This first time I saw this picture, I was tempted to post an article about it, but I refrained, somehow in my mind, its time had not yet come. I decided to allow time and thought to pass over it, to ponder what could be the reasons, stories or excuses behind this event.
I used this picture in a seminar I spoke in last week, and the immediate response after understanding the picture was laughter. I went on to ask them if they were not laughing at themselves. What had the owner of this slippers done wrong?
1. He/she secured his/her cheap slippers with more expensive paddlock.
2. The slippers and the paddlock can be carried away (he/she should have chained it to the closest electric pole :))
3. He/she was so concerned about the security of his/her cheap slippers. (Rather than the mentality of this is so cheap, who will steal it)
4. and many more…
Try matching them with these numbers..
(1) But tell me, aren’t you using >1/3 of your life to secure and maintain in a cheap job compared to the real value of your life? Aren’t you worth more than what you have locked down? (imagine u are the paddlock)
(2) Is it not also true that what you call security is only as secure as the pole to which it is tied or untied? Haven’t you come to terms that no matter where you are and what you do, life is a risk and by being overly security concious makes you riddiculous? Are there not some things you are protecting that if they really got stolen will not be so bad? Have we not become prisoners in our own mansions? (imagine you are the slippers)
(3) That job/opportunity/business that you are compromising your values and bending over backwards for, is it that important? Aren’t you paying too much a price (perhaps your soul) for the real worth of that experience? (imagine your opportunities as the slippers and the paddlock what you used to secure it)
(4) ….I think the solution to all this is a pursuit of happiness which breaks the yoke of fear. The motivation of all such mentality is fear, other things I believe are dependants. There is a small article I believe will set you free…
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” – Alfred D Souza
So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you’ve had a drink, until you’ve sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy…Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
Work like you don’t need money, Love like you’ve never been hurt, And dance like no one’s watching. -Unknown (attributed to two authors)
