Close Encounters With Life
Is practicing ‘life-as-a-craft’ an alternative to flying by the seat of your pants?
Managing life by intuition (aka) ‘flying by the seat of your pants’ is a common experience for people all over the world.
Every day, hundreds of millions of people have one or more ‘close encounters with life’.
Close encounters are situations that we do not expect, or experiences for which we have no previous frame of reference. Circumstances that we find ourselves unprepared for, and very uncomfortable in. Like that ‘close encounter’ last summer at the lake when a UFO landed and took you on board!🛸
The truth is a great many of life’s encounters reveal our lack of training to manage the encounters successfully. We find ourselves empty-handed and unprepared. Instinctively we respond by running away from the encounter (flight) or we run directly at it (fight). Either way, we react intuitively and ‘fly by the seat of our pants’ when there is no alternative.
Life-as-a-Craft
A practical, structured alternative to random encounters with the unknown, is the idea that ‘life’ is a definable subject. A craft with clearly defined borders and identifiable parts. And, like all human endeavors, ‘life-as-a-craft’ can be learned, practiced, and mastered much the same way we study and develop the skills to practice our trades, occupations, and professions.
This means that to actually practice ‘life-as-a-craft’, the way a craftsperson mindfully practices the trade of textile weaving or medicine, requires the myriad activities of the ‘craft of life’ be systematically organized, managed, taught, and learned similar to the ways we learn and practice our trades, occupations, and professions.
Life Masterpiece Journal is a tangible example of the organizing framework anyone can use to achieve this goal.
The Way of the Craftsmanship
We use the word craft broadly to cover every human endeavor which by design, requires an individual to observe, study, practice, and demonstrate acquired skill in the craft.
This definition covers a very large number of human activities. And those having achieved a level of skilled competence in the craft are known as a craftsperson of that craft.
Craftsmanship is an invisible quality delivered by the craftsperson, resulting in ‘excellence of execution’ apparent in the finished work product. The Way of the Craftsperson is the pursuit of craftsmanship.
In the practice of Life-as-a-Craft; as with all crafts, once someone is trained in the craft, the craftsperson is ready for close encounters in the craft. Their training makes it more likely they will be prepared and skilled to manage a situation when it arises during their practice of the craft.
The question for you to consider now after reading this article is; would you be more likely to train and improve your skills in ‘life-as-a-craft’ if you had a structured resource available to you? Or would you carry on with life by trial and error?
Learn more about Life-as-a-Craft at Life Masterpiece Journal
