What If You Stop and Listen

How many people pass through your life and you didn´t even listen to them

I start writing on Medium about 3 months ago. Made an online course and have been reading everything I can put my eyes on to learn more and more about this fantastic blog.

Being a writer is not as easy as we think. We have to be writing every day, non-stop. 1000 words. 3000 words a day. Read a lot. And especially, live a lot.

As Jon Morrow says, if I want to be a successful writer I have to engage with the world. Not only with books and readers, but with every little thing I do.

I use to be that guy that contemplated every moment, every conversation, every hug from a friend. But somehow, someday, I lost it. Or at least, I forget it.

My mind was in the automatic. I woke up, go to work. Get out of work, picking the kids at school, making dinner, kids homework, sit on the couch, turn on the TV, and fall asleep. The next day- repeat.

Somehow at one point, we need that break-through moment. That word, that movie, that article, that strong event that changes something inside of us and makes us really change.

I feel that break-through every 7 to 10 years. In that period, somehow I need to radically change. More than 10 years doing the same thing every day kills my soul. So I change. I pick up my baggage and leave. I go do something else that has nothing to do with the thing I was doing before.

And right now I´m in that zone. I´m in the changing zone. I want to be a professional writer. I want and I will change.

Doesn´t that happen to you? Don´t you feel, at least, that need for change?

I found out that these periods of time are not just a personal issue. They really exist in our biological clock.

Some people say it´s a myth, others say it´s scientifically proven. That our bodies and minds change every 7 years.

According to Rudolf Steiner and other scientists, seven-year cycles are extremely important to doctors, teachers, social scientists, and psychiatrists. This is because of how your mind and body changes every 7 years.

There is an interesting time-line for these periods of 7 years, and somehow they tell something about my life too:

0–7 years:

This is the beginning of life, the most important stage in one’s life.

7–14 years:

The development of the earlier phase is continued here. The ideas, concepts, associations which had begun are now being discovered by the child.

14–21 years:

This period is characterized by strong emotional and physiological changes with the dawn of puberty.

21–28 years:

This is the stage of refinement. The child finally enters into the stage of adulthood mentally and emotionally.

28–35 years:

This is the phase where our creative process of mind comes to the forefront.

35–42 years:

A new restlessness is being felt depending on one’s personality and circumstances. Our careers, habits, relationships are evaluated by us, modified, and changed.

42–49 years:

This is the stage when major changes in our lives take place. We self-introspect and take major turns to be it in career or relationships.

49–56 years:

This is the age of spiritual awakening. With the loss of our strength and vitality, we look inwards.

56–63 years:

This is the age of accepting inner peace and embrace tranquillity in life.

63–70 years:

At this period, we start having a deeper understanding of ourselves with the decrease in needs from our external world.

70–77 years:

One can mature anytime but this is the period where one can connect to the inner self most.

77–84 years onwards:

By this time, a new self has already developed. It has come out of the experiences of life already lived.

I understand that some people don´t believe in these periods. This theme is somehow controversial. Some scientists say they have proof that exists. Others say it´s a fantasy.

Personally I feel these cycles in my body and mind. And my past proof to me that they exist. Not at this exact timing. I think it depends a lot on everyone´s life path.

But not just I felt in my life, I observed it on people that are close to me too. Some of them changed dramatically. And those phases here very well marked.

You Need Breaks to Change Your Life

These periods where you lose your self and you find your self are probably the most important parts of your life.

Your body and mind are so sensitive to new things that your eyes absorb all the details around you. You are very curious about the world you live in, but somehow you didn´t pay attention to it in the last years.

You start to contemplate.

You see meaning in little things. You see people around you that were important in your life, but they are so far away and you want them back again.

You feel that hunger to meet new people. To know the unknown. To catch up with the lost time.

Like in Alicia Keys´s Underdog song, where she says:

She was walking in the street, looked up and noticed He was nameless, he was homeless She asked him his name and told him what hers was He gave her a story ‘bout a life With a glint in his eye and a corner of a smile One conversation, a simple moment The things that change us if we notice When we look up, sometimes

We miss so many conversations. So many people that for different reasons come across us, but we are so wrapped up in our routine that we don’t even notice.

The things that change us if we notice/When we look up, sometimes

Life is a short period of time. Before you notice, another 7 year period is gone. And if you aren´t aware of these periods, and your life is still like it was 20 years ago, something´s wrong with you.

I know that the brain cells are the ones that don´t renovate themselves. They live a long life and then they die. But every other cell of your body renews themself from time to time.

This is cyclical. Like the 4 seasons. Winter, Autumn, Spring, and Summer. Nature taught us that all things have cycles.

But a cycle is an opportunity for our mind to review where it is, and where it wants to go in the future. It´s like you see a tutorial on youtube about your last cycle. You have to see it until the end to understand where you are right now. What it means to you and if it´s time to change.

People don´t do this often. I really believe, by observing other human beings, that are people that spend their entire life without making that pause to think.

Some of them stop one day to contemplate but they are too old and too tired to change. Then they try to run to find the time they lost. But it´s too late. The legs are heavy and the body hurts.

There are so many things they can´t do because the timing has passed.

The Power of Dreaming

Our minds are full of dreams. We don´t have to make much effort to dream. It comes naturally. We dream as we sleep. We dream as we are wake-up. We dream when we want something very bad. We dream when we are afraid of something happening.

And we dream when we are setting our goals.

Your better dream is a better future for you, for your family and friends.

Where do you want to go? What do you want to be? Where do you want to be? What do you want to see?

You´ve got to dream dreams.

In the Bible, there´s a phrase that says: Without dreams and visions, the people perish.

You have to have something to go for, that inspires the heart and the soul.

Don´t lose your dreams. For yourself. For your future. For your family. For the planet.

Dream about love, about travelling, about entrepreneurship. Dream about new projects, about new ideas, and make them true. Dream about the good things you can do to the world while you´re here.

Cause life is about love.

And love do these marvelous things, like showing how to find our selves again. Showing us the power of listening. Listening again. Listening to that special music. Listening to that special person. Listen to the wind and the trees. Again, contemplating.

So, don´t lose your time. Don´t lose a good speech. Don´t lose a newborn. Don´t lose a good conversation. Don´t lose a good huge. Don´t lose a good meal. Don´t lose a good laugh.

Life is a blessing. It was not given to us to be wasteful.

What if you stop and listen!