I was reading one of my favorite motorcycle magazines today and realized something quite metaphorical about myself and my life.

I tend to look at the pictures more than I read the articles.

Now that may not seem like much of an epiphany, but I think I realized that it says a lot about my life. I am glossing over things far too much and not digging into/doing anything other than just looking at the pictures. I tend to live in a superficial, or in the moment, manner

This may be why I do not have a lot of deep friendships. I tend to be a pretty solitary person to begin with and do not typically seek getting to know people as I should. The friends I do have tend to be far more networked than I.

My deep relationships have been with my family, and I am happy about that.

However, I do need to do more than look a the pictures in this life. There is much content missed when this is all we do.

Taking the metaphor forward to life in general it is easy to begin to let life live you rather than you living life. Many of you probably feel like you have just enough energy to get through a work week and handle family or relational needs. I get this, I have lived it many times in my life.

However, a life lived this way, without pressing forward, is a life lived to someone else’s definition. We are not living the lives we truly desire.

Now, for a very long time I was an advocate of living the life of your dreams. I still am in theory, but I think most of us have to focus on practical living. This is not to say that you must give up your dreams to live a practical life. It means you must adjust your thinking so that the life you lead is always leading you to your dreams.

The pictures, be they in the magazine I was reading or in our heads, are our dreams. If we only look at the pictures all they are is reminders of what we want to be doing and not what we are actually getting to do. Thus, metaphorically, reading the articles or digging into the how behind the pictures is where we often fall short.

The articles provide details on the how behind the pictures. Understanding the how will allow us to plan goals to get ourselves into the picture.

Riding my motorcycles is a picture that is continually in my mind. Riding is often a muse to my writing. However, I have been guilty of looking at the bikes sitting in the garage far too much and not throwing a leg over and actually riding. I tinker with them continually, but they can quickly become museum pieces.
Now, I am too guilty of building a number of museum pieces that had far more form over function. I am, at heart, a builder, creator and designer of things custom. However, I know that I find myself often in a place where I have built something I am concerned over using because it looks perfect. It becomes the picture in my head, but not the fuel in my heart.

The fuel in our hearts, which may be kindled by the pictures in our heads, is what must drive us forward. The head gets in the way far too often and we can think of all the reasons why we cannot live how we want to live because of how it strives to keep us in-between the lines.

My friend, no dream was ever achieved drawing within the lines. This is outside the lines living.

And yes, I am now preaching to myself!

I get trapped in my head far too often. I am a planner. Maybe even a consummate planner. The head is planing the heart is execution.

Getting out of you head and into our hearts to move your dreams forward. Start by doing one thing, something meaningful toward a goal that builds toward your dreams, then another, then another. You will find you progress toward that dream, or anything, far more quickly than you thought you would.

Now, this does not mean that you have to walk away from what you are doing today to begin. It may not mean that you ever will. As a rider, writer and Chaplain (Vocationally) I can do these things while still keeping my day job (Professionally). However, it means that my head (the planner) must be doing an extra good job at setting things up so my heart (execution/fuel) can be engaged.

My ministry partner calls this being bi-vocational, and I really get that.

Maybe, one day, my vocational life will be able to fund everything I want to do. However, this may not be until I retire.

My point with all of this is for you to take a look, as I have, at your life and decide if you are looking at the pictures more than you are reading the articles.

Go live your pictures instead of just looking at them.