Keeping Picard’s Heart of an Explorer and Soul of a Poet

5am in the morning, the alarm clock rings and a still sleepy person —lets call him the cousin of the brother of a friend— wakes up, takes a shower, has some light breakfast and then goes to work. He takes the bus and then the subway one hour to work; once there, he’s sat on a chair 8 hours a day only standing up for his mealtime or to go to the bathroom; then, at late evening, another hour to get home. He has traded his own time for a “stable” monthly paycheck.

But he might not live that bad, perhaps he has his own car and takes half an hour to work instead of one, or perhaps he quite often has to work overtime without extra pay and even continue his work once arriving home. Whatever my situation was —oops!—, that’s not the real point.

Ok, yes, that was my life before resigning my job, sadly I didn’t have my own car —though the bank has phoned me telling me how happy they would be giving me money for that—, but lucky me that I didn’t have to work overtime either —at least I never let that happened—.

This is the way of living that society has imposed us and we have accepted, many of us even think there can’t be another way; we just go to school and then look for a job, complain of how hard it is to get one nowadays but sooner or later we get hired for some company. We then become ordinary persons, living ordinary lifes in an ordinary world.

Our Explorer Heart is already there, we must find it, listen to it

Explorer Heart? In a world where we currently have everything at hand, where smathphones make our lifes easier than ever, where we can get anything we want just by going to the supermarket… is there still a place for someone with an Explorer Heart? Strictly speaking, the human being is an explorer by nature, it’s in our genes, and while it’s true we have everything at hand, that’s thanks to people who has a developed Explorer Hart. Now, you don’t need to be a genius nor invent the most high-tech device to earn the Explorer status, what you need to do is simpler: follow your dreams. You’ll then see your Explorer Heart is already there, you only have to listen to it.

Live from ordinary to extraordinary

Is it really necessary? Why following my dreams if I already have a good life? I work hard for a company but also earn good money and I still have weekends to enjoy for myself, friends and family. It sounds logical indeed, but there are times when we must not do what is logic, but what is correct, and while the Explorer Heart is within all of us, most of people prefer not to follow it. It’s abandoning the comfort zone what scares us, because along with the Explorer Heart there’s also another natural emotion in our genes: the fear to the unknown. Is it worth the risk? What if I fail? Only you have the answer, only you have the choice to live from ordinary to extraordinary. And this reminds me what Achilles told him men when they were reaching the coast of Troy in the movie of the same name: “Immortality! It’s yours! Take it!”

There is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation —don’t worry if you’re not familiar with it— where Captain Jean-Luc Picard talks about his past on Earth, only few days before he left for the space in the starship Enterprise. He was about to meet with the girl he loved in the Café des Artistes, in Paris, but he never arrived. 20 years later, Picard had already earned a big name in the starfleet, but destiny makes him finally meet with her love again, then she asks him: “I waited all day but you never arrived, it rained the whole week, but when I went to the starfleet they told me you had already left. Why you didn’t arrive?” Picard’s only answer was: “I was afraid, afraid of feeling something serious.” To this, she finally added: “The truth is, you were afraid that your life with me would be… ordinary”.

Don’t let anyone to tell you how to live your life, your time is precious and can’t be recovered, if you have a dream, go for it!

You certainly don’t need to do this kind of extreme sacrifices to follow your dreams, but even though, Jean-Luc Picard is a perfect example of someone who pursues his dreams. He, who has been refered as someone with the heart of an explorer and the soul of a poet, can teach us how to have an Explorer Heart as well, to live from ordinary to extraordinary. Don’t let anyone to tell you how to live your life, your time is precious and can’t be recovered; if you have a dream, go for it!

Feeling the Heart of an Explorer and the Soul of a Poet

Curiosity is what make us grow and you’ll find there are times when you realize you like to do things you never imagined. For me, it’s travelling, and I’m working for that. I still have a long way to go, I know I’ll have to do some sacrifices, but I prefer to give up things I don’t really need in my life than give up my dreams. I’ve finally felt my Explorer Heart!  What to sacrifice depends on each one of us, perhaps not as drastic as what Captain Picard did, but what we definitely must not sacrifice is our dream itself.

It’s when you feel the necessity of pursuing your dream when you’ve finally awaken your Explorer Heart, but just like anything else, that feel might as well end one day and bury our inner explorer forever. That’s why we also need a Soul of a Poet, something than can keep our dreams alive, our inner voice that keeps telling us: no retreat, no surrender —remember 300?—

Playing with our Soul of a Poet

Curiosity, fascination, imagination, friendship, courage, willing to always learn new things, to meet new people and to boldly go where no man has gone before, but also a bit of madness as well, all that is what keeps Jean-Luc Picard safe in space, he has all those cualities and keeps his dreams alive by playing with them. Of course these are not unique, every person develops his own Soul of a Poet, his personal motivation in this journey, but it’s absolutely necessary to do what you really love; and always remember your own mind is your main weapon. Focus on your goal, keep your curiosity alive, your imagination, your fascination, so your Explorer Heart will live as well.

If you don’t build your dreams someone will hire you to help build theirs

You can actually choose

There’s a saying I’ve read several times and it comes with a great truth: “If you don’t build your dreams someone will hire you to help build theirs”. I think it speaks by itself, everyone has dreams and even a company was created by someone who had one. At the end, you have the choice of working for someone else’s dream or working for yours.

I’ve heard so many times that there are moments when we have no choice, we are told to do something, otherwise we can get fired; we have no choice, we have to do that. That happens when we’ve accepted how society works, when we’ve buried our Explorer Heart and even deeper lies our Poet Soul. The truth is totally different: we can ALWAYS choose! And if we think we can’t it’s because we’ve chosen to think that.

Listen to your Explorer Heart, play with your Poet Soul, become from ordinary to extraordinary. As for me, I’m a free spirit who decided to quit his job to pursue a dream, step by step, but I know it will materialize if I keep the Heart of an Explorer and the Soul of a Poet, just like Jean-Luc Picard.

Now choose, do you want to live ordinary or extraordinary? What kind of dreams do you want to pursue?