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170+ books in my collection. It may be time to build myself a bigger bookshelf.
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We so often get caught up in the process of life that we tend to forgetwhatmatters in this world. What matters is our environment; whether it be a natural setting, our relationships with friends are purely just unexpected encounters with people or objects. What seems like a simple concept is sadly overlooked in our complex world. From the moment we wake to the second we lay our heads back down for the night, our focus is fixated on the ‘doing’ and not the ‘enjoying’.
I know from my experiencethat if I am not doing ‘something’ I feel is productive, then I’m wasting my time. My life goes from one task to another which sometimes makes me feel like a mouse inside of a wheel that just goes round and round….
Whenever I feel trapped in that never ending process I make it my mission to just get up and go; leave the state or country. If I am not able to leave then I’ll just do something completely random to get my mind off this so called ‘process’.
I spent two years at the Illinois Institute of Technology and even though I constantly told myself that I would run down to 31st street beach, I just never did. Another assignment or task was holding me back. The sad thing isthat I let it. I run quite often but when I do it’s never to enjoy my environment. I simply do it to meet a certain goal, whether it be time or distance, and when completed I just head home. Do I enjoy running? I used to. Slowly over time though it has become yet another task. I can’t let that happen.
So a couple of daysago I decided to run, but this time, to run out of pure enjoyment. I finally jogged over to 31st beach….it only took me a little over two years but, in any case, I’m glad I did. What I saw on my jog around Chicago was exciting, calming and best yet, it was all unplanned.
First stop was 31st beach. I was greeted by multi-colored trees and children playing and screaming all around. The beach was quite beautiful and peaceful. McCormick place, Northerly Island, the Shedd aquarium and the Planetarium are few of the notable stops that the path leads you to if you continue up north. Upon exciting, a quick stop was made at the Taste of Chicago, followed by a delicious meal at Cafecito (which I highly recommend) and finally millennium park where we witnessed funny looking bikes, chess battles, cops on horses, and music at the Pritzker pavilion. The last site to be seen was the Color Jam installation.
Who knew so much can be seen during a short one hour jog. It just goes to show you that if you set out to run out of pure enjoyment, you will be greeted by all things beautiful and unexpected. We are constantly surrounded by these wonderful instances but the problem is we tend to not notice them because our minds and our eyes are clouded with tasks that must be completed by days end. Stop doing and start enjoying your life while you can.
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Reading, Writing & Bicycling. English speaking nations neglect basics of sustainable living.
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Monday Morning Media / Start each week off by viewing an Inspirational video
Silent Transitions
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What does it take to become inspired?
As the car wash began, I quickly spaced out and started staring out of the window in front of me. I was in that place where everything around me slowly faded away. A place where I became intensely focused on a particular moment or object. I was in it; it was my moment of Zen.
As the jets began, I sat there in silence. Water soon covered the entirety of my car. My focus was now on the water that was playing around on my windshield. It seemed so lost yet still somehow managed to follow a path. An invisible path. How does that happen? Each droplet wandering aimlessly soon start to combine with one another to form lines. These lines begin to march across my windshield. It reminded me of how ants behave. Individually they become lost, then are guided by their sense of scent, but once they join forces they become a powerful and insanely efficient force. Does that idea apply to humans as well? Are we a greater force individually or collectively?
Next up, the soap! My window has now become a Jackson Pollock-esque painting. The colors change as they crash. They become brighter as they combine. It all moves so quickly. What you see as a brilliant painting one second quickly disappears in the next leaving no trace of its existence behind. How perfect, how pure. The soap had a purpose, and that was to simply wash the exterior of my car. What it gave me instead was a brief shot of artistic brilliance.
The water washed the dirt off my car while the soap cleaned it. They work well separately but work beautifully together.
Should our world behave similarly? Allowing unique people of all backgrounds to move about and think freely; enjoying themselves but then coming together for a common good. A bond formed not from greed nor envy but from a mutual respect. Or is the machine the vital part - the overall mechanism that directs and orders the water or soap. Without direction one can and will become lost. So is that what is needed? Does the world lack this type of leadership? These are some of the questions I struggle with. Individuality is important but so is a collective.
The wash seemed so simple, so unimportant. It came and went so quickly but it did its job. All it took for me to understand its importance was to give it some attention. That’s all it asked of me. We live in a world that’s full of distractions. Sometimes we just need to let our surroundings wash over us.
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So I have many odd rituals but this one is actually pretty smart. I drink Chia Seeds! Many people are not aware but these little guys are quite healthy for you. The benefits associated with Chia seeds is that they promote heart, bone and mental health, they increase energy levels and even promote anti aging! Click here for the full list of benefits. Buy them on Amazon, which is what I do!
