A reality from Hawler

A Vibe: Meaning to Life

I find that every week, every day, every hour I have less time, less minutes at my disposal. More and more I find that somewhere during all work and play I’ve lost sight of what is important. Where is the meaning in our lives? When did we stop trying to live meaningfully in the time allotted to us? I understand that the meaning in our lives does not live in the big things achieved; huge projects or enormous undertakings. Rather the meaning stands in plain sight of all the minutes between this one and the last one you'll ever see. Tomorrow is nothing, next year is even less. Meaning is in realizing that we can have 60 memorable moments in one average hour. Meaning is the time well used. Meaning is the conversion of time to goal successfully completed, to dreams realized, and to relationships cemented. Meaning is the time spent meaningfully not squandered.  When I find the world is taking from my enjoyment of the universe I fall back on some of these great ways to forget about the lonely hours and scary years and take pleasure in those silly minutes we allow to slip by so recklessly.

Vibe #1: Take Some Time And Breath

Take 60 seconds and concentrate on your breathing. As we become more stressed our breathing becomes more and more shallow, hunching our shoulders and limiting the amount of oxygen available to our bodies. You’d think your body knows how to breathe properly, and yeah it does but with the sedentary lifestyle we currently all live, we become so accustomed to our stressed state our bodies adapt to as a norm.  Want to know how bad it is let’s take a deep breath now forcing as much air into your lungs feeling your chest expand and your diphragm pushed down. Feel how unnatural that feels? That’s the way you’re meant to be breathing. That’s the state every second should find you in. Lungs full, head clear and ready to react. If you can concentrate on breathing correctly for just one minute you’ll immediately find yourself more centered and able enjoy yourself.

Vibe # 2: Take Some Time To Rock Out!!

Get your favorite song out, play it and listen to it. Yes listen to it and don’t do anything else just enjoy all the reasons why this song is your favorite and take some time and remember those reasons. Maybe it reminds you of that summer that went on forever or perhaps it just makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Whatever the reason is, you’ll find that when you connect with those feelings you make them real again and each time we play that song as background music we kill some of the meanings. If you’re not a music person dig out that painting that makes you want to weep. That poem that makes you laugh or that garfield cartoon you haven’t read in ages and let yourself remember what it felt like the first time you did that. Ok so this one would take a bit longer than 60 seconds sue me!

Vibe # 3: Rate Your Cup of Coffee or Tea

Go now grab a cup of coffee. Start drinking it and try describing it as if you were reviewing it. Is the taste bold and earthy or bland and lifeless? Be as descriptive as you can and don’t use the word nice for goodness sakes! Let your imagination run wild and grab some words from the mind that you haven’t used in a while. Dust them words off and shine them up. You can use this for any of the things you currently take for granted even some of those things you currently find distasteful. How about a play-by-play on the drive home or a review of the last excuse you gave your boss for that late report? The important thing is to take the time to look at something differently. Explain the mundane moments and you may find that those moments become progressively less mundane.  If this post teaches you anything let it be that your time is as valuable as you make it. If we spend our time waiting for the next hour, day, week or year we lose out on all the things we have the power to do right now. Truly our minds are the most powerful tools we have at our disposal and if we use them we’ll find more and more ways to make our time count.

So how does this fit in with the idea of monetizing our lives? Every second spent in life has a value. One cent is only one cent but think of it as $100, $1000 or a $1m dollars even depending how you look at it. Million dollars are nothing but a collection of cents. When we play fast and loose ourselves with those little coins we stop our chances of becoming truly rich. Find more ways to get the most out of those minutes of your life and you’ll soon find that the hours, days and weeks will see to themselves and your life will become progressively richer.