Namaste Your Day

Your health will run out before your money does.  The speed of life is a bell curve. It starts out slow, with time to kill and no responsibilities except eating, pooping and sleeping. Then year-by-year we start collecting activities that take up our time. You begin playing sports around the same time your body starts producing breeding chemicals, then maybe you pick up a job mowing yards. Life blurs by and you build all sorts of great relationships that make up for trips and traveling and filling up your memory bank.

Then you hit 25 and society makes you an adult. Instead of learning arithmetic or biology, you start learning what coinsurance and a Roth 401k  are, and how to make sure your bills are paid each month. All this life takes up time and keeps you at a rhythm pacing down the mental checklist we’re supposed to follow. Houses and dogs and babies and more babies happen and life is grand.  It’s fast and it’s literally, productive.

You probably see where I’m going with this, but eventually, life gets quieter again and you gain your asset of time back. Retirement seems great if you’ve maintained hobbies that you’re still passionate about over your tenure.  It also seems great if you focus on the right things. Naturally, our thoughts go to how much time we have left versus how much we’ve accomplished in the past. The brain is built that way.

If you're like me, you have moments feeling like your just doggy paddling to keep your head above all the commotion. I also have moments where I fall back into the trap of feeling like I'm behind on my tasks of life. Colleague comparison is normal but not healthy. 

In regards to feeling like you're being lapped by the pace car in life, this brings me to a practice I’ve been doing for a while, but never knew it had been termed: Negative Visualization. You picture the worst possible outcome, emotionally you think about how you would respond, become okay with that, and then breathe easier the rest of your day.

It allows you to take a moment to worry and release the fears you have. Then go on with your life. If it turns out happening detrimentally as you thought, at least you can say you saw it coming. Most of the time though, that Armageddon game plan that your brain produced, doesn’t come to fruition. 

If you are having thoughts that life isn’t pacing to your liking, you're normal and God is chuckling. Deep breathe in, deep breathe out. Namaste your day.

New in my life: Makes me wonder. I decorate with cow parts.  Support your local library and public lands.

Keep smilin'

JM