Engagement

Engagement of your mind and body. Everyday that's what it's about. Engaging yourself in all you do. At work, at home, on the bike. What makes life engaging are the small details, the quick succession of switchbacks, of not knowing what's around the next bend. The unknown. It's not knowing that engages us into the moment.

Like a twisting uphill climb life engages us. It's the long boring straight and slightly downhill sections that disengage us; times when you can soft pedal into a slight breeze, just checking a box. When the road tilts upward and you can't see farther than a few hundred meters at a time is when you become engaged, forced into focusing on one small moment at a time, navigating the cracks and bumps to find the smoothest way, the path of least resistance to the top.

When you find yourself in the unknown, times when you can't see farther than a few hundred meters down the road of life are the times when you're most engaged in the present. When we try and plan out to far in advance we take away from the present road, the small details, and that is why keeping busy with what you have in front of you becomes so important. Unlike a road you can manifest your own destiny in life. You can make it a long straight boring section, or you can make it a twisty uphill affair; you can put the wind at your back and wings under your feet and fly around those corners with focus and meaning or you can drop it into the small ring and be just another pedestrian going from point A to point B.

It's like Ben Harper says, if you're going to get up then make a stand.