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  • Sunday, January 30, 2005

    Thanks and Finding Balance

    I am grateful to Molly C for the comment that she posted. This is my first effort as a blogger, and her feedback and encouragement are greatly appreciated. Her comment on the "Introduction" was therefore my first ever comment, and I hope that there will be more.

    Below is one of my favorite poems. There are many things to savor and enjoy in life, but they can easily lost in the hasty blur of modern existence as we rush to carry out our obligations or to fulfill our ambitions.

    What is this life if, full of care,
    We have no time to stand and stare.
    No time to stand beneath the boughs
    And stare as long as sheep or cows.
    No time to see, when woods we pass,
    Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
    No time to see, in broad daylight,
    Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
    No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
    And watch her feet, how they can dance.
    No time to wait till her mouth can
    Enrich that smile her eyes began.
    A poor life this if, full of care,
    We have no time to stand and stare.

    William Henry Davies

    My gratitude abounds for the American system, and others like it, in modern states that encourage free enterprise, a multitude of economic opportunities, and the choice of many different occupations. The system is also remarkable in the way that the activities of so many people can be orchestrated to bring us goods. When we walk out of the supermarket on a snow-laden day with tropical fruit from the other side of the planet, we can only marvel at the army of industrious people who produced, transported, and eventually sold it. A piece of fruit may have a little sticker on it, and even that ended up there through the efforts of an army of people who made the paper, the dyes for printing, the adhesive, and thought of the shape and content of the sticker. The more we think about who might have been involved in getting a particular purchase into our hands, the more we find. So we can feel a sense of interconnectedness with many people and places around the world.

    While this efficiency of distribution and orchestration of activities increases our connectedness with other people and places in the world, it is not without a price. Through advertising we have been made aware of products and sometimes persuaded to buy them. Many of us have been persuaded that more is better. But when do we reach the point that we simply have enough? When do we reach the point that more becomes clutter? These issues have been covered far better by others than I can am able to do. The New Road Map Foundation has information in this in their "Your Money Or Your Life" program. They address in a very practical and simple way how we trade our "life energy" for money. How much have we earned? What do we really have to show for it. What is our real hourly or monthly wage after we consider the money we spend on commuting, clothing for work, entertainment and vacations to recover from the stress of work, and other aspects? How many people work at least some overtime without pay?

    For many of us, our worklife has expanded, while our time with friends and family has diminished. We know little about our neighbors. This sets the challenge. How do we find balance? It seems that one aspect is to decide what is enough. Another aspect is to decide how we are going to structure our time, given that we still have the same old 24 hours in a day, despite the fact that there are so many more things that we can have and do. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has conducted considerable research on how people structure time and on what are the best things to do with your time. If we are sitting at home watching television for two hours, we are doing that at the expense of other activities that may much better for us. Also, when we sit watching excessive television, we may not be interacting even with the people with whom we live. If we spend our time with passive entertainment, it may be at the expense of social connectedness. Martin Seligmann is a leading figure in the area of positive psychology, who has studied optimism. He also writes of his concerns regarding the focus on individualism at the expense of sharing common activities with others.



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