Life on the Go

We live a screen-dominated life. We work in front of screens, we’re entertained by screens, there are screens in elevators and schools, and we carry screens in our pocket for the times between other screens. We are constantly and conveniently entertained, updated, and connected. Screens have become our closest companion, our friend, and our babysitter.The problem is that these new media have made it easier for us to get sidetracked and distracted from the meaningful experiences of our lives. They become addictive and compulsive, and are, as embarrassing as it is to say, designed to be so. Pavlov-like, we check and recheck emails, keep up our online status and waste time with Solitaire and Angry Birds.Heck, as I write this the cute couple at the next table are paying more attention to their phones than to each other. Do we really need to text while walking? Can you walk your dog and not bring your phone? We have become so obsessed with our phones that we feel lost without them.There is no longer a time and a place for a phone call. The emails, chats, texts, games, pads, pods, and clouds have become a leash jerking us out of our quiet time. They demand our attention, but limit our focus, leaving us no time for reflection, contemplation, study, or the solitude necessary for deep thought and not just a temporary and shallow retreat.Our brains are being rewired. There is no longer a difference between “urgent” and “important.” We’re learning new habits and sadly forgetting the instincts we were born with. We hand off our iPhones to toddlers, so that we are relieved from the duty of parenting. Thus our kids never learn to handle boredom. We are led off the path and, worse, we gladly pay monthly for this servitude.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the tools. Hurrah for the Future! Going backwards is not the answer. The answer is being conscious of the time spent on screens versus the time spent on ourselves and with those around us.. Can you create more time in your life? Time to plan and organize your life? Can you make more time to give to others? The answers are discipline, etiquette, and understanding the importance of time in our lives.Every time I return from vacation I have to ask myself, “Do I work to live or live to work?” Why work? Do we work to make money or to have a life? Or, even better, to make a difference? Are you doing what you love? And why not? For the pursuit of money? Or too busy keeping up with the mortgage or 401K so that you may achieve happiness at some later date? Does your job define who you are, or limit who you are?

Financial security is not guaranteed to anyone and real prosperity should be living easily and happily, whether you have money or not. Beyond being able to provide for your own needs, anything else should be given away freely — it will come back to you ten fold. Give back. Share or donate your things, your time, your energies. If you want wealth in your life, help others achieve it in theirs. I know this level of self-knowledge takes work to achieve. Most of us are too busy or too distracted to do the work.

Me? My own attempts to have more life in my life are simple. I keep a comfortable home.byt that I mean lived in and full of love and people coming and going,, I have a live/work studio with low overhead that gives me flexibility to work on photography that I choose to do as a living.. and allows access to my family and time off when I need it. My daily schedule allows time for the things I know that I need in my life like my family my passion my horses the farm simple things,and reflection on how blessed life is even with all the chaos and exercise, yes I do that too :) I try to work on projects I find meaningful and make things out of junk and turn it into stuff people won’t throw away. The money is rarely enough, but whose is?There is an idea attributed to Aboriginal society that says, “The more you know, the less you need.” Accepting less means less clutter and meaningless stuff in our lives. Less distractions, less debt, less greed and craving, less servitude to work.Never settle. Never give in. But accept less.The people who brag, who show off are the ones who got nothing underneath, who are insecure and that tiny little show is all that they got in that tiny nut shell, while a really treasurer, a real successful person is the one who stays quite and enjoys the show others put on..