The Main Things
By Alan Cohen

The rascal sage Nasrudin stood on the bow of a ferryboat next to a pompous professor. “Have you ever studied astronomy?” asked the professor.

“I can’t say that I have,” answered the mystic.

“Then you have wasted much of your life,” the scholar declared. “Knowing the constellations, a skilled captain can navigate a boat around the entire globe.” 

A while later the intellectual asked Nasrudin, “Tell me, have you studied meteorology?” 

“No,” answered Nasrudin.

“Then you have wasted most of your life,” chided the academician. “Methodically capturing the wind can propel a sailing ship at astounding speeds.” 

Another while passed, and the professor continued to quiz Nasrudin, “Have you ever studied oceanography?” 

“Not at all.” 

“My, how you have wasted your time! Awareness of the currents helps sailors find food and shelter.” 

A few minutes later Nasrudin approached the professor and nonchalantly asked him, “Have you ever studied swimming, doctor?” 

“Haven’t had the time,” the professor answered haughtily.

“Then you’ve wasted all of your life. The boat is sinking.”

Before setting out on a project, relationship, career, or life, you must set your priorities. You must decide what is important and what is a detail. Then, simple as it sounds, the success of your endeavor depends on remembering what is important and what is a detail. One of my favorite affirmations is: The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. What is your main thing? Are you living true to it? 

One of the people I most admire is a fellow named Ed Carlson, affectionately known as “The Waver.” Many years ago Ed came home one day to find that his wife had left him, along with their children. As a result, Ed plunged into depression and considered ending it all. But then a voice told him, “Have faith.” So Ed decided to turn his life into an adventure in faith. His first act was to hitchhike across the country blindfolded. You can imagine the depth of the lessons Ed plumbed as he walked and hitchhiked from coast to coast without physically seeing.

When Ed reached California he removed his blindfold and kept walking along the highways, waving to every passing car. While lots of people thought he was a nut, lots of people waved back. Ed has been walking and waving for over 30 years now, covering many more miles than the distance from the earth to the moon. His amazing adventures and ensuing miracles are chronicled in his inspiring book and audiotape, I Walked to the Moon and Almost Everybody Waved. Ed’s main thing is heart connection with people. I would say he has lived true to his purpose.

You, too, have a purpose. Every day you have many opportunities to be true to it, or to put it on a back burner. You can tell how true you are living to your purpose by how much joy you feel. The equation is simple: Live purpose, feel joy. Deny purpose, feel empty. Each day practice living more and more of your purpose until joy becomes your dominant vibration. Then your boat will be unsinkable.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Stephen Covey suggests, “Do what is important rather than what is urgent.” Many people live by emergency — spending their day putting out fires rather than heeding the call of their heart. There is always something urgent to be done. There is always something important to be done. Drama is a choice, and so is peace. You cannot save other souls at the expense of your own. Paradoxically, when you find your own joy you are in the best possible position to help others find theirs. A Course In Miracles asks, “Can the world be saved if you are not?” 

What would you be doing differently if your first priority was living life to its fullest? In the film The Razor’s Edge, Bill Murray portrays a longtime spiritual seeker named Larry whose Himalayan guru tells him to take his books to a mountaintop hut and stay there until he is enlightened. Larry reads voraciously until he runs out of firewood. As the fire dwindles, Larry gets colder and colder, to the point of freezing. Then he looks back and forth between his books and the fire until his eyes light up. Triumphantly Larry tosses his books into the flames. He has learned that his answer is not in a book; it is in doing what life calls him to do in each precious moment. Larry descends from the mountain, a free man. He has quit seeking the main thing, and simply lives it.

Alan Cohen is the author of the best-selling, The Dragon Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the award-winning, A Deep Breath of Life, and the acclaimed, Why Your Life Sucks and What You Can Do About It. This August join Alan in Maui for his life-transforming Mastery Training. For information on this seminar and a free catalog of Alan’s books, tapes, and seminars, phone 1-800-568-3079, visit www.alancohen.com, email admin@alancohen.com , or write P.O. Box 835, Haiku, HI 96708.