15 minutes

Good Morning,

Like many I once had a desire for recognition or fame, my 15 minutes in the spotlight so speak. I was in several reasonably successful bands in my youth, always competed on some level in everything I took on, and just tried to prolong the spotlight for as long as I thought I could make it last. It was great fun with many experiences, but that was many years ago and like all things it grew old, the spotlight no longer had any appeal. So what happened? Did I lose my ambition? My Drive? Do I no longer thirst for the attention, the apparent fun?

Well thirst is a great metaphor, so to continue along those lines lets just say I got my fill. I began to recognize how empty the experiences had become, how temporary it all was and how the fame or recognition left much quicker than the effort it took to get there. After all there had to be more to life than just filling the spaces with things I enjoyed. What about the spaces? Could I enjoy or even see the spaces in my life where I did not fill them? Yes.

Do not get me wrong, it took many years and plenty of practice, but I did learn to see the "spaces" to see myself and my life for what they really were. It was here that many lessons were understood with more becoming apparent each breath I take. I learned what is left when I strip away all the objects, dramas and desires I filled my life with. I learned that life is simply a matter of choices and everything in our life we choose to put there.

So what happened to my desire for fame? Well what happened to Napoleon? What happened to the Queen of Sheba? And Confucius and Lao Tzu and Marie Antoinette, Beethoven and Bach? They're all just memories in our minds; they're just perceptions in people's minds now, but think about it - that's all any of us ever are even when we're alive. Like happiness, sadness, or pain fame is simply a matter of perception. Besides there is so much more to love when your not bust trying to be loved.

Enjoy the spaces in your day and reflect upon this: The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.

Peace and Love, Jim