The one thing that you can control
Imagine for a moment, you’re offered a Villa in Tuscany. As you approach, the housekeeper, an elderly man in overalls, swings open the giant cast iron gates that are mounted on sandstone pillars. Driving on, the breeze ruffles your (remaining.. in my case) hair and you pass by a row of cypress trees. In the distance you see the facade of a beautiful cream coloured Villa. Balconies overlook the grounds and the terracotta roof tiles reflect the warm afternoon sun.
As the car pulls up you see a giant wooden door, studded with ornate flower-shaped iron works. You get out and reach for the apollo door handle and enter your new sprawling home. The tiled floors are covered with Persian carpets and a soft light illuminates the walls decorated here and there with beautiful paintings depicting life in the region. From the windows you see rolling green hills, an orchard, livestock, stables and a couple of sheep dogs waiting patiently at the back door.
In need of refreshment you head to the kitchen. You’re greeted by the warm embers glowing in the corner of a stove, and the smell of cheese, hams and other produce of the estate. The housekeeper pours you a glass of deep red wine and as you take a sip he explains, “All of this can be yours, wouldn’t that be nice? There’s only one catch, it’s up to you to maintain and it’s a full time job”.
On the one hand you get to live in paradise. On the other hand you’re responsible for all the staff and their families, some of whom will get sick, some will quarrel. The house itself has to be maintained. Then there’s all the animals.
As you pause to consider whether to accept or not, the housekeeper extends his hand and gives you a key. Then he begins to vanish before your eyes and just before he fully departs he smiles and says, “Actually it was a rhetorical question, you’ve just been born, welcome to life”.
Now you’ve got this grand estate in your hands, and you’ve just got this one thing that you can control, how you manage it.
Bad weather, drought, disease and eventual crumbling of the walls are guaranteed. That you can’t control.
But day to day management and how you spend your time in the estate, that’s up to you.
At some distance from the villa is the pigsty, where the pigs roll around in the mud. You feed them the scraps from your meals and they gladly hog them down. Once in a while you have to go into that sty and shovel out all the muck. The muck is useful too since you can use it to fertilise the plants.
While the muck is useful for growing things, you’re smart enough to know that you don’t want to be covered in it, or spend too much time around the pigsty. After all if you spend too much time there, you’ll start to smell quite bad and it’s likely that people won’t want to be around you.
Better to spend your time sitting under the apple trees, where the lavender grows. You think about your estate, you’re content because the animals are tended to, the house is in good repair and you have food enough for your household just in case something should come up and the next harvest is short.
It makes sense right?
Life is something like that. The first part of it is how well you manage yourself, your health, relationships and wealth. The other part is where you focus your attention. Are you living in the pigsty, constantly concerning yourself with all the difficult things going on in your life and the world at large, or are you focused on the pleasant aspects of life. Both have a purpose. You just have to think about whether you want to smell like lavender or a pigsty.