20 Aug 2023 · 8 min
Thomas Anglero reflects on a family reunion and his 20-year immigrant journey, arguing that presence and life moments matter more than checking boxes. He encourages slowing down to appreciate what's actually in front of you.
Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero here in Nydalen, Norway. Absolutely beautiful out here in the forest, beautiful lake behind me. Coming out in the forest, I'm able to— you're able to relax, to reflect on life and on this moment, to ground ourselves, to feel ourselves, to breathe. And I want to share with you a little story and a reflection I had in the last day. Yesterday we had a fantastic family reunion from my wife's side. 27 people, a lot of them I hadn't seen in 20 years. 20 years ago I had just come to Norway. Things were struggling, you know, bought a one-way ticket to Norway, no job, no friends, no family, the whole story. And they were established. This is their home. They know the language, they know the culture. And I thought, God, what an advantage they have versus me getting here, coming to this country. And what chance do I have? I have to start from scratch, no help. No one. Here we fast forward 20 years later, and I was shocked yesterday that most of them hadn't moved. They didn't progress their life. They hadn't read many books. Same job or different job, same place. And I think that's okay. But after 20 years, if all you could tell is stories of being unhappy, or I'm okay, I'm happy, and in those 20 years you didn't push yourself but you're not really happy, who's at fault? What risk did you take? What risk are you taking now? Why do you listen to podcasts? How are you making yourself uncomfortable? I had such a wonderful time yesterday. It really was. Being surrounded by love is a wonderful thing. Being surrounded in the forest by the nature itself is a wonderful thing, but it's not a checkbox. Box. And that's what so many people do. So many of us, maybe you, you checkbox things. Oh, I got a nice car, check. I went to this place, check. I went to the zoo, check. Um, I have nice clothes, check. Life is not a check. Life is about in this moment right now. Am I who I am? Am I present? As I was having conversations with many of them It was really hard to get them to be present. They would give me the standard speech you give people. Well, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I'm like, but how are you? Well, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. How are you? And you know what was the most amazing thing was that the most amazing conversations came from the old school people, people who are 60, 70 plus, because they've had the time to realize that life's ups and downs and things are tough. And that conversation, when you sit down with someone and you have a conversation, that one-on-one moment, that is life. That's everything, right? That encompasses all of life. You literally, the two of you are taking your life, their life, you're putting it together in that moment and you're making our life. And you're having the most intense conversation. You can feel the energy, you can feel the intensity as a person tells you the stories of their successes. They get, they tell you the stories of their failures, you feel their life, and then you have a life moment. But so many conversations, people just go blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and move on to the next person. Check. Let me ask you a question: are you checking yourself? Are you blowing away this incredible moment? Before I started shooting this video, I was looking around going, my God, Should I even shoot a video? Would that be a waste of time? Because all this beauty, I should not be ignoring it. But I'm not ignoring it. What am I doing? This video, this, this video, this nature, this beautiful lake, these trees, this is my life. This is my ball. What am I doing? I'm sharing it with you. Wherever you are and whatever your life is, whatever ball that's called your life. By me recording this video here in this forest, I'm sharing with you so that together in this moment we feel the intensity of life. I feel your pain, you feel mine. We have a moment. Life is about these moments. Life is about sharing these moments. Do you approach discussions and conversations with people from a perspective of, I want to share a piece of myself with you so that we can have a moment? Do you? Or are you in student modus? Are you in I'm the boss modus? Or are you I'm the project manager, gotta get this done modus? Or I'm a busy parent modus? Or I'm too important modus? Or whatever. When the hell are you gonna start living your life? When are you gonna enjoy and realize the fact that It's beautiful. This is it. This is it. What are you racing to? This is it. Every moment is it. There is no race. You were selected. What is the thing they say? When you were born, there was one out of a trillion chance of you being born, and you're the one. You won the lottery, and you're now given a chance to be here. This is the lottery. This is what it looks like. This is what it smells like. This tree is what it feels like. Beautiful tree, actually. It's had a rough life. This is the lottery. Being able to realize that just by living that you won the lottery. By able to take a moment and put your hands in your pocket and not do anything without any expectations is winning the lottery. Life ain't about collecting crap, cars, clothes, money. Life is about collecting these moments where you realize that these moments is life. This, that this moment I could just look around and relax my mind, that's a life moment. It doesn't take being in the forest, it doesn't take anything, it just takes You just be you. Go forth and spread beauty, light, spread yourself. And take a moment just to do nothing. Do nothing. That's all you gotta do to love life. And life to love you. I'm Thomas Anglero. I love you. Until next time.
