I met a new friend last night and I thought I would introduce him. He’s a little shy and so I don’t know his name yet, but he did agree to pose for a few pictures.
We had a lot of fun the past day. He’s been with me everywhere. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who you know is never going to judge you and is always going to be there to listen.
Anyway, here he is. Go ahead and say hello. I’ll show him your greetings.
At least in this body, life is finite. Am I making the best of it? Am I furthering myself or creating hindrances to advancement? Am I making decisions that help me fulfill my purpose?
Just a few things I’m thinking about.
I don’t know where all of this is coming from, but suddenly there are a million things to write about. Two new words for today. I don’t think this will become a long series or anything, but they just keep popping up. These two tie into some of yesterday’s words, namely rat race, and value.
Creation
Too few people (at least in Western culture) create things anymore. I know for me, I always think of things to create and then get bogged down and run out of time. I’ve had four days of vacation the past two weeks and meant to make a lot things and even prepared to create, but then in the end ran out of time.
For me its a combination of things I have to do and distractions. For now at least, I have to do what I have to do, but I can cut down on distractions. One thing I have been trying to do lately is to hibernate the computer whenever I’m not using it. I waste way too much time on the Internet. It has helped somewhat (and it’s hopefully saving me a little on electricity too), but I still need to find more ways to cut out these distractions so I can get back to creating.
Another aspect of creation that bother’s me is how much we as a society (and myself) are dependent on things created by exploited workers of big corporations. So much creation has been outsourced that it doesn’t seem healthy. Maybe it’s a silly view, but it seems like one day we’re going to find out that we don’t really make anything and are just running an imaginary economy of things made by other people.
Independence
Achieving freedom from the things in the universe that are holding me back. The more value I can create myself, the less dependent I will be on other entities. For example, if I grow my own tomatoes, I don’t have to go to the grocery store and buy them and I can dictate the kind and quality, the chemicals or lack of chemicals that help them grow or keep them from being killed by bugs, and so on.
I’ll continue to elaborate on these more as my thoughts solidify.
After stewing a little longer on the words of the day, I thought I’d post a little synopsis on what I’ve been thinking about them. I’m still thinking about them all, but these are my thoughts tonight since I can’t sleep.
For the past months, I’ve become increasingly aware of the rat race so many of us seem to be caught up in. It really seems silly. Physically we all have a limited time here and yet too often we don’t seem to pick up on that and waste our time running a race that doesn’t really benefit us in the end. I was reading about this some today and a key point in a lot of the writing was the emphasis on finding value from and engaging in community.
A quote by Seth Godin has been stuck in my head since I read it. Paraphrased (I don’t remember the original exactly is: “create value every day.” This ties in somewhat to the previous two words/phrases. If I’m not engaged in the “rat race”, then how will I be able to survive (i.e. how will I be able to pay for food, shelter, etc.) I guess I’m not the most capitalistic guy on the planet. Anyway, still thinking about this one (combined with the two above.) These have revived my interest in Steve Pavlina’s blog. It can be a little wierd at time, but overall it’s great.
During lunch I happened to hear a piece on people dying of pancreatic cancer on NPR. It was depressing. And made me think about death. I got all caught up and anxious for a little bit before I was able to reel myself in and reiterate that its just another transition. I used to get a lot more worked up over the idea, but it’s getting better. Not that I’m suicidal or anything, but I’m getting to the point of accepting that it’s a phase of life.
And with that, we’ll move on to John Maeda. I found his Laws of Simplicity sometime last year and have been rather interested in them since. Recently, I’ve been using a Google Homepage widget that displays a different one on my homepage everytime it loads. It’s great stuff and really can get you thinking. The one I’ve been thinking about most is the first law: “The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.” Check them out. They are awesome.
I tacked this one on at the end, and can’t really remember where it came from. I guess it ties into the first two. Anyway, no great enlightenment on that. Sorry! Maybe next time.
Community
Rat Race
Value
Death
Simplify
Happiness
I’m going to start putting these up from time to time. They’re just a sequence of words that I’ve spent time today thinking about. If you have anything to say on any of them, feel free to comment.