Keeping it real
I heard this great line today, ” New York is so fast paced and in such a rush that it’s the only city in the world where you get your Sunday paper on a Saturday.”
It’s true.
Sometimes I like to walk aimlessly through NY streets and just watch. In a world that’s so connected and fast paced, isn’t it nice to just stop in time?
Everything today is connected. Everything is shown, portrayed, and captured. It’s become a sort of addiction. We sometimes pretend or force situations, faces, and smiles just so we can capture them. But they’re not necessarily true. I often see people striking poses for millions of consumer cameras and at that moment they allow themselves to do crazy things like climb on hydrants, so that when they go home they can post those picture on facebook or myspace. It’s a facade for living and enjoying life. Sometimes.
The more I bite into this crazy apple the more I want to slow down and just appreciate things. I appreciate myself and truly savor my living experience. It’s hard and it takes so much discipline to just sit still.
I believe the more we learn to live in right now the more we’ll be able to truly live, not only exist. You begin to accept some inevitable things that could normally irritate you, like you subway being slow or late. You just learn to take that deep breath, smile and accept that there is nothing you can do so for at that moment you need to just go along with it. It’s funny that when you decide that time and space sort of disappear.
I used to get sooo angry in the subway, it was late, I was late, I had to keep on explaining myself. Then one day I decided not to feed that thought and just read my book. I got lost in the pages and suddenly I was where I needed to be, and ON TIME.
So goal for this life: Many deep breaths and accepting the annoying inevitabilities of daily life and never getting so caught up in things that I don’t notice life and most importantly KEEPING IT REAL.
Food for thought: When you can just BE life takes away time, and space and that little annoying voice that tells you time and space should always have a purpose.
Hello Jon,
I hesitate to write in a public forum as I would not want to embarass or be embarassed. But, then, that’s what a blog is all about. Sounds like, as with many people, you have the all important answer to life’s quest for peace with oneself. Yet, as with so many others, you, we, never quite jump to the other side. A lack of faith? I don’t know. It just seems that many people, when they reach that age when its mostly too late to enjoy, realize that they did it all wrong. They substituted the ‘important’ for the ‘immediate’ and ‘expedient’.
The anger that I hold inside is a mix of emotion towards the other person for being such a jerk and being upset with myself for being such an even bigger jerk for allowing myself to become angry.
Hey, a suggestion: Why not you and I read a chapter of proverbs each day (there are 30 chapters). Nice way to go through the month. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the value of the wisdom in this book. Maybe the anger that rises inside of us will become the peace that all of us seek.
Anyway, the day goes forth and there are new discoveries to be found. By the way, I think you are one very unique and exceptional young man. I have great admiration for you. The world is a better place because of you.