I’m always on the lookout for a new perspective on my same old problems. Or even an old perspective, since I forget everything I learn in about a minute. I’m not the only one. Our built-in forgetters are what keep the life coach racket running: we need to be fed the same wisdom over and over. The idea of learning how to live in one shot is like hoping to eat once and for all. I always need more. The good news is that wisdom is everywhere, even in German sci-fi romances.
My wife and I recently watched, I’m Your Man. It was great, but my world was rocked by one scene in particular. In the film, Alma, a single archeologist is taking to a robot designed specifically to be her soulmate. She’s not that into him, but she tolerates him as part of an experiment she agreed to undertake.
Alma shares a project she’s spent years on, finding poetry in the ledgers of ancient cuneiform business records. Tom, the robot, does a quick scan and discovers that a paper in Latin America on the very same topic is about to be published. Alma is devastated that her work is about to get scooped.
Tom is confused by her anguish because he’s a robot. Their conversation goes something like this:
“Didn’t you do the work because you thought it should be in the world?”
“Yes.”
“Then why aren’t you happy that the work is now in the world?”
beat.
“Oh, it is just your egoism because you wanted to be first.”
They never talk about it after that, but that single line blew my mind. When he put it so simply, it made egotism look so petty, so boring.
When I see people succeed with work that I wish I was doing, I sometimes feel envy. I hate that feeling, I really do. And it can really burn. But if people are doing work that I wish I was doing, then why can’t I be grateful that their work is in the world? It also affirms the possibility that the world has a place for the work I want to do. It sounds corny, but hey, I’ll take it. I’d rather feel gratitude than envy any day of the week. I’ve felt them both, and envy is about as fun as lemon juice in a paper cut.
So here’s to success — yours, someone else’s, maybe even mine. It doesn’t matter, as long as what we love and enjoy is getting into the world. Easier said than done, perhaps, but isn’t nice to have an exit door in the mental prison of envy? The exit is open, all you have to do is walk through it.
Wishing you all the success in the world,
I remain,
Your Free Life Coach,
Sean Sakamoto
A Sci Fi Movie Killed My Ego
I just love this so much! It’s like adding a line to the Prayer of St Francis ... where there is envy, gratitude