theblackdostoyevsky

What are some life hacks that you practice?

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If you think life hacks are only about using a stick of dry spaghetti to light a candle wick just out of reach, you won’t find that here. Our lives are already a mess. Another clever way to use binder clips isn’t going to bring you peace of mind. “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation . . .,” and like schoolchildren playing chicken on the monkey bars, wildly flailing their legs to wrap around another and wrench him down from his hanging, we’re all working tirelessly, secretly, shamefully hoping that the one beside us falls before we do.

Question I’ve been asking myself lately, though, is whether or not I really wanna be the last one hanging.

There’s only one life hack: Wisdom. The right application of knowledge. In order to get wisdom, you have to ask of God, who gives liberally to all who ask without reproach. If you won’t do that, you’ll be scrolling, bleary-eyed for the rest of your waking hours scouring for tips you’ll never have the time or money to practice or apply. Get wisdom: it’s the principal thing. Every other life hack must subordinate itself to it.

Here’s the first subordinate: Move at the pace of the natural world. Now, I don’t mean walk at the same speed that grass grows. I mean set the speed of your thinking, your expectations, the management of your relationships according to the speed of the seasons. We overestimate what we can accomplish in a year, but we underestimate what we can accomplish in a quarter century. I stole that from somewhere, but that’s what great artists do: steal. Learn from the trees and your houseplants. See the rate at which they spring and bud and unfurl and blossom, the care with which you water and the time you’re content to wait and live while they in silence and patience produce a beauty that catches the breath and leaves you speechless. The lilies do not toil or spin.

So, don’t sit on the pot and squeeze; sit on the pot and wait for your body to do its work. Rev up with the sun and wind down with it, too. Observe the clouds and walk at their steady clip. Watch the leaves tremble and still. They, too, shudder to think.

The second subordinate: Stop talking. Texting counts as talking. Forsake words and sit in silence. Abide within the crowd and listen without needing to contribute to the noise. Be quick to listen and slow to speak. Don’t even read the signs, because even they speak in your voice. Don’t wait for you turn, but pass. Funny how those spaces in childish board games that caused you to “lose a turn” were meant to discourage you. Today, they encourage. I can rest and let everyone else pass on towards their cardboard endings. And when they arrive and push down the paper wall, the set sky of Truman’s show, I’ll be back in Candy Land eating a single gumdrop with my front teeth to make it last.

When’s the last time you heard without annoyance but with curiosity? Most folks won’t close their lips because they can’t deal with the sins of their past rushing up to meet them when they’re silent and still. We scream aloud in horror upon their rearrival, to exorcise them. We keep moving, keep speaking, like playing in the heat of the day, trying to outrun the guilt and shame. Hush and let them catch you. Admit you’re a fool and have behaved like one, beg mercy from your maker, realize he’s already forgiven you and made a way for your freedom, accept the blood of His son, and be free. But you can’t do that ’til you shut your trap and stop justifying yourself to death.

The third subordinate: Read. Wanna know a secret? People don’t read. Wanna know another secret? People don’t read because people don’t listen. People jump up and across before measuring the chasm. Those are the dreams lying in graveyards that everyone’s always making everyone else feel badly about. Wanna know how to achieve both wisdom and silence without it costing you in anything but time? Read. Doesn’t matter what. Just read. As you read, you’ll find your flavor and come to the truth of what will feed you.

Words are spirit. Here’s proof. Has someone ever insulted you to your face? Did you see the words? But did you feel them? Words are spirit, and they have power. As you read, you’ll gravitate towards the words that have the most power. Spoiler Alert: They’re in the Bible. If you don’t end there, you’ve not gone far enough. You’ve stopped short of the truth. You may stop off at some wild places along the way, but they’ll all be flat, humorless lies when compared against the gospel of God’s Word. His Word is spirit AND life, both. But you know what you’ll gain through the reading you complete on your way? You’ll gain wisdom, experience, understanding, knowledge, compassion, sympathy, emotional intelligence, imagination, memory, self-awareness, patience.

All of those traits cultivated in you are infinitely more valuable than knowing to place a wooden spoon on a pot boiling over.

But I get it, that’s cool, too.