There's no denying that we live in a very busy world. The pace of life has never been faster and, it seems, the demands on our energy never greater. We seem to be spending more and more time working and less time doing the things we want to do, and that can't be a good thing.
The recent economic climate has brought tough times for so many of us, so not only have we had to work longer and harder, but there's been less money to go round at the end of the day. I don't know about you, but I find that a pretty stressful situation to be in. And, at the risk of stating the obvious, too much stress is not good for you.
If we don't want to burn out completely, we have to find a way to get off the endless treadmill of life once in a while and just relax. And that's what we're getting wrong, because we all seem to think that finding ways to relax just takes too much effort. Now I know that doesn't appear to make much sense, but too many of us think that doing things that make us happy takes endless thought and planning and well, in reality, it's far more straightforward than that.
Think about it. How difficult is it to pick up the phone and have a chat with an old friend? Or bake a cake. Or arrange to have a cup of tea with someone you care about. How hard can it be to arrange a day at the beach, or go fly a kite, or sit down and do some finger painting with the kids?
These might not seem like big things, but if you realise how much you'd enjoy them, they're pretty significant. You actually get a massive reward for putting in very little effort, and those are the sorts of things that can make all the difference in our lives.
If you look on the internet you'll find all sorts of "lists" of things to do before you're 40, or 50, or before you die, but when you look at what's on those lists, you'll see that, usually without exception, they take time and money to achieve and, quite frankly, most of us have neither! I'm in favour of making a list of easy-to-achieve things like spending time with friends or going to the theatre. They might only be small, but I really enjoy doing them and I can, if I make the effort, fit in at least one a week. Result!
Why do we insist on aspiring to bigger and better things? I call it the "desire to acquire" and so many people seem to think they'll be happier with a bigger house, a better car, a holiday in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, while they're striving to achieve those things, their lives are passing them by. They're missing the delights that they could be enjoying every day. Like taking a walk in the woods and kicking up leaves, or watching clouds go by or going out at midnight to count the stars.
In reality, we live in a world where beauty is all around us. We'd all be much happier if we just took time to enjoy it.
Life is actually full of simple pleasures and those are the things we should be trying to make the most of. How about toasting marshmallows, or planting some wild flowers, or baking bread? None of these things takes much time or effort and, trust me, the sense of satisfaction and joy when you see the results is immense.
The author Kurt Vonnegut summed it up by saying "Make the most of the simple things in life, because in years to come you'll look back and realise they were really the big things" and he's right. It's what life is, or rather should be, all about. John T. Catrett, III
ONHL Hospice Chaplain
124 East Broadway, PO Box 1216
Drumright, Ok. 74030
918.352.3080