The Hyphen

Like I said in a previous post, the book "Women Food and God" has hit me with enough force to require me to explore Geneen Roth's writings. In one section Geneen talks about using obsession to "deal with the hard part-the part that happens between being two years old and dying."

I've had this notion for a while that this is the hypen. The part between your birth-date and your death-date. It's the messy middle between Born 1964 - Died ??? And everything that is important is in that messy middle. To be honest we don't control our birth, and rarely do we really control our death. But the middle, the hypen, the hardest part ... that's all us. There is no one to look to for crafting our lives than ourselves. Sure some people have more resources (Tony Robbins explores the idea that resources really don't guide our lives in a great TED talk), but in the final analysis you make the decisions that shape your hyphen.

So what's your strategy for dealing with the scary messy middle? Do you use drugs or obsession to cover up and hide? What's your drug of choice? Alcohol, weed, Heroin, TV, food? Food is the drug of choice that Geneen talks about in Women Food and God.

Why is it so hard to look at that unfinished hyphen and be dazzling?

So here's the question: "If you stop today, write your unfinished hyphen down, and then put an imaginary finish to it ... what will your hyphen be about?"

Will it be about being safe?

Will it be about being curious?

Will it be about challenging the status quo?

Will it be about fitting in?

Will it be about hiding with your drug of choice?

Once you decide to take control of your hyphen ... even just by looking at it ... you've starting crafting a raft to get across the hardest part.

See you on the wire

-- Steven Cardinale