I find myself wondering more and more lately about the actual point of running around like a headless chicken chasing the so called perfect life that in reality is there all the time right under our noses.
We have a little grumble if our eBay parcel hasn't arrived or the postman is late or there is a power cut, dinner is late or someone you are meeting is late, i could go on but you get where i am coming from. The truth is it really doesn't matter about any of these things, we have just been programmed to react in a certain way if they happen to us, like being sarcastic or simply down right rude. If we actually stop and think about it, there is no need for us to react in this way, but it takes a very different way of looking at life to accept this different view, as to so many people time is money, a saying i absolutely loathe with every bone in my body, time isn't money, time is precious, every single minute and second is precious, money has nothing at all to do with it.
So, just what use is it being the richest person in the cemetery?. I am not saying that we should throw away all our possessions and build mud huts on the nearest hill and eat berries for breakfast, (although i have to say that in the present climate and weather that does appeal!) what i am saying is that far too many people are taking life way too seriously and think that possessions bring happiness and fulfilment, on the contrary, like a drug they just tempt you to want more and more, it's like a rush that drugs give you only this time it's a legal high but no less debilitating.
There are those amongst us who thrive on competition and rivalry and dismiss those who have found contentment within themselves for who they are and for what they are.
I myself have always pushed so hard and worked such long hours as to have built a reputation as someone who is always working, something i really am not that proud of. I have a brother Chris, he has always been happy to work his work and then come home and enjoy life, he never aspired to travel the world or chair meetings or start businesses with staff and all the headaches that brings, he drove his tractor until it was time to go home and that was good enough for him and more importantly he loved every minute of what he was doing, while I was all over Europe promoting golf course machinery for a manufacturer taking meetings with dealerships that saw 20 to 30 people intently listening to what the company had to offer, setting up business on my own, writing, being a school governor, rally driving..you name it.
The truth is all the time i was globetrotting and busy setting up the next project, in the back of my mind every now and then i would just think about how ideal Chris's life really was compared to my madness, i would be in another plane, another hotel, meeting people i scarcely knew and having dinner with them and Chris....well Chris would be in his local chatting away to his friends content with what life had given him. I found myself thinking well it isn't for me i couldn't do that i need to be out there doing 100mph with my backside on fire or i am not happy!.
Perhaps as we grow older we reflect more on what we have achieved and if it hasn't followed the master plan or vision you had set yourself then human nature tells you to view that as failure. The latter is precisely where i place myself, I know with that everyone will rally round and say no, no, no, you have done this and that etc but if you are being honest with yourself and looking back at your achievements i can honestly say i have made mistakes and achieved very little from the promise i had as a youngster, does it haunt me? well yes a little, will it change who i am in the next few years well yes absolutely, I intend to see life for what it is rather than what it can give me. In a way I am finding that contentment my brother Chris found with his job, i admit it scares me a little because i am a wild soul that doesn't like to be tied down, but i think i can find a balance with my bi-polar self whereas i can appreciate the simpler things while managing my wilder side, a move that I hope will bring me closer to some real happiness, the sort of happiness that comes from just being you in the place and surroundings that you enjoy the most, enjoying the sunshine the smell of fresh cut grass, the sounds of nature all around that continually play and if you are lucky enough you may one day sit down and have chance to actually listen to.. I hope for your sakes you all do..
We have a little grumble if our eBay parcel hasn't arrived or the postman is late or there is a power cut, dinner is late or someone you are meeting is late, i could go on but you get where i am coming from. The truth is it really doesn't matter about any of these things, we have just been programmed to react in a certain way if they happen to us, like being sarcastic or simply down right rude. If we actually stop and think about it, there is no need for us to react in this way, but it takes a very different way of looking at life to accept this different view, as to so many people time is money, a saying i absolutely loathe with every bone in my body, time isn't money, time is precious, every single minute and second is precious, money has nothing at all to do with it.
So, just what use is it being the richest person in the cemetery?. I am not saying that we should throw away all our possessions and build mud huts on the nearest hill and eat berries for breakfast, (although i have to say that in the present climate and weather that does appeal!) what i am saying is that far too many people are taking life way too seriously and think that possessions bring happiness and fulfilment, on the contrary, like a drug they just tempt you to want more and more, it's like a rush that drugs give you only this time it's a legal high but no less debilitating.
There are those amongst us who thrive on competition and rivalry and dismiss those who have found contentment within themselves for who they are and for what they are.
I myself have always pushed so hard and worked such long hours as to have built a reputation as someone who is always working, something i really am not that proud of. I have a brother Chris, he has always been happy to work his work and then come home and enjoy life, he never aspired to travel the world or chair meetings or start businesses with staff and all the headaches that brings, he drove his tractor until it was time to go home and that was good enough for him and more importantly he loved every minute of what he was doing, while I was all over Europe promoting golf course machinery for a manufacturer taking meetings with dealerships that saw 20 to 30 people intently listening to what the company had to offer, setting up business on my own, writing, being a school governor, rally driving..you name it.
The truth is all the time i was globetrotting and busy setting up the next project, in the back of my mind every now and then i would just think about how ideal Chris's life really was compared to my madness, i would be in another plane, another hotel, meeting people i scarcely knew and having dinner with them and Chris....well Chris would be in his local chatting away to his friends content with what life had given him. I found myself thinking well it isn't for me i couldn't do that i need to be out there doing 100mph with my backside on fire or i am not happy!.
Perhaps as we grow older we reflect more on what we have achieved and if it hasn't followed the master plan or vision you had set yourself then human nature tells you to view that as failure. The latter is precisely where i place myself, I know with that everyone will rally round and say no, no, no, you have done this and that etc but if you are being honest with yourself and looking back at your achievements i can honestly say i have made mistakes and achieved very little from the promise i had as a youngster, does it haunt me? well yes a little, will it change who i am in the next few years well yes absolutely, I intend to see life for what it is rather than what it can give me. In a way I am finding that contentment my brother Chris found with his job, i admit it scares me a little because i am a wild soul that doesn't like to be tied down, but i think i can find a balance with my bi-polar self whereas i can appreciate the simpler things while managing my wilder side, a move that I hope will bring me closer to some real happiness, the sort of happiness that comes from just being you in the place and surroundings that you enjoy the most, enjoying the sunshine the smell of fresh cut grass, the sounds of nature all around that continually play and if you are lucky enough you may one day sit down and have chance to actually listen to.. I hope for your sakes you all do..
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