The Wu-Tang Clan’s Rza once said “Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation.”
Now, I’m not a Five Percenter, so I don’t usually break words apart to obtain meaning from every letter. But, in this instance, I believe Rza’s interpretation is accurate.
And if you don’t know who the Five Percenters are, do some research. They’re very interesting.
Getting back to “PEACE,” it certainly does tend to foster positive energy. And I must agree that positive energy functions as the stairway to self-improvement, i.e. elevation.
We all know that it’s hard enough to grow as a person when things are going well. But it’s quite difficult to motivate yourself to be a better person after you’ve allowed yourself to be buried under the stress and anxiety of everyday life.
Say, for instance, you’re a college student. You attend class regularly and make decent grades. You work your part-time job and you pay your bills on time. You’ve got your friends, you’ve got your significant other(s) and you party a little on the weekends. You feel like you’re doing pretty well at just getting by, and you’re generally satisfied with your life.
Now, fast forward five years into the future when you’ve got a full-time job, and you’ve got to work like mad to prove yourself just to slowly climb through the ranks of whatever company you work for. Suddenly your weekends seem shorter and further apart, and problems line up one right after another. As soon as you solve one problem, another one moves up to take its place, and suddenly there isn’t enough time in the day. Then you flash back to college and how much free time you had.
You remember all of the time you spent partying, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Being social is a form of fellowship, and we could all stand to learn a thing or two about how to relate to one another.
But what about all of those things you wanted to do with your life? What about all those books you meant to read? Didn’t you intend to learn a foreign language at some point? Hadn’t you planned to sign up for karate classes? Or guitar lessons? And whatever happened to that commitment you made to working out on a regular basis? Or quitting smoking? Quitting drugs in general? And didn’t you promise yourself you’d have a 3.0 GPA by the time you graduated?
Everyone has dreams, but not everyone achieves them. And what’s worse, too many of us never even reach for our dreams. We give up on them before we ever get started. We waste too many of our most productive years indulging short term goals, putting off our dreams until it feels too late. And then we fall into a rut where we’re happy just to maintain the status quo.
But were people designed just to maintain?
It seems to me that humans are programmed to keep reaching. We’re supposed to be in a constant state of flux, constantly correcting flaws and developing new skills. We understand that the perfect life is unachievable, but we can’t let that stop us from striving for it.
I’m basing this opinion on impressions formed by years of meeting people who haven’t completely given up on their dreams. Granted, if you’re 40 years old and have never played organized football, but your dream is to make it to the NFL, there’s probably not much hope for you.
But that’s not to say that such a goal is impossible to achieve. And due to that possibility, that .1 percent chance, most of us hang on to a little piece of our dreams forever.
So who’s to say you shouldn’t still shoot for your goal, even if it seems impossible? And why not work to make yourself a better all-around human in the process? It seems foolish to give up on small improvements just because our loftier goals appear to have passed us by.
And this is where positive energy comes in. Self-improvement is a state of mind. You must have the right attitude, and you must be committed to making yourself into something more than what you are, because life isn’t going to do it for you.
This is why haters never accomplish anything. If you’re more concerned with other people’s flaws than your own development, all you’ll ever do is just enough to make yourself feel superior. Which means you might get a good job and drive a nice car, but you’ll always be empty inside because you focus on the dreams that the world sells to you instead of listening to your soul.
What about knowledge, understanding and wisdom? What about compassion, sympathy and empathy? What about skills and abilities? What is it that you truly want for yourself?
There are all kinds of heads in the world: pot heads, crack heads, religious heads, the neighborhood heads. It’s just a term that relates to your personal interest, passion or concern.
So what kind of head are you?
Do you want to learn how to play an instrument? Maybe start a band? Or just sit around and listen to records all day? You’re a music head.
Do you want to move to Hollywood and become an actor? You’re a movie head.
Do you want to do people’s taxes or crunch numbers for the sake of research? You’re a math head.
Everyone has something that they want to do more than anything else. The issue is whether or not you can channel that drive into creative energy. Therefore, watching television or playing video games don’t qualify as self-improving activities, unless you’re conducting some sort of relevant research.
As long as you’re being productive, it’s always the right time to start doing what you love. Nobody can tell you that you’re too old to do something new. Nobody can tell you that you’re too young to do something big. And don’t ever let anyone convince you that you’re too set in your ways to make a positive change.
As long as you’ve got breath in your lungs, it’s not too late to become a better person.
Peace.