It’s difficult to know sometimes.
This is usually question usually voiced or thought when we’ve said something or done something we shouldn’t have.
We’ve stepped out of place.
Yes, some people cause problems because of too high an opinion of themselves, however, there are many who struggle with having a high enough opinion of themselves.
The myth of Icarus* tells the story of the escape by a master craftsman and his son from the island of Crete. Daedalus advised Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but that’s exactly what Icarus did – full of hubris, the wings made of feathers waxed to a wooden frame fell apart and the son died in the sea. But Daedalus also told his son not to fly too close to the waves, else the wings would clog and he would not be able to fly high enough.
Not too high and not too low = sweet spot.**
More people are got by the waves than by the sun.
Every day, I try and help someone to know more who they are so they can find their sweet spot and fly free. It may sound like make-believe, like a story of gods, a tale of mythological proportions and not to be taken seriously, but the thing about myths and legends is they’re explorations of real life. Dreams, then, are dangerous things when we audaciously and tenaciously pursue them, because they can make the world better, including more Human.
They begin in our imaginations only because they do not exist yet, but to imagine something is the first creation.
This is slow and patient work. It requires that we journey to our centre, to find our genius, our art.
Your life wants to do something, to find its sweet spot of not too high and not to low; if you give it the right space it will get to it. Every person is an artist, which isn’t to diminish art, but to elevate life.
Don’t let the waves get you.
You can begin by noticing the things which most energise you, over the next week – who are you with, what are you doing, why are you doing this, when are you doing this? How can these things be turned into an open-ended game, developing into more and more?
(*Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception is a great look at people flying higher than they think they ought.)
(** This is different for everyone. Your joy comes not from being like someone else but being like your future Self. The distance from sun and waves isn’t a physical one, but one of being in the right place for the right reasons – you will flourish using the skills and passions you have in ways which keep pushing them farther.)
THIN|SILENCE 
Nice post. And I particularly like this illustration. Thanks! I wonder, do you think there’s something to be said for attempting to fly above one’s sweet spot? You note that “More people are got by the waves than by the sun,” and “Dreams are dangerous things when we audaciously and tenaciously pursue them,” which both sound aspirational. Maybe we’re saying the same thing? Or I’m skipping over a subtlety?
What I’m thinking is, there’s something to be said for self-applying Reithian principles, or pitching one’s aims for ones thoughts and one’s art above any self-applied limitation.
“[A] man’s reach should exceed his grasp/Or what’s heaven for?”
Big thanks. These are great questions, Ricky. The danger of trying to keep these posts shorter is that you can’t cover some of the “below the surface” thinking, so here’s a little of this. I’ve changed the post in a couple of places to lose what may be ambiguous and unclear.
I’d want to encourage people to identify their skills and passions and keep developing these. It’s been observed how people who keep doing the same things day in day out actually become worse at what they do. It’s important to keep pushing the elements of what we do. There’s a book called ‘Surfing the Edge of Chaos’ which gets it right. We don’t enter chaos – it will break us – but we keep pushing beyond where we are now into the unfamiliar and more exacting, and when we have accomplished this, we must press on again. We do not know what we are capable of – but this is still our sweet spot (it grows).
What I’m thinking of goes something like this. You don’t want me in an administrative role, believe me, and I would refuse it even if it paid more. This would not be my sweet spot. What I’m doing more is my sweet spot and I am pushing it all the time, into the uncomfortable and unknown.
Is this helpful? If you want me to say more, just shout.
Thanks again for giving me the opportunity of including these things.