Life Experiences & Observations

Sit Down, Buckle Up, Hang On, and Enjoy My Blog Ride

Tag: breathe

The TRUE 2nd to Last Post – Valuing Time

0000 Valuing TimeThis time yesterday I was so delirious I couldn’t even count. I thought it was Tuesday and was my second to last post of my April blog-a-thon. Well this post is my TRUE second to last post. Now that I am easing back into my normal routine, with my Dad scheduled to be released from the hospital tomorrow, I am seeing things with a new light. This has happened to me before and when I think about it I get sad since this feeling ultimately fades away. The feeling that life is short and you need to enjoy every minute. The feeling that life’s inconveniences and frustrations in the long run don’t really matter. The understanding that the only minute that matters is the minute you are living currently. So how do I keep this understanding of life’s most precious commodity which everybody knows is time? I will come back to that. You have probably heard others state this about time and it is actually somewhat false. The most precious commodity, at least for a human being, is air. You can’t experience the passing of time without air. Essentially, air is the most precious commodity but time is the second most precious commodity.

Well I have found the answer to consistently value both time and air. That answer is meditation. I am still working on meditating more regularly but I am not there yet. Once I do get there though, I feel like I will truly value life’s two most precious commodities. If you have yet to try meditation, I encourage you to do so. There are hundreds of different resources to learn how but too many to mention here. I will default to one of the best bloggers in the world who I highly admire… Leo Babauta. Click HERE to access his meditation for beginners which details 20 tips for quieting the mind. You will be happy you did. Meditation uses the breath, also known as air, to appreciate the present moment. Two precious gifts rolled into one. Am I getting too hippie fru fru for you? If so, just skip it and go about your stressful, time draining life. As harsh as that sounds I will not judge you if choose that path. I have chosen it before myself and been stuck there. But when you feel like you have hit rock bottom and can barely breath due to the stress and anxiety; come back to this post. Better yet, go to Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits blog. I have been at rock bottom before and know this helps.

Our Need it Now Internet Addiction

Last night we had a major crisis in our house. Nobody got hurt or was about to be hurt. We lost our WiFi and/or internet connection. I am not enough of a computer geek to know which and my wife was the one to fix it (proving my lack of computer geeky-ness) . Now at first glance this may seem like no big deal but I found myself reaching for my phone at least 6 times in the hour we didn’t have access. Sure I had a phone signal and could access the internet that way but I just couldn’t handle the sloggy turtle nature of it. And yes I just invented the word sloggy.

From looking up a simple item, to seeing what our friends are doing on Facebook, to Tweeting, to Instagraming, to Pintristing. Even my kids weren’t happy because their Kindle access was disconnected. How did we become so addicted to this need to have information immediately at our fingertips at anytime of day or night? How did we used to survive without immediately knowing, at our fingertips, what the Miley Cyrus was doing between her Oscar performance and going to the bathroom. It has gotten that bad. Am I going to point the finger at you for having this addiction?? Absolutely not, as I have it to. So onto the five step program to resolve this addiction…

1. Turn off your computer
2. Don’t panic
3. Turn off your Phone
4. Don’t panic

“What, Did you Say turn OFF your phone?”… Yes, and DON’T PANIC!

5. Breathe, Breathe, Breathe.

I am not sure how we got to this place in our society even though I certainly understand its advantages. I also understand that sometimes we need a break. So go outside, take a walk, hear the birds, meditate, or heck even go in the bathroom and take a shit without distractions. NO YOU CANNOT BRING YOUR PHONE!

Good Luck and don’t forget the steps.