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Thursday, July 3, 2014

Time vampires



We only have some many days in this life. We may not know the number but we do know it's a finite number. Why do so many of us spend our days doing what we neither love nor want? It doesn't even have to be something we dislike. It could be something we settle for. It could even be good things that are sucking our life hours away.

There's a way of thinking more common to Eastern Philosophies than Western ones. Mindfulness. You may have heard it expressed as “Be here now.” Today I was in line at the grocery store. The lady in front of me was on her cell phone talking to a former boyfriend. She didn't even like him, as everyone in the store could not help but overhear. Even so, she didn't hang up. In fact, she could barely complete her grocery order as her mind certainly was not in the store. Too bad, the check out lady had a killer sense of humor and she missed that.

My days have few routines and rituals, and even those are always up for scrutiny. It does give me a reputation for being random. When one mindful, it's a bit easier to change one's mind.

That's not to say it's easy, just a bit easier. People have expectations. Ruts are easy to fall into and hard to climb out of. Ruts are nice for keeping a low profile and not sticking out. In Japan they have a saying: the nail that sticks out gets pounded down. That's life in a conformist society for you.

In the West we too have a wise saying: take time to smell the roses. That looks like a form of mindfulness to me. With some many things tugging on our attention these days it's even more important to chose what to give our time and attention to. If we don't run our lives, others will run them for us.

-Sixbears

14 comments:

  1. So true. I find the older I get the more enjoyment I find in simple things - things that I would never stop and notice or even think about when I was young.

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    1. Maybe we make the remaining days count more.

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  2. The "Time Vampires" get a lot more active as I get a lot more older. When you are young time goes by so very slow (because your brain runs really fast) but when you get od time goes by so fast (because your brain now runs really slow). Life is like sliding down a slippery hill to a grave at the bottom.

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  3. My hubs doesn't regret retiring when he did, me I have a different philosophy, I always thought working was just to make a teeny tiny amount of money on the companies time and enjoy myself the other hours away from the job..travel, meeting new people, new experiences in southern and northern California, then to horrible Oregon, I got the hell out of that hellhole, married and traveled to colorful Colorado with my groom of now over 40 years, sunshine and good times each day even when we worked in 90 to 103 degree dry heat, we were in love still are an had lots of time to enjoy ourselves outside of work..there was always work, now a days people LIVE TO WORK TO PAY FOR STUFF THEY REALLY DON'T SEE AS ENJOYMENT..homes here after 36 years are not cheap, no real jobs, one must move nearer to Seattle whereas homes are ridiculous, but one can work in King county and live in the sticks, use biofuels and live off the grid if one is imaginative and smart..it sounds like you are enjoying your life way back east..I cannot for the life of me see how people run all around to make a little money to drop over from stress, heart attacks, diabetes, etc. in jobs they literally HATE AND MORE HATE, of course we have pensions my hubs and I and saved like we were misers with one only child, but it bode us well, we could see what was coming and it was not a happy place to have to work like slaves, our only feels the same only she has not home NYC is ridiculous only rents from family at a good price, but saves like she is an old person, she learned nothing lasts forever and you cannot buy happiness, love your blog, hope your wife gets home soon, in all the 40 plus years we have not been apart any length of time at all, we prefer to be together, ciao! happy 4th of july too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    1. Thank you! I'm happy you found what works for you. They can't take away the good times you've already had.

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  4. The average American gets to live for 29,127 days.
    What most don't realise until it's too late is how to make those days count...

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    1. Anyone can decide to pay attention and make them count. Better late than never.

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    2. I should have perhaps said, they get to be alive for an average of 29,127 days. Unfortunately not too many actually 'live' in the real sense of the word. You know well what I mean...

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  5. just quit aging.....

    Wildflower

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