I just came home from a nice concert by the Eagles (The band that refuses to die). It has dawned to me how much I have lost my “now” recently. My enjoyment of the concert was nowhere optimal – my mind was busy on cleanup tasks.
I will probably blog about “the now” later, but the short story is that your “now” is the feeling of being present in the room and focused on what is happening around you. Obtaining the “now” feeling is crucial to you interaction with other people and for appreciating your own day.
Why have I lost my “"now”? My theory is this: I have kicked off too many activities – my brain is in interrupt mode and I forget to take pleasure in doing the things I do. My mind uses all these activities as and excuse not to be present, my frontal lobes and their planning functions are taking over.
That being said, I have achieved some minor goals lately. I have begun the quest for cleaning up my home. I am preparing for more change.
It really is true that the things you own end up owning you. I have been throwing away stuff to reduce my home the bare minimum. Among the things I threw away or send to eternal storage (my basement):
- Lots of cloth that looks bad on me.
- The mere ownership of it might tempt me to if I should find my laundry low one day
- My ADSL router
- Three pairs of shoes.
- I only have five pairs left
- Call me a bitch – I have a things for shoes
- Lots of cables, screws, nails and other misc. stuff that I will probably never need
- I sold my old sofa and bought the sofa I always wanted
- My old IBM M13 Stealth Black keyboard
- Killed in action (Coffee spill)
- This one goes to the basement, it is a rare item, even when broken
I also did some financial house keeping:
- I rerouted my bank transfers so that I automatically save up money every month – this is one of my goals, I am automating it
- I paid of my student loan
- I quit my land line Internet
- The only cable going into my house is now the power
- 3G broadband is fast enough
- .. and there is one less bill to pay
- All my bills, except one, are now automatically paid by the bank
- The single one still annoys me… must fix soon!
Cleaning up things like this is extremely helpful. The brain cycles I normally use for this are now gone. But there is a drawback, once I decide to do such a house cleaning – my brain won’t leave me alone until EVERY task on the list is done. Until that is so, I am loosing my “now”.
Reduce, reduce, reduce… I am very surprised at how little I actually need in my house. Example: My wardrobe is down to this:
- 10 high quality dress shirts
- 1 tuxedo
- 4 suits of varying colour and cut
- 3 pairs of nice leather shoes
- 1 pair of trainers
- 1 pair of sandals (strictly for use on the beach)
- 2 martial arts pants (for workout)
- 5 T-shirts
- Tons of accessories, put nicely in order in a drawer and tie rack:
- Cufflinks
- Ties
- Handkerchiefs
- Bowtie
- Rings
It has taken me years to find my style, but now that I have found it – shopping has become easy. I encourage everyone reading this to experiment with your style. When people spontaneously give you compliments for the cloth you wear, you know you have it.
With my style pretty much nailed down, it is about time that I take the full consequence and throw away the stuff that does not fit me. I do not plan to extend my wardrobe from now on (ok, maybe one more suit), only replace items that become too worn to use.
I am removing excuses and taking away my dependencies on material goods and money. The only “thing” I invest in, is myself now. When I learn a new skill – no one can take it away from me. Material goods can be lost, and protecting them is just a time sink. Life is short!
Next week, MindGame and I will be starting new missions. Mine will force me back to the present. Your brain is your best friend and your worst enemy – and sometimes you have to force it to change.
I am enjoying one of my last beers for some time – cheers everyone!
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