Confessions from a Lazy Man

I sure haven't posted here in a long while. Writing, like anything else, is an endeavor in overcoming inertia. It's very nice to have free time to write. That doesn't mean I will write. We all spend our lives seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Now I am retired. This raises the bar a little as far as the pleasure and pain ratio. I could just hang out all day doing nothing. And I do plenty of that. Yes it's great. But everything is relative. If I had just worked real hard for two weeks and had a few days off to just lay around, that activity would be more pleasurable and valuable to me than if I could do it any ole day. If I come to expect every day to be pleasure and leisure, the bar is indeed raised. I worked all my life until four years ago. I thought having "free time" would be the ultimate happiness. Not having to do someone else's bidding. I had already learned that money and fame would not bring happiness. But I had to actually own the "time" to realize that it would not mean happiness. Happiness is a state of mind. It comes from within. Not from money or time. I don't think one can be happy twenty four seven three sixty five. Happiness is a relative thing. It comes along every now and then in the ebb and flow of life. I think the best one can do is be receptive to happiness and bask in it when it comes around. If I set the bar too high, I want to be happy all the time. It doesn't work. I will then avoid all activity for fear it will cause me pain along with pleasure. For the new year let me itemize a few life priorities that can help me have a reason to get out of bed every day:

think about others, especially my wife and son.

enjoy the animals in my life, they are egoless

keep learning, it's very fun.

dwell in the wonder of things (right now it's the geese, unbelievable)

fall in love with things, ideas, projects, dreams

embrace the mundane

pick up the damn guitar once in a friggin' blue moon

be thankful for my health, such as it is

let disagreeable things go, without trying to right them or get a last word

enjoy the now

remember that now that I am retired..... every day is Friday night.

LLITTY :::::+:::::