The Art of "Enjoi"

Motto: A brief statement used to express a principle, goal, or ideal.

Credo: A Latin word which means “a set of fundamental beliefs or a guiding principle.”

In a life with very little stability, you’ll find yourself looking for exactly that. To me, it was a never-ending conundrum without a solution, no end in sight; a Catch-22 if you will.

How can you hold onto something if you are in a constant state of movement?

The answer to this question didn’t just dawn on me one morning after hearing the birds chirp to the rising sun, and the dew on the pine needles globulating and falling to their friends below. The answer didn’t come to me after reading a book on philosophy or religion; and for that matter the answer didn’t come to me from going to church (although one may dispute whether or not He had a hand in this).

I found the answer to this question from this little guy…

I have been looking for stability in all of the wrong places until now. As I look at this panda I see a story, I see a life of shame, yet I see beauty. The more I looked at this panda, the more I saw, until one day, I found the origins of this image.

Enjoi

At some point in my life I became rather tired of hearing the same shit over and over again…

Life is not easy.

Why can’t life be easy, I say. Why is everything supposed to be about struggle and perseverance? Why can I not find something I truly love, hold onto it, and just be happy? I refuse to believe that “Life is not easy.” There are certainly some things in life that are difficult to handle, like the loss of a loved one, or crossing the Sahara without water. Those acts are not by any sense of the word, easy. This is why I chose to work on this commonly used cliche and update it to my way of thinking…

Enjoi Life

Isn’t that much better? I see this and I start to feel a little smile grow on my face. Looking at this and reading this just makes me happy. I don’t get that reaction when I read “Life is not easy.” That shit is too sad for me.

So what exactly is this thought process you ask? Why don’t I just tell you. When you hear me say “enjoi,” and you will hear me say this often; this is exactly what you are hearing.

Life is a very long journey that appears to always be on the verge of ending. Negativity and pessimism surround us on a daily basis. TV news is 55 minutes of fear, death, and war, while the last 5 minutes is a story of a war survivor or cancer survivor. That shit is just plain sad.

To counter this sadness and gloominess, I think about how lucky I am to be watching any TV at all. I think about how lucky I am to have intelligent thoughts derived from a college degree. I even now think about how lucky I am to be typing out these thoughts smoothly, on a laptop, in my apartment.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was unsure if college was in my future, and I certainly wasn’t concerned with a dramatic society that is hell-bent on depressing us all. TV? How about MTV. Laptop? No sir. Each and every one of these things became a luxury at some point. After focusing on necessities for so long, I was able to realize how utterly blessed I must be at this point.

I do not own the right to complain about my life status. When I think about how I got here, I can’t help but smile. I can’t help but enjoi the path that brought me here.

How can I not smile? I have friends who were willing to lay down their lives for me. Their families became my own. A job that allows me to live in a beautiful apartment, and a girlfriend who will become my fiance, and eventually my wife, my family.

Enjoi Love

Family, friends and love… what else can you ask for? You work 70 hours in one week, you’re exhausted. You hate your boss because he doesn’t pay you enough. You hate everyone around you because they work 35-40 hours, eat dinner at home every night and even go out in the middle of the week to have some Jack/Black & Cokes and a twist of lime. You forget to pay bills because weeks blend into moments. You have eye crust from 3 weeks ago, which happens to be the last time you slept a full night. **Frustrated yet?** Think of it this way…

What are you actually stressed over? What is the real reason you are upset? I truly doubt you are upset because your boss doesn’t pay you enough and you feel that you work too much. The root of this, sometimes obvious to us all, is that we feel undervalued, as if we were bright shining stars at one point that were hidden behind a rotating moon. We have a right to be upset, we always have the right to feel emotion. Feel that emotion, let it run through your system. Think about the cause of that emotion, when did this feeling start? Walk through a series of images that led to this event and pay attention to each image as it comes into fruition.

By the time you actually get to that point, the point at which you realize the cause of this stress, you will more than likely find out one thing…

I just wasted all of that time for what? I missed out on a world of beauty for those few moments. Leaves blew across a freshly cut lawn and towards a wrinkly pond while a young woman and her dog jogged by. The leaf rolled up over the curb and with a quick burst of a breeze, the leaf found itself airborn and twisting towards the pond. What images do you create in your mind when you think of this? What emotion does this derive? Do you feel the world becoming lighter and more clear? Can you breath any easier?

You may not be able to now, but you will. You’ll start to realize that you should feel emotion, however, you should ensure you do not dwindle on all emotions; especially the shitty ones. It’s ok to be angry, let the emotion flow and don’t try to stop it. The stress created when you try to prevent emotion will only lead to more stress.

Let life flow. Let love flow. The world is much bigger than we realize and we only have so much time on this beautiful Earth. Have you seen Rome yet? Have you been back to the land where your family is from? Have you been on a relaxing vacation with your loved ones? Have you been camping, canoeing? When was the last time you sat in a hammock? The last time you went apple picking? Hiking? Swimming?

Stop reading and go enjoi life.