I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Lucky Bitch Radio with Wanda Wisdom, and as usual I learned a lot. Wanda was talking about being happy, and how she, as a recovering alcoholic, has finally found peace. She said she had always been goal oriented and thought that happiness would come when those goals were reached. Well, happiness wasn't there at the end of the road. What she realized then was that she never had a plan for being happy along the way.
Being happy on the journey, what a concept. Since life is all about the journey, it sounds like something we should all be thinking about. Instead of just saying "some day" I will be happy, when I reach retirement, or graduate, or get that new job, etc., we need to start thinking about today (where have you heard this before).
I know there is always booze and drugs, but that is not much of a long term plan for happiness. We all need something to get us through from day to day, until we reach the end. Friends help a great deal, money seems to help to. There is always family, but that can be a mixed blessing. Then there is the search for meaning in all this.
I think that doing what you love to do on a daily basis is probably the best way to stay happy. Those of us who are tied to our jobs with golden handcuffs may have to wait a while to do exactly what makes us happy. But for those of you who are still young enough, don't spend your life doing something just to get by, just to earn a living. Get out there and find out what makes you happy and just maybe the journey will be a joyous one.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Tempus Fugit
I firmly believe that the older you get, the faster time goes. It seems like the 9th grade lasted a lifetime, but 1982 seems not that long ago.
I look at my life and think, at best, I have thirty or forty years to live. Then I think back over the last 30 years, and wonder where it all went. How did I get to be this middle-aged man who can retire (early) in the next few years?
The hardest thing to grasp is seeing old friends who have retired and realizing it was so many years ago. Wondering if my retirement years will go by in a flash. What can I do to slow down this ceaseless march of time? How can I savor every minute of my remaining life?
You can't really hold on to things, or people. They come and go whenever they will. You can't really stop, look, listen and make time stand still either. All you can really do is try to live the best life you can. Rid yourself of negative emotions. Try to make every waking moment a happy one.
Every time I start to feel angry, resentful, or petty, I stop and try to hold these feelings at bay. Try to look at why that person is so rude, or wonder - do I really resent that someone has that much more than I do. I am usually able to push these feelings away and keep them away. I don't know how or why I am able to do it, but I am very glad that I can.
So the next time you feel those crappy negative emotions heading your way, stop, think and let it roll off you like an indictment off Tom Delay's back.
I look at my life and think, at best, I have thirty or forty years to live. Then I think back over the last 30 years, and wonder where it all went. How did I get to be this middle-aged man who can retire (early) in the next few years?
The hardest thing to grasp is seeing old friends who have retired and realizing it was so many years ago. Wondering if my retirement years will go by in a flash. What can I do to slow down this ceaseless march of time? How can I savor every minute of my remaining life?
You can't really hold on to things, or people. They come and go whenever they will. You can't really stop, look, listen and make time stand still either. All you can really do is try to live the best life you can. Rid yourself of negative emotions. Try to make every waking moment a happy one.
Every time I start to feel angry, resentful, or petty, I stop and try to hold these feelings at bay. Try to look at why that person is so rude, or wonder - do I really resent that someone has that much more than I do. I am usually able to push these feelings away and keep them away. I don't know how or why I am able to do it, but I am very glad that I can.
So the next time you feel those crappy negative emotions heading your way, stop, think and let it roll off you like an indictment off Tom Delay's back.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Crazy Daze
I have always thought that the right-wing media machine merely spun things their way and occasionally exaggerated. It has become apparent recently that this is not the case. Turns out they have their own little (or big) alternate reality. In this world they really believe that Vince Foster was killed because Hillary and/or Bill put a hit out on him to keep him quiet. Same with Ron Brown. They show x-rays of his skull with a small entry wound at the top, in their world a bullet hole.
This is just the extreme end of their world. They also believe that Clinton is to blame for the recession that recently ended and that George the 1st was responsible for the Clinton boom that lasted longer than any other in history.
They believe that the Clintons and their ilk stole everything but the kitchen sink when they left the White House, even though later news reports indicated that it was all a Repub exaggeration to make the Dems look bad.
The list is endless. Anything bad that has ever happened was the Dems fault, all good things can be traced back to Reagan or Bush. They even rip Jimmy Carter apart saying he tried making a deal with the Soviets when he saw he could not win in 1980. What he thought the Soviets could do for him is left unexplained. Like most Repub BS, they figure if you say it enough times it will become the truth.
Lefties support dictators, the Catholic church never murdered anyone, and gays are taking over the country. The islamo-terrorists are every left-wingers best friend, and when we aren't hanging out with them we are performing abortions just for fun.
The idea that they could actually have a lucid discussion about the issues seems almost impossible. We'd both have to live in the same world for that to happen.
Judging by Bush's latest poll numbers I think their strategy has not been working too well lately. I can only hope that if Rove gets indicted that would put a huge nail in the coffin of the right-wing attack machine. But since reality seems to mean little to these people, it is hard to say if that will have any effect whatsoever.
This is just the extreme end of their world. They also believe that Clinton is to blame for the recession that recently ended and that George the 1st was responsible for the Clinton boom that lasted longer than any other in history.
They believe that the Clintons and their ilk stole everything but the kitchen sink when they left the White House, even though later news reports indicated that it was all a Repub exaggeration to make the Dems look bad.
The list is endless. Anything bad that has ever happened was the Dems fault, all good things can be traced back to Reagan or Bush. They even rip Jimmy Carter apart saying he tried making a deal with the Soviets when he saw he could not win in 1980. What he thought the Soviets could do for him is left unexplained. Like most Repub BS, they figure if you say it enough times it will become the truth.
Lefties support dictators, the Catholic church never murdered anyone, and gays are taking over the country. The islamo-terrorists are every left-wingers best friend, and when we aren't hanging out with them we are performing abortions just for fun.
The idea that they could actually have a lucid discussion about the issues seems almost impossible. We'd both have to live in the same world for that to happen.
Judging by Bush's latest poll numbers I think their strategy has not been working too well lately. I can only hope that if Rove gets indicted that would put a huge nail in the coffin of the right-wing attack machine. But since reality seems to mean little to these people, it is hard to say if that will have any effect whatsoever.
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