Turns Out There Are Only 8 Steps To Heaven.

Who knew?

A hop, skip and a jump and boom, there you are.

1) Get clear, got it?

Shit happens.

Stuff annoys.

Things go our way, don’t go our way.

People do things we wouldn’t do, or don’t want them to. All true.

What we think about all this is important.

2) Think good thoughts.

About others, about yourself, about ants and bees. Particularly ants and bees.

It’s a practise. Start. Try it.

I know, we mainly don’t do this.

But, when we do, all good, no?

3) Speak well.

I don’t mean pronunciation. I mean, like the words we use, how we use them, when and why, all has a bearing on where we’re going, on our stair way. It feels better having a friendly conversation than a harsh one. This annoyed me at first. Maybe that says it all.

4) Actions speak louder than words.

Or so we’re told.

We might say actions and words speak well together.

Or, speak well but act badly and you create friction. Likewise speaking badly but acting well.

And friction, as all physicists know, curtails your super power. And super power is good.

5) Make good work.

Work feels good when we know what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and who we’re doing it for. Unless it’s guns for despots or selling people to other people shooting chickens in the head or selling herion to children. And a few things in between. In all other instances, work feels good when we know what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and who we’re doing it for.

You know what good work feels like. Do more of that.

6) Try Hard, But Not Too Hard.

Doing almost anything requires effort. But thats ok. We like it when try something and feel the reward. Keep trying.

But not too hard.

When we try too hard it can start to feel a bit shit.

This is a paradox, a riddle, a rhyme. Like the work above, take a moment to pause: am I trying to right amount of hard? Do you feel like going to sleep? Are you quite angry quite a lot of the time (but maybe pretend not)? These are clues.

7) Bip, bip, bip. Keep the radar on.

Am I:

speaking well?

working well?

acting well?

trying the right amount of hard?

in tune, online and alert?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Aim for yes, accept the no. And on.

8) Less is More.

Our minds are messy.

They are noisy.

They are confused.

They’re judgmental.

They’ve got a mind of of their own. A mind has a mind of its own? Sounds like a confusing place. Yep, it is in there.

They bounce between impulse and habit - an emotional tagging wagging the human dog.

Most of what we do, we do blind.

As we cut away the noise, we find an ever stronger signal and the more we focus on it, the stronger it gets.

This takes practise.

But it’s worth it.

And there you have it. A hop, skip and a jump and there we are.

8 Steps. One heaven.