[Thanks to the folks at Pixabay for their fine free images.]
A journal entry from an 9-year old girl.
"Dear Diary
Today was such a hard day. We were going to visit Grandma and Grandpa which is always FUN!!! We were taking a BIG plane. To get to the plane we went to an airport. It was so pretty with many colors, sounds, and things to see. I just wanted to look at each one of the places we passed because they were so fascinating. But Daddy kept screaming and pulling at me, 'C'mon Penelope, we have five minutes to get to the plane.' It seemed SO UNFAIR. I just wanted to stay and explore. But no, we had to rush. Now, I will never know what I missed."
Introduction
The hyphen between our birth and death years is what constitutes our life. Along the way, we make many choices on how we live it. An often overlooked selection is do we come from a viewpoint of scarcity or one of abundance?
Many things happen in our world from a scarcity viewpoint. Television content is spoken at accelerated speed. Headlines talk about the impending lack of resources. Multiple things need resolution NOW. And our lives are overbooked to the max between sunrise and sunsets.
If we follow a path of scarcity, there is eventually regrets about lack of something or other. We wonder where the time was spent between all the rushing here and there. We may be more productive in one sense. But life may seem to be unfulfilling. We may recognize the discomfort but keep on doing the same old same old.
Is Abundance a Real Possibility?
If we follow a life of abundance, then...
* You don't schedule things back to back. You allow things to take as much time as they require for resolution.
Tasks and meetings may take longer or shorter than expected.
* You allow time to look at alternatives and distractions which may lead to a stronger result.
* You are kinder to yourself as well as others.
* You are more likely to have higher sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
* You are less likely to have the baggage of disappointment from not meeting pre-conceived expectations. There is also less fatigue and disorientation from overscheduling.
* There is more time for silence, deliberation, needed kindness to yourself, and reflection.
Can such a lifestyle be achieved during much of the 12 hour work day? I believe that it can if you keep working at it. Just raising the question opens us to infinite possibilities.
Conclusion
As I create this article, I have no outline in front of me. There is no expectation on how long it will take or how many words it will contain.
I just write and revise as many times as needed while listening music that also has a sense of spaciousness.
This is my last article in a loose series of articles of thriving in these challenging times. I plan to shortly put these in a PDF for distribution. Keep watching this space for availability.
Please let me know if they have been helpful and share your survival techniques