Just Showing Up

When you hear things more than once in a week, you know that someone (God maybe?) is trying to send a message. First, I listened to Father Jerry Appelby’s compelling homily at his Jubilee Mass celebration this past weekend. The punchline to his sermon was that just showing up is 80% of life, and that if you just keep showing up, somewhere during that time, you will accomplish what you were meant to do.

Then, I was sent this compelling video of Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love as she spoke at the TED conference on the topic of creativity and divine inspiration. In her speech she suggests that you just show up for the job you were meant to do, and that amazing creative power will pass through you when you invite it to show up for its job too. She referenced the bullfight chant “olé” to acknowledge the inspiration’s presence.

It is so true that just showing up for anything, be it your job, your marriage, or anything you are involved in is 80% of the effort. The rest is waiting on that mystical inspiration. So with that, I’ll start today by saying olé!