"What for?" Ends vs. Means, or Meaningful Ends

I haven't written in my blog for a couple of weeks. 
Suddenly I would find myself posed over the keyboard thinking, "What for?", and would then close my laptop and move on to something else that was more meaningful for me at the moment. 
I started worrying, "Have I run out of ideas? Have I said all I wanted to say about the Alexander Technique? Does the subject not inspire me anymore?"
Not quite so. The subject still moves me deeply, but, as periodically happens with other areas in my life, I sometimes need to step back from full immersion to see the wider picture, and thus find my place in it once again.

A few days ago a friend of mine showed me my astrological chart for next year. With my birthday coming up in less than a month, I wanted to know what the new year would look like, what areas would be under challenge.

Image courtesy of Danilo Rizutti /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The reading over, I was impressed by the full realization that:

Life = Challenge

What I mean is that it never stops, we don't get to the point where everything is smoothed out and challenge-free, for (in astrological terms) the planets are forever revolving around the constellations and bringing their energies to play on the different houses. In other words, as long as I am alive, some area of my Life is going to come under the influence, auspicious or otherwise, of the stars.

Question: If there is no challenge-free paradise to reach in this Life, what is my job then?

Answer: Learning to surf the waves. It's about acceptance and atunement. Self-regulation. Life is bigger than me and It sets the tone; my job to find that tone and harmonize with it. 

All this brought me to the quesiton of ends and means. What are ends for if there is really no end? And what is the purpose of means if there are no ends?

Since while I'm alive I have to live, I might aswell find the things that bring me joy and try and do more of those. Challenges will come regardless of what path I'm on (that's written in the stars), so I might as well be on a path with heart.

The human brain is a goal-seeking mechanism, it's whole purpose is achieving ends. In fact it is doing that right now, according to my habitual pre-set. 

Do I like the ends I am achieving? How do I change them if I don't?

I need to change my means to the end.

This is where the Alexander Technique comes in. It helps me change my means so that I may achieve a different end that what I'm getting write now. To achieve my end I need to focus on my means, until I'm confident enough in them that I can achieve my end any time I wish to; until it becomes my pre-set.

Every end will be a new beginning, a new me.

But the stars will keep circulating in the sky, bringing new challenges to this new me. This new me will pick another meaningful end to work towards, something beyond its current self-definition.

Once again there will be a space-between, a middle between me and my end... and a the road towards it will be a new use of myself.

We need the ends as much as the means. The ends propel us onto change and growth. The means are the way we get there. One is fully dependent on the other.

Never forget your end, never lose the passion to achieve it; but always know that the road to that new place is your means. In truth, we could say that:

ends = means