My postman is wise

My postman is wise

Today my day started with an inspiring dazzle. In a routine scenario, leaving home to go to work, I met the postman who has been distributing letters in my building for years. In the usual cheerful tone, I asked him the usual polite question:

– Hello! How are you? Everything is fine?

But the answer was none of what I normally hear, from the people I come across. Not one: “- I’m fine, thank you. And you? ”, nor the famous:“ – Going on … ”so beloved by the Portuguese.

Staying focused on the organization of the paperwork and without even looking up at me, he shoots one: “- I do for it.”

So pure and hard. Direct and emotionless. Simple and deep.

I took that phrase with me and went round it on the way back to the office. The day went by and I did the work I had to do, had lunch, talked to other people, directed my attention to where it was needed, in all situations of a normal day. But those words were echoing inside me and the need to share them with the world grew, until the moment when ideas inevitably became text  .

And it will happen now.

The following list groups all the implicit teachings that I found in this simple sentence:

• Each of us is responsible for our own lives.

The realization of our dreams depends on the actions we decide to take. Life will present us with infinite opportunities, but we are the ones who decide whether to seize them or not. It is our values, fears, prejudices or any other conditions that make us choose a path. Nobody else is responsible.

•  “Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely”

This phrase by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, author of reference works such as “The Thinker” and “The Kiss”, draws a brilliant conclusion about the use we can make of those moments, hours, days, when it seems that we do nothing relevant . They can serve to show us exactly who we are, where we are, what our starting point is. Only after we are aware of this can we know where we want to go.

• The incredible power of free will

We often wonder what our dream life would be like, but do we think about the way to get there? Will it be long or short? A lighted highway or a huge dark staircase without a handrail? Are we going on foot, wearing comfortable shoes or bare feet and riding on a cloud? Imagination has no limits, isn’t it? And what about the reality? Of course it has, I’m not talking about extreme cases, I just want to call attention to many of these limits being created by us. Why? Because it is much easier to stay in our comfort zone, in the warmth of the sofa, dreaming about “what could be if…” or “what I liked was…” than learning to dance in the rain. By this I mean that no matter how much external conditions affect us, we always have the power to choose how they will influence us.

• Focus and determination

How does a sentence of just four words say so much?

“I do”. I don’t think, I don’t wish, I wouldn’t like that. There are no conditionals, no past, no future. It is the verb to do, in the present. A firm gift, in the first person. No one else is going to make my life happen. It just depends on me. I am aware of this and trust myself.

“for it”. I know what I want and where I’m going. My goals are defined and I am in charge of my life.

Wisdom? Genius? Simplicity? For me it is all of this and it is a lot!

And for you who have been reading to the end? Feel free to share your opinion.

See you later!