KILLING TIME SHOULD BE A FELONY

Always get married in the morning. That way if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t wasted the whole day.

 Mickey Rooney

How do you know if you are wasting time? Is the expenditure of the energy truly purposeful (authentic joy, required rest or renewal and genuine productivity qualify) or is it done out of boredom, restlessness, denial or procrastination?  How do you feel? Does it feel like time well spent or life frittered away?

A moment well spent is enjoyable. How we spend the present moment alters our future. Happiness is a habit of thought, emotion, perception and interpretation. Happiness begets happiness and suffering begets suffering. Being happy is a learned skill and will atrophy without practice. Develop awareness about what you are practicing. If you are practicing suffering, you will get real good at suffering. Pursue happiness consciously and use happiness today to create and expand happiness tomorrow.

We all have regrets over past experiences. Regret isn’t a good feeling or time well spent. A better use of the present moment is to ask yourself if what you are currently doing or not doing will create regrets 5 years from now. Will you regret that you never wrote that book, took that vacation or dated that person who had shown interest in you? The risks we aren’t willing to take today sow the seeds of regret for tomorrow.  We really don’t like change; we prefer the known to the unknown. Our resistance to change comes with a hefty price tag. We isolate ourselves from living. Everyday begins to feel like the day before and our existence is drained of its vitality. Regrets that are constantly replayed  will sap energy and time will be wasted trying to understand with analysis and justify with rationalization. It takes a lot of energy to live a life of regret; no wonder that this can be a source of depression.

What you invest your time in defines who you are and how well you life is working. A poorly balanced life that doesn’t meet your needs is indicative of time poorly spent. The highly successful but desperately unhappy individual who works 100 hours a week needs to examine how his time (you can substitute the word life for time) is spent. Achieving the proper balance is a battle that is never won but always needs to be waged. I want a better balanced life. I spend too much time in my head and not enough time in my heart. My first line of defense is analysis and this stifles spontaneity.

After examining my life, I concluded that my time and effort would be well spent if the following areas of interest were properly addressed and attended to:

•  Healthy, nurturing relationships with my wife, kids and grandchildren.
•  Healthy life style.
•  Sense of purpose and a feeling of accomplishment (that’s the real motivation for this blog).
• Quality  friends who are nurturing and growing (no significant time invested in dysfunctional and superficial relationships).
• Travel. Kathy and I are committed to taking three major trips every two years. Right now we are focusing on Europe.
• Learning – fully engaging life, reading and limited, selective TV viewing.

Time is an non-renewable resource and must be used wisely