child (another human being) would enjoy if that person prepared to have him/her prepared to spend time with him/her and set aside money even for a future education, life would be completely different if it was prepared properly. Thinking in advance.
Being over prepared and contemplating our every single footstep rips the joy out of life and you feel like a robot performing rituals and tasks. Everything is a chore. When you prepare a good outline and know when to let go and act spontaneous and natural, everything seems to flow (TY Dale for the other day)
Jamie
