Ian-Anthony Finnimore's Blog

The title of this post for me, conjures up the image of mindless repeating.

Specifically that of my younger self learning my 6 times table. Mathematics breaks my brain, I have heard mention of a maths specific dyslexia & wonder if it applies to my disagreement with numbers.

Of all the times tables the 6’s was such an issue that I actually burned it into my brain – so much so that even at 33 I still say it in my head rapidly when the need arises.

On one hand I know it front to back but looking at it another way I perhaps know the rhythm of the song but don’t understand the point of the lyrics…

Example: I posted my quote: “I know how to behave to be a good person – other people just make it more of a compromise“. Prompting the following response.

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With this example in mind I often find that those who quote Scripture of any kind seem almost smug dropping it into conversation or debate & it actually seems to draw a line under further interaction with them.

More so recently I find that people who spit out Buddhist philosophy seem to want to use the nuclear option rather than actually applying it into the way they carry themselves – they don’t seem to have a point so they use someone else’s..

I also find that there are those who try too hard to convince themselves that “they” are enlightened which could just be over enthusiasm or may well be equivalent to someone strutting around in an expensive suit – that may take them years to fully pay back.

I once had a conversation in which one such fellow said that anyone using violence was ignorant. He went on to say that this was something that he had bestowed upon his offspring – violence is never an answer …

Really?

Hypocrite springs to mind.

How can every form of physicality be taken off the table? How can you judge a person from afar who decides that it is required for any number of reasons? Practically every animal land, sea or air is a master of it in some form – from hunting to mating rights.

As a noble spirit should it be avoided – certainly – but it cannot be taken off the table for anyone. Life may depend on at least a willingness to defend against another, the person committed to do you harm may just reconsider your victim status if you show that your not going down easily.

As I see it, those who assume a top down perspective on things often have cloudy vision. Things can seem glaringly obvious with hindsight, but if it’s someone else’s the lesson holds less value.

It’s OK to not have all of life’s answers in the palm of your hand – some may even consider it cheating.

I am willing to learn, adapt & grow without perjuring myself under doctrine that may have been written at a very specific point in time.

I choose Lenity,

I hope that others will do the same..

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[image error]As someone seeking spiritual answers I can confirm that it is easy to lose faith.

I have toiled in various forums, bookshops & websites with the ever familiar doctors or life coaches assuring me that all I need to do is be positive, unclutter rooms or chant whilst imagining beams of light to reach my potential & be happy …

I am a total idiot then if that is all it takes to feel spiritually content – I must have missed the memo?

Honestly I do hope that it works for some but if being told to think happy changes your life I imagine you pretty much got there on your own.

These people are avatars.

Images projected for the benefit of those looking in – not exactly the spirituality I was looking for that’s for certain.

I find spirituality hard if not impossible.

In my heart I feel it but the wiring is not connected properly. I feel as though I was connected to the universe but the more I interact with city life the further adrift I am.

I know how to behave to be a good person, daily life just makes it more of a compromise. After all you can adjust your own attitude & actions but the life coaches fail to mention just how much of an impact everyone else around you can be. For me even getting a train into work was a battle against people who push, shove & act selfishly. If I don’t stand my ground I don’t even get to work of a morning!

Having dabbled in a little of everything in life I concluded that certain principles were going to be essential & that the more of these I saw in others the more positive my day.

That is how the concept of Lenity was willed into existence.

It was necessary.

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[image error]I find that in order to ensure peace within yourself you are actually required to fight for it.

As hypocritical as that may sound it is possible to not fully appreciate the impact that your daily life has upon what we might refer to as “the real you”.

As you rush to get the children ready or queue in non-moving traffic you are racing toward a finish line which essentially turns you into an unwitting competitor against others – like it or not.

It is simply how our society is set up.

The daily grind doesn’t allow us room to ponder the idea – that if there were no work, school or bills to pay how would you spend your time?

To me the answer to that question is a window into what is the real you – not the wage slave or the pupil dwarfed within a towering educational system.

At some point that person – that individual soul still needs room to breathe & grow or else you feel stifled, downtrodden & drained of life. I have postulated elsewhere that it is at this point that people tend to become frauds …..

Regardless of why I believe this is often the case (see the book of Lenity) it is still important that everyone be granted respite – time within themselves to recharge.

Your answer to the question a few lines up becomes your life line here …

Wherever you can grab your me time – take it!

Meditation & prayer are arranged points in time when someone gives themselves time to stop & reflect. Many will feel a benefit from them certainly, but it is the act of being able to collect your thoughts that is the real source of vitality.

It could be as simple as not rushing your morning shower. You could listen to a really great album from beginning to end on your journey to work.

Reading a book that interests you is another great place – where you are alone in your own mind, using it like a muscle but in a way dictated only by you.

I myself found that getting up an hour earlier & exercising whilst the house was silent put me in a situation where I had already been productive & successful before the outside world had even gotten a look in!

Audio-books on the journey to work are another sweetener. If traffic was bad & it looked like I was running late again at least I could carry on listening & learning from the great Alan Watt.

The world will chip away at you, it will mould you into what amounts to a social chimera. It will bounce at you full force like hailstones on a car windscreen. Everything rages along like a fast flowing river & before you know it you begin to drown in it.

Have you never found that when you leave a job or change school, all of the routines & egos – the pressures & the relationships you had are suddenly irrelevant?

They only matter in context.

Wherever you go or whatever awaits you in the future it is important to always maintain your sense of yourself at all times – it’s the only constant.

If you’re not giving yourself room to breathe & regroup because of other people’s expectations  you are only hurting yourself in the long run.

How can someone who is essentially asleep at the wheel be trusted to maintain control?

So many bad choices are made that are just knee jerk reactions to circumstances that we shouldn’t be putting ourselves into. We stress ourselves out & become boxed in partly because our brains are never allowed to confer with our hearts.

Be kind to yourself, give yourself breathing room & present others with the real you, not the wounded warrior or celebrity clone that the modern world wants you to be.

Not being yourself is the most unnatural feeling in the world – rightfully so ..

Give yourself time to self –huddle before going out onto the field & scoring that victory.

That is Lenity.

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