Please don’t get me wrong, I have more than 100 whatchamacallits on my daily to do list and notwithstanding a number of setbacks and struggles from yesterday, that will still need to be battled and I am certain today will not go unscathed in the run-of-the-mill stressors department. Time doesn’t stop and life keeps on keeping on. I can assure you all those occurrences and tasks aren’t going anywhere. But in this instant, the one I’m in right at present, I am blessed.
For whatever reason, I have had an irrepressible urge to just take a moment and procure some inner peace. For me, one method is to hash out my ponderings into a keyboard with absolutely no plan of attack. It’s one of the innumerable pleasures that works for my tranquility and I haven’t made the time for. Some people drink, others do yoga, many spend money, pray helps the holy, and there are those that never have peace and live in the destruction. For me and I’m only an authority on me, I have found recording all the arbitrary ponderings I have flowing through the space between my ears, gives me a moment, brings me back to center and resets my brain. So there is no time like NOW, the rest of it can all just sit tight. Here goes nothing, please bear with me as my stray mind erupts on the page.
Where do I start? The first thing that dawns on me in this instant, what more could anyone want? Why do we complicate things so much? Human nature, I suppose. It seems so simplistic to just say take a moment to breath, to stop and just listen to the world, to really see, hear and smell the beauty that surrounds us. It sounds so cliche and I suppose it is. But I’ll venture a guess that whatever brings you inner tranquility, isn’t your day to day priority. It topples deep down on the lengthy list of daily STUFF that consumes our lives. Life has a funny way of throwing shit storms, in our paths, on a daily. And even if life is going decently and it often does, we still immerse ourselves with all the pressures of our time. We try to keep up with our friends, impress the family and well let’s face it be PERFECT. It could be, we are just programmed as humans or Americans to complete this step and get to the next place, never really appreciating where we are right now. What is our rush? Most days are crammed with WHAT NEEDS to get DONE today. The jobs, the house, the significant other, the kids, the pets and ALL the problems of the world seem to take a front seat to our own peacefulness. The news cycle is droning on and on and we acquire these communications even if we aren’t looking for them. Just gaze down at your phone to check the time, you know that phone is glued to your digits these days. I’m certain you will end up blindly scrolling through an endless cycle of political garbage, unfavorable news, friends with no filter and unlimited issues, the newest top ten things to do if you want your guy to love you, numerous imagines of the perfect eyebrows and let’s not forget an endless supply of flawless people with the model lives all for us to see in full color filtered pictures. Thanks to social media and the culture we have designed, even though I have no idea how we got here. The TV in my house constantly seems to be on, like the humming on and on of a white noise in the background. Why, because I turned it on. God forbid I miss anything. I love technology, I’m not advocating we go back to the 1950s, just making a point that we are inundated with STUFF, NON-STOP STUFF. We all do it. What do you do first when you get up in the morning? Look at your phone, start thinking about all the things that need to get accomplished in a twenty-four-hour period , turn on the TV, heat up the frozen waffles to get kids out the door, and yourself off to the office. We have programmed ourselves to CONSISTENTLY go through the motions. I find that we spend little if any time valuing what we have and really taking time to just be in calm, or maybe it’s just me? I am guilty of all of it but I can’t help but wonder, WHY? Why are we doing it all? I’m not suggesting that you forget picking up your kids from practice or you say screw you to your boss, these are the necessities that are must be done, what should wake up when the alarm rings, they give us purpose. But what if, and I’m no expert, there is MORE?
I’ve invariably felt this way, ALWAYS, since as far back as my memory goes. Now I’m not saying that to have a filled to the brim life you should seek more. But I surmise it is what we are all looking for. Maybe that is what we are all in pursuit of? MORE? The idea of wanting MORE is a never ending battle of disappointment, if you look in the wrong directions. I feel like this need for MORE has been one of my gargantuan downfalls but this might also just be human nature. We have been programmed to consume and consume at rapid rates, it seems to be getting faster and faster, we are feeding ourselves the wrong metal diet. We are contaminating our lives with garbage, instead of nuriousing our minds, bodies and souls with the MORE that will make us better, more productive, happier people. Maybe the MORE, I’ve always been looking for is just the uncomplicated shit. The simple sound of that bird chirping outside of my window getting ready for the beauty of springs bloom. The kiss you receive from a loved one on their way to work every morning. The text from your kid that says I love you. The cuddly blanket on that cold damp day. Your dog who greets you at the door at the end of a hard day of work and is still happy to see you. The friend who goes out of there way to call you and see how you are doing. The smell of that first spring rain. Could it really be this simple? I think maybe, just maybe it is.
My more recent life has been in a constant flux, lots and lots of change for some time now. All necessary to bring me to the place I’m currently standing and the setting I need to be in. I don’t know about you, I revel in change but living 100% in it can be challenging. So when my cousin, asked me at the start of this year what my 2018 word would be, the first one that came to mind without even thinking, was CONSISTENCY. See, instead of coming up with a new year's resolution that will be thrown out the window before February rolls around, we have implemented a word you wish to live your year by and I happen to love the idea. My goal for this year and my life is to embrace the consistency in the chaos and focus on the MORE that surrounds me everyday.
Aristotle is quoted with saying, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Awe, CONSISTENCY is the key to it all. If you are consistently focused on the negative and the troubles of today, you are indeed going to always be there in the thick of the troubles. If you power through the crap, do your best, learn from your mistakes and grow, you are without a doubt going to live in a better place. So, I ask you, Who are you? Or better yet, who do you want to be? There is no straightforward answer, the key is in your focus. I have found I am whatever it is that I choose to FOCUS on. It’s a balance. Let's face it sometimes life is going to be like that teenage party that gets out of your control and you just have to do your best to master the chaos and power through it. Sometimes life is so simple, you just want to stick your head out the car window like a dog and smell the world. There are ebbs and flows, ups and downs, good and bad, happy and sad…..it’s all there. The consistency is in how you deal with it all.
After all, it’s those effortless things that are the CONSTANTS throughout our lives. Sometimes it’s best to just go back to the basics, the change of season, unconditional love we get everyday and don’t even realise it, that’s the good stuff, the stuff that nuriouses our soul. Having consistency in the chaos, allowing myself to have the space and time to appreciate and focus on those simple things that bring so much MORE to my life, that’s who I want to be. And there is nothing more consistent than that.
