Life is much more successfully looked at from a single window.
- from The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
A single window: what about that?
Maybe Nick would pop up in flesh and bones from the first chapter of Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel to tell you that people who look at the world one way and are great at the one thing they do are actually the most successful type of people. He thinks that through "one window" you will get the clearest view of what you're looking at.
In some yoga techniques we focus on one thought, one sound, one object, a single element that helps us to concentrate and calm our noisy mind, crowded by so much more than a single element.
The word "yoga" means "union" and yogi is that person who finds neutrality between polarities: day/night, male/female, good/bad, etc. A neutral mind's talent is accepting the "twos" and merging into "one" so that happiness naturally comes as we are aware that joy and sorrow, ups and downs in life are only parts of the same beautiful experience that life is.
So it is not "one way", but it is all about oneness along a two-way road.
Do we agree about one single window? How many would say: if I look through one window only, won't I be missing all the stuff that I might see from another one, maybe even better located, right on the main square?
I don't know about you, but I thought about it. And things came out.
Why do we suppose there should be so many windows? Who said that our house should have many little windows and not, for example, just one huge window? More light would come in, to begin with. Anyway, who said that we should stay closed inside a house to look through a window?
We tend to look outside for things that satisfy our needs. We look for success in the world outside, expecting to see good things knocking on our comfortable house's door and dwelling in a structure that we built up exactly for that, according to our vision. But are we sure it is the right vision? Are we sure that we know what is the best for us?
What is the secret of success? What makes us happy and prosperous?
There are two possibilities: either we put windows in walls trying to let in some light and look at the world through them or we can realize that we are the window and there's no walls at all.
If we focus within, if we realize the window looks on to ourselves and not only on to the world, the view is complete.
In the biggest companies (I was a communication consultant for a couple of multinational corporations and I took advantage to observe the dynamics there) the window is very important: only it comes with different names. You will hear about external and internal communication, brand personality, vision... But it is always about the same thing: a simple, single window. The view must be looked at from the same one window, the vision must be shared with every single element of the company and multiple thoughts and ideas should merge into one common goal, in order to make effective communication happen and the company be successful.
Every company is like a person: the more oneness and cohesion there is, the more it works. When lots of people are involved, lots of minds are involved, and it is perfectly normal to have different points of view and different ideas: as soon as differences are accepted and channelled into one voice, all of that becomes the company's strength. It is possible and it actually happens everyday in good companies, with good leaders and communication teams who take care of it.
Practicing yoga stimulates the nervous system and, through meditation, we also eliminate multiple personalities so that our authenticity and creativity come out freely. In other words: we get rid of stress and all garbage we accumulated in our subconscious by playing many roles for years. All the structures and foundations of our house usually reveal how much fragile they are at the first shake, windows included.
By changing perspective, by realizing that we don't need to build any window because we are the window, prosperity starts flowing.
Yogi Bhajan said: "when you don't go within, you go without". If we focus within, everything will come in and out freely through us. Air flows, energy flows, ideas flow, creativity flows. As windows we can open up or shut down according to the circumstances, able to recognize immediately whether what enters is good smelling flowers or dirty dust from road work and then act with intuition, catching good opportunities and defending ourselves from potentially harmful situations. Our vision of the world outside is not filtered by something our mind made up from the subconscious, instead it corresponds to reality seen through our awareness and a direct view from within to outside.
"Life is more successfully looked at from a single window". Apart from Fitzgerald's novel, where Nick lives in the America of the Twenties and expresses his wish of fitting in the society and impress his family, quoting him here was just a source of inspiration to say that success comes from consciousness, unity, non-duality. Success means happiness: by keeping joyful neutrality between ups and downs of life and letting things move, liberated from blocks and stagnation, opportunities come.
The secret of success is believing in ourselves without prejudices about how our talents will find their way in this world and developing a neutrality that makes us intuitive and receptive to everything that surrounds us so that we can grab the best opportunity at the perfect moment.
Then, once we have explored our creative potential, we will put our soul into it with great honesty, commitment and transparence: we don't want to disappoint ourselves!
What is so beautiful in you that the rest of the world should know about and enjoy? Open your window, let your talent come out and communicate it to the world!
