BRRRRRRRRRRR
Monday December 18, 2016 7:22 pm
Winter is finally with us... even if it's going to be an abbreviated season. I mean, at most we are really only looking at a possibility of six weeks longer and then we will be into March and about to start my second favorite season... springtime, with fall being my favourite time of year.
Last winter began early, by November we already had bitterly cold days with snowfall and winter hung on until March. But, this year we already have had an extended period with no particularly cold days.
Today I was off work and for the most part I did nothing at all. Surprisingly I actually feel somewhat refreshed as I sit here and type. Usually if I waste a day I am troubled by it because I realize days are short and really shouldn't be wasted. Because I feel that way generally it's hard for me to feel relaxed if I do nothing at all. However, today was a wasted day and I'm ok with that. Anyway, once more I watched Cast Away and realized again that Tom Hanks really is a good actor.
Naturally I personalized a lot of it... especially toward the end when he was leaving Helen Hunt for the last time and he told her the things he should not have done that first time. Because he now realized that back then, he did have a choice: now he understood that this time he had no choice to make, it had already been made for him.
I also like that movie because at the end there really is a neat scene as he stands in a mostly deserted stretch of highway and his future is completely open to him. Once again he really is free to choose what path he follows. It ends with a close-up of his face and he has a sleight smile beginning to form... I think that smile means we are supposed to fill in the blanks.
He could go north and drive to Canada, or the opposite direction and head to Mexico. (She tells him the other crossroad is route 40. I drove that road as a young man driving back home from California and taking the southern route. I drove to California on 70 which is the northern route to the coast, so... coming back home I wanted to change my scenery which is why I chose route 40.)
So, what did he do? Did he choose to drive back to the friendly woman whose package he delivered which helped to give him perseverance while on the island? Or, did he get back in his car and just drive?
Yep... a wasted day :)
"YOU NEED TO BE WILLING TO NOT KNOW"
Friday December 15, 2016 5:51 pm
I titled my blog today from the last line of a quote I once read. I don't know about anyone else but at times, and for certain things I hate not knowing! I have no inclination to even explain why such thoughts seem important to me right now... but they do. I mean, why can't I know, would such knowing change an outcome?
In reality, and in this life it isn't like we really have a choice... right? I mean, know or not know??? If I could though I would choose to know, at least certain things I have long wondered? I believe I could live easier, just knowing.
Although I used another person's idea for my title: I also like Ian Fleming's take... "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action." lol
I hope any who reads this is doing well and only good things happen to you.
LET IT SNOW :)
Sunday January 10, 2016 9:56 am
Good morning... bad news first: I did not win the 900 million dollar Powerball jackpot! (Fingers crossed though the next draw on Wednesday is an estimated 1.3 billion dollars!) Yep, that's the one I'm waiting on :)
Now the good news... though it is tempered just a bit though because it wasn't much. But, overnight we did get our first snow of the year, a whopping 1/2 inch!
For the second time in the last 60 days we moved my desk and computer. Now, as I type I can look outside through our large front window and this morning I'm gazing on a winter wonderl... actually I can't even finish that thought. But, it is still snow, even though a very small amount.
I used to constantly daydream and fantasize about being snowbound and trapped in a cabin somewhere deep in the woods: usually in my thoughts it was somewhere in one of the New England states. To be fair though my cabin was stocked with supplies and it was warm, so there was no real hardship. For a long time there was always a log fire burning in the fireplace, then later in my dreams it became an electric fireplace with a fake fire... perhaps the first was too messy, else I was just too lazy to gather firewood. lol However, I try not to daydream much anymore... but I guess that is still why I enjoy seeing snowfall.
I hope any who reads this has a good day.
ADDICTIONS
Saturday January 9, 2016 11:45 am
Before I wrote about this I wanted to be sure I clearly understood for myself what constituted an addiction? So, I went to that old standby... a dictionary: addiction,
noun... the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.
Now, I was confident before looking this up that I was on firm ground speaking about addictions as it related to the first two ideas... substance or thing: I was glad though that 'activity' was also in this short list of three.
Before I get to the main topic for this blog I thought I would offer my (probably) over simplistic reason for all addictions: unhappiness! I mean, isn't it true that drug addicts, over-eaters, alcoholics, sex addicts, etc. etc. etc. are trying to fill some perceived emptiness inside? Something to take the pain away? Some way to enter into an altered state of being?
(Now when I wrote that above paragraph about addicts I am not including those people who become addicted to a substance through no particular fault of their own: e.g. a person who becomes addicted to pain medication after using following a surgery, or accident, etc.)
No, for this blog I am only speaking to those people who becomes addicted to something by their own choice: that is trying to escape into a fantasy world because of their own unhappiness, or feelings of emptiness, and they self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, or even an activity.
I want to write about the very serious issue among many people who have a Facebook addiction! I know if you are an average user of social media sites you might think I'm only kidding, but I'm not. An addiction to Facebook for many people is very real and as damaging to a person's health and welfare as is the drug addict looking for their next fix!
Paula Pile is a marriage therapist in North Carolina, and in writing about this problem once said, "Last Friday, I had three clients in my office with Facebook problems, it's turned into a compulsion - a compulsion to dissociate from your real world and go live in the Facebook world." Please reread those last 15 words!
Seriously, although jokes are made about this issue involving millions of real people with real problems this is a serious issue that needs to be resolved!
Naturally the addict never wants to admit to an addiction, and would probably be the very ones who tries to downplay why they got addicted in the first place? But, is it not painfully obvious! For myriad reasons they are just not happy with the real lives that they live every single day. Of course, the drug user and alcoholic are also addicted to their addictions for the very same reasons... trying to escape an unhappy life in some altered state!
Naturally knowing why people do what they do in no way addresses the core issue why those who are addicted are so very unhappy with their own lives in the first place.
I mean, I wish I could sit and just talk and patiently explain to those who love being on Facebook that it really is an illusion and chock full of liars! I use that last word with no fear of being wrong. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever posted a selfie on Facebook? If so, is it the first one you took of yourself? Or, do you take several and then select the one that shows you in the best way... liar!
I like what someone wrote... "May your life someday be as awesome as you pretend it is on Facebook!"
Although that is a funny statement the problem with those lying on Facebook (or any other social media site) is twofold. One, for those who spread such lies it shows a true unhappiness with your own existence and therefore you have to pretend you live a better life than you do. Secondly, because you lie you cause some foolish people to believe you are living a better life than you do... and that creates unhappiness in those among whom you are spreading your lies!
Many, many years ago before I ever had a smart phone I was daily on Facebook. One day I got home from work and as usual the first thing I did was go to my office and as I sat down in front of my computer I had the thought... what am I doing???
I mean, this was several years ago before my knees became so bad that I was limited to what I did. Back then and without Facebook I would have been out riding, hiking, at the gym... or even reading a book I enjoy. So, I quit Facebook completely and have never been back on!
I never even start a new television series (even if it sounds interesting) because I don't want and outside source making demands on my time and causing me to have to be at a certain place at a certain time... yet, I was allowing Facebook to dictate to me, so I stopped it.
Please, for any person reading this who has a serious addiction to some social media site please get some help. If not for you, then at least for the sake of those who love and care about you and your well being.
PERCEPTION IS REALITY???
Thursday January 7, 2016 7:29 pm
I got home from work today about 4:30 and I put a cold drink in the freezer, to make it even colder of course, and then I set about to make a loaded baked potato for my supper.
I ate in the living-room while watching an old rerun of Mike and Molly. Lately I haven't been sleeping well so without really trying I fell asleep on the couch. According to the clock I didn't sleep very long... however, I awoke feeling refreshed... maybe because I had no dreams at all?
Now, for my title. For some odd reason after I awoke I felt like it is the early spring of the year and winter is past. I guess it's because the air is unseasonably warm outside, yet the house feels cool inside like it does during early spring evenings.
I suppose adding to the illusion is that Deb had stripped the couch and is washing all the covers. Anyway, even though I know the date... I mean look above... and I know that means we are in early winter... I still can't shake this feeling. So, I haven't yet tried: I guess I like the idea that winter is now past and spring is here!
So, for those unlucky ones out there who still has to endure a long cold winter... I feel badly for you, I really do. But, as for me... I'm sitting here typing and enjoying my springtime :)
IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN!!!!!!!
Monday January 4, 2016 12:35 pm
If I had known it was the last time I was gonna hold you in my arms, I would have held on tighter. ~ Taylor
The above quote is the entire third stanza of a short five stanza poem written by a guy remembering his girlfriend who tragically committed suicide. Probably every person reading this could relate to the first four stanzas of his poem... and a sad few could possibly relate to the last verse as well? Although death brings a finality to all we hold dear, there are myriad other ways to lose someone we love besides dying. Because that is true I also wondered if there really was anything we could have done differently to have affected the outcome?
That last thought kept me awake last night wondering if things are more or less already set in our lives, regardless what we do? You know, the whole
Que Sera, Sera idea of life. Yet, competing with the idea of freewill, which I believe, there is also the thought of how much freewill do we really have?
Keep in mind that even if we are completely free... 100%, are we really free? Let me explain. From birth it seems our personalities are set. Some babies are shy, some outgoing, some passive, some aggressive, etc. etc. etc. Therefore, is it not already true that because of innate qualities each has at birth that everyone is still limited because of our very nature!
Here is just one example for the reader: after this see if you you can't extrapolate similar situations from your own life, or observations from another person's life and then ask yourself... are we really "free"... that is to make our own choices? Or, are our choices already set in the stars, because of our personalities given to us as we are born?
Imagine a shy backward person, and they have been that way all of their lives. Now, imagine you are an outgoing person and you likewise have been that way all of your life. Finally, imagine you two are close friends.
As an extrovert you witness your shy friend get walked all over by someone, and they say nothing. You witness this and you say to the person, "You know, we all have freewill and you do not have to take that!"
And they say, "It's just not in me to speak up and say anything." And you can not for the life of you imagine being that way... because you would definitely have stood up for yourself in that same situation.
Which means, neither one of you have any choice in how you react in a given situation, even though freewill is real, because it's been predetermined for you and at birth the personality you have will be the same one you carry your entire life!
Now, why do you think such thoughts would cause any person to lose sleep? It is because of thoughts such as... could I, or you, have done anything differently in life that would have changed the outcome?
I think the easiest way to express this idea that we really have no choice is to imagine a scenario of two lovers (a guy and a girl) parting for the last time... and they both know it is the last time!
You also have to imagine that it is a complicated love and certain circumstances makes choice difficult. One more thing, it's also important (for this story) to believe that each truly loves the other, and dearly.
The guy says, "If you love me, then please just go away with me... please!"
And the girl answers, "I do love you, with all of my heart... but I can't!"
If you read this story and believe that freewill exists... is it still possible that freewill does not exist at the same time! Keep in mind the story of the introvert who couldn't speak for themselves and the extrovert who couldn't hold back given the same situation. Neither one really had freewill to act in any way but in the way which they did.
Fast forward from the story of two lovers parting for the last time to the poem I began with: now, one imagines, if that last time together I had only held her longer, gazed into her eyes more deeply, kissed her better, said to her, "I love you", just one time more... would it have made a difference???
IF??? IF ONLY??? I don't know... maybe none of us are really free to act in any way other than how we do: freewill, might well only be a myth?
Still, I think it is those "what if's" that causes sleep to flee.
AFTER ALL... IT IS A NEW YEAR!
Friday January 1, 2016 8:35 pm
I knew better than to try and make any resolutions... I mean, why set myself up for failure? (This is not my first trip to the rodeo.) Anyway, even though (on purpose) I made no resolutions I still do have some things I'm hoping to change in this new year.
I seriously do not believe it is really possible to reinvent yourself... many have tried and all have met with failure. Yet, I do think true change is possible, yet extremely difficult. Were that not true then every person alive would be living a better life in the new year then they did in the previous year.
I very much like this quote by Teddy Roosevelt... because not only is it true, it also takes away all excuses. Because no one has to wait until some imaginary obstacle or some goal is achieved before starting: I leave you this night with his words.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
