I Want to Be Ready

In her book Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard reveals a sad, but poignant story. She tells of a British Arctic expedition that set sail in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage around the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific Ocean. Neither of the two ships and none of the 138 men aboard returned.

Dillard argues that Captain Sir John Franklin prepared as if they were embarking on a pleasure cruise rather than an arduous and grueling journey through one of earth’s most hostile environments. He packed a 1,200 volume library, a hand-organ, china place settings for officers and men, cut-glass wine goblets and sterling silver flatware, beautifully and intricately designed. Years later, some of these place settings would be found near a clump of frozen, cannibalized bodies.

The voyage was doomed when the ships sailed into frigid waters and became trapped in ice. First ice coated the decks, the spars and the rigging. Then water froze around the rudders, and the ships became hopelessly locked in the now-frozen sea.

Sailors set out to search for help (possibly delirious from lead-poisoning from the cans which preserved their food), but soon succumbed to severe Arctic weather and died of exposure to its harsh winds and subfreezing temperatures. For the next twenty years, remains of the expedition were found all over the frozen landscape.

Dillard reports that the crew did not adaquately prepare either for the cold or for the eventuality of the ships becoming ice-locked. On a voyage that was to last two to three years, they packed only their Navy-issue uniforms and the captain carried just a 12-day supply of coal for the auxiliary steam engines. The frozen body of an officer was eventually found, miles from the vessel, wearing his uniform of fine blue cloth, edged with silk braid, a blue greatcoat and a silk neckerchief – clothing which was noble and respectful, but wholly inadequate.

Historians may doubt the wisdom of such an ill-prepared journey. But more important for us is the question: Are we, too, prepared for the important voyage we’ve embarked upon, that journey we call “life”? I want to be as ready as possible for whatever may lie ahead.

I try to prepare myself for the future in several ways:

• Intimacy: I need some caring people in my life.


• Work & Finance: I like to work hard, pay my way and help others where possible.


• Spiritual Life: When I am spiritually centered and at peace, I can handle most things.


• Service to Others: A lake with no outlet becomes a dead sea. It’s true with people, too.


• Mind and Body: Exercising my body as well as my mind helps them both work better.


• Attitude Adjustments: I really can control my outlook and attitudes.


• Emotions: I can also control my reactions, including anger.


• Relationships: I need to make sure my relationships are healthy.

As long as we are alive, our journey is not over. And in large part, the success of our voyage will be determined by our regular and systematic preparation.

I want to be ready.

-- Steve Goodier

The Power of Solitude

Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick, portrays the whaling industry of his time. In today's world, his book may likely upset readers who share more enlightened attitudes about the use and abuse of animals.

But a scene in the story can teach us even today something about the power of solitude and focus in daily life.

Melville gives us a turbulent scene in which a whaleboat scuds across a frothing ocean in pursuit of the great white whale. The sailors are laboring to keep the vessel on course in a raging sea, every muscle taut. They labor furiously as they concentrate on the task at hand. In Captain Ahab's boat, however, there is one man who does nothing. He doesn't hold an oar; he doesn't perspire; he doesn't shout. He is languid - utterly relaxed, quiet and poised. This man is the harpooner, and his job is to patiently wait for the moment. Then Melville gives us this sentence: "To insure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooners of this world must start to their feet out of idleness, and not out of toil."

What a marvelous picture for effective living! Those who would live each day to the fullest must prepare for them from a state of idleness rather than toil. For many people this means a daily period of quiet and meditation to focus, plan or pray.

Self help expert Brian Tracy calls it an indispensable daily time of planning and preparation. He suggests that we devote a full hour to alone time every morning. That is when we set our daily priorities so that we, and not events, are in charge of our lives.

"I don't have time for that!" some people complain. "My life is simply too busy to add one more thing to it."

But many people find that a regular period of solitude to chart the day's course, still the mind, listen and prepare actually creates more time than it takes. For we are most effective when we start to our feet out of idleness and not out of toil.

What if you spent some alone time every morning? Call it prayer. Call it planning. Call it centering.

I call it a powerful way to begin the day.

-- Steve Goodier

Image: flickr.com/Ramesh SA