December 18, 2015 Chautauqua

Beth's Ponderings

   How much did you try and cram into your day yesterday?  

   How much did you actually enjoy doing? 

   How much do you actually remember doing?

   How much did you actually accomplish/finish? 

   How much from yesterday will get crammed into today?

   We seem to think that the more we do, and the busier we are, the better we are as people.  But is that really true?

   We cram so much in to our lives and schedules, and the lives and schedules of our family members and friends, that we aren’t actually doing anything more than running here and there, and back and forth, like a hamster on a wheel.  

   We try to fit so much into a finite time slot, and then wonder why we can’t remember anything, or are feeling so pressured and stressed.

   We long for holidays to get away from it all, and yet continue our cramming habit by overfilling our holiday times.

   Society today is the most workaholic of any previous era - even European nations known for their generous holiday schedules, are getting on the bandwagon as it were.

   Did you know that hunter/gatherer societies - prehistoric and current (if contact with outsiders has been kept minimal) - only “worked” about 3 hours a day.  That’s roughly how long it took to gather their daily food supply.  The rest of the time was spent socializing, playing games, and other leisure activities which honed life skills, kept them fit and active, as well as in right relationship with themselves and others.

   It seems to me these “primitive” societies knew something valuable that we have forgotten today.

   The new year is just around the corner, and for some, it is a time of making resolutions and changes.  Yet, for many of the ancient cultures, the Winter Solstice was the beginning of the new year with the dawn of the new day following the dark of the longest night.

   As we celebrate the holidays this month, instead of cramming more into your life, why not create more space and quiet?

Beth

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