We make a lot of decisions in our life. Sometimes we will be sure and clear about what we want to do and other times uncertainty will cause us to stall. The compass we use to guide us through life is a complex one. Advice from parents, teachers, friends, good books, not-so-good books, social media, the list is long and overwhelming. You can learn to trust yourself to make the best possible decision in any given moment.
If you aren’t honest with yourself you will end up lying to others. This deception will eventually push those you love away. Being able to make quick decisions is a real strength but if a decision is difficult, it is worth staying put until you are clear.
The artist could be talking about deciding whether or not to go out partying. He could also be talking about a bigger career or life decision that will keep him away from home. All decisions, whether minor or ones that have life changing consequences, should be made with consistency. The morals and virtues that guide the way we speak to strangers also guide our decisions about marriage, work and how we show up each and every day.
Escape through chemicals is an option. It is an option often glamorised by film and pop culture. I’ve noticed over the years that most celebrities choose sobriety at some point on their journey. Macklemore has sung many times about his own battle with alcohol and losing his brother to opioid addiction. Some people take prescription drugs to deal with discomfort and a troubled mind that may be helped through therapy or even good, helpful words found in books and songs.
Faith overcomes all fear. Faith can be defined as trusting that things will work out in the end. Angels come in many forms. They can feel like a supernatural force guiding you or a timely kind word from a friend. There are many stories of different angels throughout folklore and in scripture. The important thing is to accept and appreciate them whenever you notice them.
One of the most quoted verses of the bible is Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and you will receive. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Seek, and you will find.” Squeaky wheels do get all the attention! How will your angels know what it is you want or need if you don’t tell them?
Macklemore often sings about God. Neitze wrote a book called “God is Dead.” I’ve heard some people use the title of this book to say that humans no longer need God as they once did. Neitze was actually lamenting the loss of belief in gods and wrote about how people must learn to live without the things this belief gives us. Macklemore is saying that the hole is still there and the way to fill it can come from past, shared knowledge.
Little children have no concept of what a good drawing is. They pick up crayons and just draw. Picasso said, “It took me four years to learn to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” The natural artistic freedom we are all born with gets smothered in criticism and comparison and can be difficult to rekindle. Natural creativity resides in everyone and can be found by removing the impediments of criticism and letting the creativity flow.
I take the tail lights to be God, or angels, or the Universe guiding us through life. This light never diminishes. There are times we aren’t looking in the right direction or have covered it up with distractions, but it never fades. We might stumble and feel like we’ve made wrong decisions but our path is ours to take and will always lead us in the right direction eventually.
Virgil Abloh said, “When you make it to the penthouse, it’s your duty to send the elevator back down.” The idea is that if you achieve success it is your obligation to share the tools that helped you get there. Success doesn’t have to be limited to financial gain, but also the lessons learned to adopt virtues such as patience, self-control, self-confidence and kindness. There is a book of Virgil’s quotes that includes, “You have to have mentors, dead or alive… What most people won’t tell you is that the people you look up to didn’t invent it themselves.”
We’re back onto the metaphor of driving along the highway of life. We can never be truly lost but can lose sight of our destination and our guiding principles.
Everyone can get lost in their work. Work is an important part of what being human is. Societies function best with every role being filled and work gives purpose to each individual. Work also provides connection and sense of achievement. But this is only a part of what it is to be a person. When we fail to be attentive to the world we live in, focussed only on our own work, we can miss the signs that help us live well.
Spending time with loved ones is important if we are to be happy. If our minds stay in our work we miss out on the joy and love that comes when spending time with our family. People thrive when they are fulfilling their role within society. Work can be a job, studying, being a carer or an international singer. We can also lose the meaning behind our work if we don’t look up from the desk occasionally.
The artist may feel like his time of success has already lasted longer than he expected. The industry side of the music world can generate a lot of money through the selling of the music and merchandise. One thing it can’t do is manufacture the creativity of the artists making the music. There is more and more AI produced art, but it seems AI is only creating a bigger demand for individual human creativity.
We only appreciate the finer things like luxury cars, fine dining, and five start hotels if we have known second hand cars, two-minute noodles, and sleeping in a tent.
Failure can be thought of as the necessary lower rungs on the ladder to success. We talk about striving to climb the ladder. This requires being on the lower rungs before reaching the top ones. Anthony Robbins encourages people to redefine failure simply as an unexpected outcome. You will want to make the winning play, score 100% on a test or write a number one hit song. If you don’t get these results, it’s fine. Not what you were expecting, but it’s fine. What next? How do you improve, what did you learn, was a 3-1 loss, 78% on the test, or number 36 in the top 40 all that bad?
We naturally seek out approval for what we do. We are a part of a team, a society, and want to know if we are playing our part. This helps set up some boundaries, but at some point you have to take the lead. You have to make decisions for yourself and act as though people looking at you are looking for guidance and good example rather than hoping for their praise. You can only live freely if you live by our own choices.
(Breathe in, hold, long exhale) Breathing works! So much meditation and relaxation revolves around concentrated breathing. Slowing your breath and being aware of it will slow down your mind and make you calmer.
Life requires us to act, which means at times taking chances and trusting that things will work out in the end. Stepping out in faith takes courage and will bring its own rewards regardless of the outcome.
Life can feel full of mistakes and near disasters but when we look at our lives as a whole; life is beautiful.
We can all leave a legacy. For most of us it will be the equivalent of writing our name in dust that will soon be gone. But as we fade off we can be sure those closest to us can see the tracks we left and choose to follow our tail lights as they fade off into the distance.
