Work

Yesterday I was reminded of a quote I heard some time ago attributed to Thomas Edison. He said, "opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." The more I have considered this quote the more I have found truth in it. 

How often do we attempt to avoid work? How often do we seek the easier way and the fast results rather than the long lasting changes. Furthermore, how often do we fail to recognize the opportunities that stand right before us because we consider them work rather than the true 
opportunities that they are? 

I recall hearing about individuals work weeks during the summer years of my high school days. I recall how regularly my coworkers would discuss how much they dreaded work and how much more they looked forward to the weekend to do everything they could to forget about that very thing. This reminds me of a quote by George Sand that reads, "Work is not man's punishment. It is his reward and his strength and his pleasure."

We so often fail to see the joy in exertion, in attempt, and in accomplishment. The more I work in a way worth working, the more I enjoy the work that I do and the more those who I work for enjoy me. 

Indeed, in a large way, how we work resembles who we are. Therefore, make work something worth your time. Do something you are passionate about, and if you can't get such a job, be passionate about how you do your work. Be passionate about what you expect from yourself and the integrity in which you work. There are few greater feelings.

Time Is Running Out

Now that Thanksgiving day has passed, Christmas is right around the corner. Then, before the blink of an eye, the new year will arrive. As time runs out for the year 2016, we would be wise to slow down and consider the past months and year. 

Much has changed; a new president elect has been voted into the white house. Changes in the world governments have been abundant. Beyond this, you may find yourself a changed individual. Maybe you have brought a new life into this world, maybe you have said goodbye to another life, maybe you have traveled to places you never thought you would go, maybe you did not experience as much change as you  had hoped. Regardless of your circumstance, regardless of your experience this past year, there is still time to change. 

We sometimes curse time. It seems to go so fast when we look in the past and so slow as we consider our dreams before us. One thing is certain, although time is running out for this year, we can make the time that we have count. Yes, one thing we all have in common is the existence of time and our being bound to it. 

I came across a quote very recently that states, "time changes everyone." What an interesting and true statement. What a privilege we have in being restricted and bound to time. Through the passing of time, we are able to let go of things that have happened, through the presence of time, we are able to capitalize on the moment before us, and in the time to come, we are able to prepare for greater things.

These three phases that are every growing and ever repeating seem to pass through us while we pass through them. Indeed, time changes us as the second hand on the clock changes from the one to the two. 

Time to Slow Down

C. S. Lewis was quoted for stating, "We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship." As I continue to age, I discover on a regular bases the accuracry of Mr. Lewis' claims. 

On July 29, 2016, CNN published and article addressing the amount of screen time the average adult spends each day. The number? Almost 11 hours. The official time spent in front of a screen is 10 hours and 39 minutes. The devices that were considered in the study are as follows;

1. tablets
2. smartphones
3. personal computers 
4. multimedia devices 
5. video games 
6. radios 
7. DVDs, 
8. DVRs 
9. TVs.

If you are interested in learning more about the study click here. Where am I going with all of this? Just as C.S. Lewis once said, I repeat the same; the world in which we live steals us from the opportunity to find peace within because so much is constantly taking place without. 

There must be a time to slow down. We must choose to embrace "solitude, silence, and private" rather than running from these things through social media, online interaction, and all other forms of electronic devices. 

Of course, there is a place for these things; for they are not entirely bad but they must be used in moderation and in reason. I encourage us all to spend more time pondering and "slowing down" in the world of commotion. 

Indeed, it is worth our time to take time to slow down. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201206/36-quotes-meditation

"The Glory Days"

More often than not when someone begins speaking of "the glory days" they are referring to days past. We regularly think of Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite and his high school football escapades.

May I submit that the true "glory days" are always ahead. The longer we walk upon this earth, the greater our capacity to experience the glory of that upon which we are walking. Yes, there are draw backs to growing older. At times, our senses diminish. Whether it be our sight, our hearing, our smelling and taste, our touch, or our brain altogether, these things do fade. That being the case, our ability to empathize, understand, and see as a whole, with the world around us makes life glorious.

Living for something is greater than having lived for something. The older we get, the more our time is weighted in the past, statistically speaking. Naturally, we desire to reflect and consider the life we led. This is not inherently wrong nor should it be ignored; reflection and consideration are important parts of our becoming. The past is exactly that, an "important part of our becoming." Becoming always takes place in the future.  

Let us move forward with confidence that the fullness of life is always before us, never behind us. I believe this to be the case. Even if I am wrong, there is little worth pointing my wrongness out. For I know that I am much happier, much more filled with joy, and much more hopeful when I choose to look at the future as the days of glory to come rather than only considering the beauty of days past.

Let us believe in the future with gratitude in our hearts for the past. Let us live our glory days today and tomorrow rather than reliving them from the days of yesterday. Regardless of where we are at in life, there is something to hope for. Let us hope on.

The Wild West

While growing up, I spent some time in the old classic westerns. Louis L'amour is among the most famous of western writers and rightfully so. He is a man who knows how to put  a book together. The book Mr. L'amour wrote are always similar in more ways than one but they never get old. 

I remember watching Roy Rogers and playing toy guns like Clint Eastwood. Something about the Wild West always get the imagination going. The more I have had the opportunity to learn the west and the beauty found in it, the more I find this organized randomness. Yes, this sounds contradicting but I assure that it is not. 

The world in which we now lives seems to try and make everything a math equation. If you put in the work you will get the result. If you practice everyday, eat well, and exercise you can be a starting player on the football team. If you study, you will get a good great. All of these things are true of course, but in them lies a dangerous fallacy; life is a summation of your actions and the ending outcome can be determined by the preceding actions taken. 

In truth, the outcome of a given situation is influenced by more than simply our actions before it. There are unpredictable and random influences that cannot be planned or prepared for. I believe this is learned best in the country. No matter how good of a ranch hand you are, no matter how good of a horse breaker you are, no matter how well you can drive cattle, the animals and the ground upon which they live have a mind of their own.  

The Fall

Above all the seasons that I enjoy stands one and one alone: the fall. The longer it sticks around the more I fall in love with it. The fall season brings about songs like "The Boys of Fall" by Kenny Chesney, "Leaves That Are Green" by Simon and Garfunkel, and "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young. 

Fall brings about new colors, new games, and new holidays. Fall brings about the end of the heat with a cool westward breeze. Fall brings in the beginning of the holiday season. 

I find myself loving the active birds and working squirrels preparing for the winter season. Seemingly, the world is full of transitional periods. Life is full of moments of change, often preceded by some sign such as the adjusting colors of the leaves.

Fall, for me, is a time of remembrance. It is a time of consideration of the summer past and the new year that lies ahead. During the fall season is often the time when Jack Frost makes his first appearance along with its last of the year.

During the transition of fall, I often find myself considering the beauty of nature and the brightness of the day. I believe this to be the case for three reasons: (1) the beautiful colors draw my eye to nature more fully, (2) the signaling of colder weather causes me to desire to soak up the warmth while I can, and (3) the fresh smells that accompany the fall season bring back oh so many memories. 

Indeed, the fall is my favorite time of year.

Look to the Mountains

Over the past weeks I have found myself in the same spot each morning: sitting on my deck looking up at the mountains to my east.

Each morning I sit, pondering and preparing for the day ahead. My eyes always find themselves resting upon the mountains that I have climbed so many times. Somehow, by spending time each day looking up at them, it is almost as though I am sitting on the mountain side if not for just a moment every morning.

I have found this to be among the most meaningful of moments each day. Some days I spend just four minutes sitting and observing, other days I spend closer to fifteen. However long it takes to remember

Provided by adventure-journal.com

what the world looks like from where my eyes are resting on the mountain.

This time enables me to keep a "bird's eye" perspective through the day. We so often become so absorbed in the details of the day that we fail to remember what life looks like overhead. We fail to remember how small we truly are. No matter how big a building or a task or a problem stands before us, it is never as big as the mountain I look up at each morning.

This gives me a perspective worth keeping. Indeed, it gives me a life worth living. Some call it meditation, others call it observation. My thought is simply that life is better when we look to the mountains. I invite to take some time and look to the "mountains" in your backyard.