LIFE IS LIKE HEAVEN FOR THE THINKING MAN

Life is like heaven for the thinking man,

You could spend all day thinking

And think you did something productive;

You could spend all day doing nothing

And think you did something productive—

Alas, life is like heaven for the thinking man!

This morning I had work to do,

Worst case scenario, I get to miss a class.

Alas, it was a Test, 

And I was mad at first!

My face was tight, and my emotions tense—

I said to myself: indeed, I have no friends!

Like nobody's with me like I am with them,

It's one reason I don't like to have friends,

Because you begin to expect from them,

But even without expecting, you're still expecting!

But life is a choice,

You either make your bed or you lie on it!

I thought a lot about the matter,

Even though I put it behind my mind.

I thought a lot about my kind,

Would I have gone the extra mile?

Even though sometimes I usually do,

What would I have done any better?

It's the little things that bring me close,

It's also them that drive me mad!

I thought a lot about the matter,

Poked it here and pushed it there,

If roles were reversed,

What would I have done better?

Even though I sometimes go the extra mile,

I know sometimes I can be unkind.

I know that people can feel flustered,

I know we can be overwhelmed,

I know I can go on and on,

Wiping all the chalk like a duster—

So I thought to myself:

Life is like heaven for the thinking man,

He could spend all day thinking of doing nothing,

And think he did something productive.

Life is like heaven for the thinking man,

But a single productive action

Is better than a million thoughts! (No?)

Or could be better than? (Yes?) You see?

You see I see three sides of a fence,

Sometimes I don't like to conclude (and I love to think!)

But I was mad and disappointed,

I said to myself, I have no friends...

©el-iyanu

Recently, I've come to realize how much I enjoy reclining, doing nothing. And how difficult it is sometimes, to come out of my thoughts and make things happen. I realized sometimes that my ideas are good, but I often lack the execution, or second-guess and over think myself out of the equation again. But I know for a fact how much I enjoy reasoning, it's like I should never stop. Indeed, ideas are the real currency, but executing them are also important.

As for this, piece, it was birthed from my constant turning of the morning's disappointment. I couldn't be reached for a test, because I was otherwise engaged and my phone battery was low, and the other's network was out of range. One person tried to reach me. (I saw the notification couple of hours later.) Made me wonder if I would have tried harder or something. Or what anyone could have done better. Something similar had happened before, and happening again was a bit too much to take.

Tried not to fault anyone, but it was disappointing nonetheless. After hearing the alternative, though, I moved on pretty quickly, there was a job to be done, but I guess it still played on my mind. But such is life, we live and learn, and sometimes we get lost in our thoughts, enjoying thinking even more than making decisions or doing anything else. We agonise over the process rather than take decisive action sometimes. 

That's what makes life like heaven for the thinking man, we don't want that moment to ever stop, even shy away from making decisions till it resolves itself, or something triggers us to move, even enjoying that bittersweet agony of painful thoughtfulness. It all happens to the best of us, I guess. But I think it's best to take decisive action as well. Peace.

I wrote this piece yesterday, late at night, I  got this picture from a dear friend (Fuego's) status on WhatsApp this evening. It seemed to make perfect sense as well on the theme of heaven for the thinking man.