Since many years, in order to understand people`s stance on life with all my curiosity, this has been a question I must have frequently asked:
So the offer is... You will spend a month in a city of your choice in a country of your choice. Wherever you wish! And you will do this continuously for 10 years. 10 cities in each 12 months. 120 exciting points of the planet with its thousands of colors. Wherever you wish! But at the end of each month, you will move to a different city, different country.`
For this, you will receive 2000 dollars, which is enough for a comfortable standard of living for an average person, even if not in luxury, in many cities of the world. 2000 dollars per month, no questions asked. And a plane ticket for the next destination of your choice. You have people financially dependent on you? Mother, father, children, spouse. We will take care of them!
However… No, "I loved this country, I fell in love with this city, there is a gathering next week that I don't want to miss or I have made incredible friendships, I don't feel moving now, I am tired or even, I have found the soul that I will walk with until the end of my life!" When 30 days are up, you pack your bag and leave. If your loved ones wish to and provided their conditions are suitable, they can follow you. If they don't get tired, if they don't get bored, if they don't say, it is enough now! Or until they say so.
Would YOU accept such an offer?
In life, every choice, every path comes with its own beauties as well as its own thorns. A life that seems very attractive to us at first glance can be much different than it seems. Only then you understand, that it is not the story that matters but your attitude within the story.
For many years I lived a life that many people only can dream of. Yet, I am only acting out my own scenario. I often remind myself these days. It is not my body, it is not my mind. My body is a costume, and my mind is the scenario, perhaps the script writer. My responsibility is to play this scenario in the best way possible, to experience the divine joy of doing my best.
It turns out that all these years, I have in fact acted out the scenario of that question that I have been asking everyone with all curiosity. Only now however I understand the significance of the acting and not the script.
I have spent more than half of the last 2.5 years in Latin America. During this time, I have been in and out of nearly 15 countries, each of them three times and held more than a hundred business meetings. Many times it is not before a month that I get to sleep on the same bed three nights in a row.
Counting the number of days, roughly 365daysx8 years in total, of my last 25 years have been spent in constant motion in nearly seventy countries around the world. I have met people from all over the world, sometimes they became my customers, sometimes they became my friends. We dreamed big and small dreams together looking either at the stars or a business project on the computer screen.
Of course, one can not ignore the impact of intention in this place where life has deemed appropriate for me. It is the curiosity and the appreciation of the colorfulness of the existance, as well as I imagine, finding my place in this incredible collage of life, making myself heard.
Nevertheless, I am only an actor in this scenario on the stage of life. This body is not mine, nor is this mind. I am just an actor who comes out on this stage to play this game in the best way possible.
A leader who made revolutions in his country, and Uncle Muhammet who carries the milk he milks from his cow to his customers every evening with his motorcycle. Each of us has the leading role in our own movie of life. No matter what the script is, a good movie can always be deemed worthy of an Oscar.
Whether it's about a superhero or a poor person. What makes an actor successful? Isn't it about playing the role in the best way possible every time? We have a role. First, we need to accept and embrace this role. There are two questions that bear critical emphasis independent of where and who we are. They apply to us all.
We each have different capacities in different areas and moreover a particular curriculum on the path to enlightning. I can neither be the best nor should I enter a competition to be the best, but it is possible for me to do my personal best under any circumstances. I find it important that people ask themselves these two questions in a sincere and frequent manner.
And there is also this. Regardless of the scenes in the script, whether it is pain, suffering or scarcity, love, passion, satisfaction or abundance, can I carry a state of mind in which I accept and appreciate whatever is going on outside? What will be my reaction if I encounter lovelessness or scarcity while doing my best? Will I get upset with this game whose rules I knew from the beginning? Or will I raise up and continue the game with the happy peace of mind that I tried my best? (Second one 😉)
In the latest movie played by my soul, my role was to move from one country to the other, from adventure to adventure. I did my best.
There are those who travel more than I do, those who sell more than I do, and those who do much more fort he world than I do.
It is not about being `the best`. Trying the best allowed by our capacity. On the front cover of the book he wrote many years ago, my dear friend Alper Tanyer has put forward:
"Didn't really work out in this lifetime, next time I hope."
I find this expression very naive. It includes `trying` and `acceptance` together. Sometimes it may just not work...
The question is: did you do your best?
