I am sitting here in the garden today eating a wonderful salad with crisp fresh lettuce picked only momets ago… Perfect sunny day, my little hummingbird friend buzzing around doing his thing and I thought, do I really NEED anything more than this…. I mean we all have things we want or enjoy or whatever but it seems we lose sight of what are actually NEEDS and what are WANTS…. Seems like a simple question on the surface but, really…. Do we NEED much more than food shelter water? We spend sook much of our waking energy in persuits that weren’t even ours to begin with, things that have been passed on to us fo generations. Aquiring physical goods. To get them we trade our energy. Both our energy manifested as time but also as emotional energy. Just to buy things have things. Pay bills. Etc. … Our modern age has brought many conveniences. .. Such as the Fact that I am typing this on a telephone thaf is alwYs connected to the internet sitting in the even while sitting in the garden !! Pretty cool, yes.. But necessary??? I am not at all saying that we shouldn’t have things, not at all. I guess whAt I am thinking about is changing our perception of those things. And making them extras, pleasures , not needs. I think everything is how you perceive a situation. There is a big difference in thinking that because everyone has a cell phone that we all NEED them rather we should be constantly saying ‘wow , this is pretty cool that we All have cell phones, but if I didn’t have one tommorow, thY would be fine too’. But I’m not really sure how many of us could actully say that! And mean it!!
I think we would all have a lot less stress and more peace if we knew we would be ok without much of anything. Then everything else becomes a gift. A fun gizmo in the crazy ride of life. But that’s the point. To go for the ride. At a rollercoaster you just go for the fun of the ride. Not to get to the end. Not to get to the end faster than anyone else. Not because you will get something at the end of the ride… that is the cruel joke of most people’s lives… they got to the end and realize there was no prize they were going after.. the whole point was just to have a good time and be happy..>!!
we can all choose to be happy at every moment.. even though we have taught ourselves otherwise. when the guy on the free way cuts you off, its easy to say ” what a jerk, he’s probably not going anywhere important anyways, he just thinks he’s better than me and can take my spot” but thats a lie, because you cant possibly know what is going on i that guys world, or why he does what he does. we all go around making up lies about other peoples lives that negatively affect us, and then let those untrue stories WE made up affect OUR lives! crazy..>!! the guy cutting you off didnt make you upset, you did! so,, i propose, that the solution is to make up happy lies instead.. since anything you make up is a lie, it might as well benefit you in a positive way rather than a negative one. so instead, say” boy, i sure hope that guy gets his pregnant wife to the hospital on time to have a safe delivery of their new beautiful baby! i understand that he is probably frazzled right now and didnt see me when he merged, but hey, i’d probably be just as frazzled if i were in his shoes!”
! see, just as much of a lie as the first one, but which one makes you giggle and smile?? which one brings you from the situation in a positive, loving place instead of anger?? being angry at the guy doesnt affect him any, only you.
anyhow,.,. back to the first subject, STUFF! if you have a job and work tons and then but a bunch of stuff and are truly happy, then great! but most of us are not.. most people hate their jobs or complain about how much they have to work to make the $ to go buy all the stuff.. we are in the trap of “work more so we can buy more” but is all the working and time spent really worth the stuff>>?? i am proposing we change that game to “need less or spend less, so we can work less”
what if the thing that makes you happier than everything else is reading… what if you realized that you could read in the park everyday by simplifying your life to a point to where you could pay your bills with only a part time job, rather than having a big house, new car, stuff, insurance for the stuff, maintenance on the stuff, but in exchange you never had anytime to read./??!!
it can be done, might sound far fetched, but that is just your fear. a fear of change. a fear of going against the grain. even start with small changes, just to get used to breaking long lasting habits.. always go to the same grocery store every week? maybe try a new one this week, or been to self conscious to go in that new fangled health store down the block because you might look like you dont know what your doing in there?? well, so what, ?? give it a try!! the reason you;d look like you dont know what you are doing in there is because you dont! and how would you , youve never been in there before… so all you are doing is acting truthfully and honestly. its ok to be a newbie.. everybody had to start somewhere with everything.. who cares what people say– i read a book that suggested to save a few minutes everyday, stop wasting time getting your mail from the mailbox everyday.. its just as quick to take a look at a weeks worth of mail as a days, so spend 10min once a week going thru mail instead of 5 min 6 days a week,,- here’s 20min minimum saved every week!!! thats 17.33 hours saved EVERY YEAR!! seriously!! thats the equivalent of a half a full-time week off of work….!!! so now i take it a step further, i get my mail every 2 weeks at most! of course the mailperson may have to shove it in there more, but then get a bigger mailbox, or a cardboard box for the overflow, who cares! whats more important, an extra 17.33 hours of time or what the mailperson thinks of you because you dont collect your mail everyday.. not a hard choice for me..!!
then.. we can start to make HUGE changes or what seem like huge changes anytime we want. you could move to Hawaii tomorrow if that would make you happy… when you get there you would be just as alive and capable of happiness as you are in your current position today… since you CHOOSE to be happy, you can choose that in any circumstance or situation..
so… be happy today!!! smile, do something fun, different, exciting. and stop COLLECTING YOUR MAIL EVERYDAY!! more on this and other time saving tidbits in a future post… see, i could have been collecting the mail, instead i got this blog written instead….!! you think you dont have time everyday to start a new hobby, now you do!
i was reading carlos castaneda’s “the art of dreaming” today and that is what inspired this here rant.. he was talking about how we sacrifice freedom in exchange for our “merchant minds” that we see every situation as profit, loss, what the risk, the percentage gain on the investment, is it going to better me,,etc, rather than just letting go, relaxing, and being free. here are his words:
“The merchant mind does commerce.But freedom cannot be an investment. Freedom is an adventure with no end, in which we risk our lives and much more for a few moments of something beyond words, beyond thoughts or feelings”
we all have felt those moments, they are the best memories of our lives. but i believe we can make those moments the majority of our lives, rather than the minority. yup, its gonna take some change, a bit of work, and it might feel funny to upheave everything you do in your daily routine, but at what cost? i know i wanna get to the end filled with more of those moments than anyone ever dreamed possible. not wondering why i paid my water bill on time and worried what the mailperson thought of my mail collecting habits- in exchange for a life void of special moments, love, happiness, and freedom.
come on folks, we can do this together! lets break the chains and remember to find those moments. the easiest way to have contact reminders!! daily affirmation, email lists, calendars, and people around you who believe the same things and can help you when you resort back to the guy thats honking on the freeway! remember, the guy cut you off because he’s rushing to the airport, trying to stop the love of his life from getting on that plane, because he is sorry, and can’t imagine them not being together, finally, like they were meant to be.” !!
you dont wanna get in the way of love would you? neither would I !
just like in the movies 
why not have everyday be a movie?
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