Reinvention

Taking one day at a time we encounter life. Real life. The weather. The circumstances. The people around us. Our work colleagues, each of them doing the same as we are in encountering the reality of life, one day at a time.

Of course we do not always do it the same. I do things slightly different than you, you than I, and of course everyone else. We each do our own thing in our own way. The variables and permutations of all of this are breathtakingly enormous. Think of it!

And this complexity of interaction is just among those we connect with daily in our inner circles. What about all the strangers we intersect with each day? What about all the strangers in our commuting world – whether by train, bus or expressway? Each of the persons doing their routine are doing so in their own mental space. Each existing side by side with others in a state of unknowing.

This is existential life. Whether we think upon it or not at the time of living it, we are living from second to second creating our life’s record, not just one day at a time, but moment by moment.

We adjust to the changes, the external stimuli. We accommodate the ruffles and flourishes of things we cannot control. They are just there; in our life space. In our face. Maybe not even in our consciousness. But they affect us. They cause us to act slightly different. We are adjusting to our surroundings.

If the adjustments don’t work satisfactorily we change a bit more until we realize the adjustment needed might require a lot more thinking! And then we are lured into reinventing ourselves and our perspective for that situation or even larger.

In this way we sense our environments and invent appropriate responses to them all the time. Sometimes the invention is of major consequence; most often it is not, just incremental change. But some day those incremental changes add up to a lot more and the consequential inventions are called into action.

We do these actions most often without knowing we are doing them. Only the major challenges call us to think deeply, plan carefully, and seek proper invention routines. We do these things because we recognize the need to do so.

This is the process through which a society changes and adopts change routinely. Larger challenges create more formal response but then the process is much the same procedurally.

I think the beauty of all this is how inventive we human beings actually are. The only hindrance might be aging. Not only does age establish norms more solidly but resistance to change also forms. The youth among us, however, are not hindered by these things. They are hindered by lack of experience, but then it is the experience that creates the hindrance for elders. So there are advantages to both age groups.

The youth, however, are in their most inventive stage of life. They are the ones with the new methods and technologies. They are the ones with energy and drive. They are the future owners of this society and they ought to be empowered to engage it fully.

We elders need to mentor the youth to speed their way into that future. We are not the gateway to the future, but the mentors. We are not the protectors of the past, either. We are the educators and door openers.

Transfer of institutional and cultural memory are not easily managed. But the transfer needs to happen. Best we do so with intent and care. The youth deserve this. They are our kids and grandkids.

Just a thought to remember as we all reinvent our lives growing the future. And being the future.

May 3, 2017