People Power

“If you search the world for happiness, you may find it in the end, for the world is round and will lead you back to your door.”     Robert Brault

“Where the loser saw barriers, the winner saw hurdles.”
Robert Brault

“The little money I have – that is my wealth, but the things I have for which I would not take money, that is my treasure.” Robert Brault

“There is an ongoing battle between conscience and self-interest in which, at some point, we have to take sides.” Robert Brault

Has anyone noticed that the more we fill up our lives with objects, things to do, shopping, and extra work for money, the more we shove out love? It seems like a ludicrous statement to make, and most of us might say I don’t do that, and love always comes first with me. I guess I am just challenging the concepts in our minds that we choose to believe against the reality of what appears to happen.

The best of us honestly believe that we must give our kids and families more and better. Hence we add-on extra work to gain more money. We go to places which costs money and do things as well as buy things so that we can please the kids and spouses. We think about expensive items we can purchase that will be something of a surprise for our loved ones.

Simple pleasures at home

I honestly think that ones’ presence might be the best astonishment of all. I realize we do have jobs to do and places to be, but we lull ourselves into believing they are more critical than the simple pleasures and people at home. Perhaps that is why we have created a society that is anything but content with who they are and what they have.

Likely if we reflected on who we are on the surface, we might find our beliefs about truth are far different from what we portray. If we throw up a swing with a couple of ropes or even take our kids to the park, we feel we have somehow let our kids down. After all, we should be able to afford to have the swing set in the back yard. Our kids don’t recognize that concept. They enjoyed us pushing them on the swing at the playground just as much.

When kids play in the backyard, they are unattended on the swings depending on the age. If we had to physically bring them to the park, we are more observant of what they are doing and how well they can climb, and we are interacting with them more. If we compare, we might understand that the kids at the park had mom or dad or both parents more mentally present. The parents probably interacted more with the kids in such situations.

Objects as babysitters

We use objects at times as babysitters. We almost come to believe that more money will allow us to buy more material items that will keep our kids busy.  No wonder we have those who steal and plunder to feel worthy or have their kids sense their value. Our ideas are mixed up and possibly off the mark for truthfulness.

Maybe it is time to understand worth and exactly what it means. If items make us wealthy, then there are a lot of us who are going to fail. Does it mean those with the most toys have made their kids the happiest? Do we lack as a parent if we don’t provide some things for our kids?

Purchasing too much

Fulfilling more wants appears to have the result of purchasing too much. One must wonder if all of the stuff serves to keep the kids busy and allows us more time to do the things we want to do. I am not bashing those who can afford to give more gifts or presents to their children. All the games are wonderfully provided; we are spending time sharing those items with our children. If our kids are left to their own devices, then perhaps the objects have become more like a babysitter or replacement of us.

So many people believe falsely that they have let their families down. They then spend more time working two jobs to provide more material assets. In the end, the kids see mom and or dad less. In these cases, the kids have lost more of what counts rather than having gained what is not vital or crucial to their lives.

There might be a lot of talk about wants and needs, but the truth is that all of us spend more time doing jobs we don’t want to do so that we can buy more wants we don’t require. It probably isn’t our needs that have increased as much as our desires to have what some other people enjoy.

Time is our most valuable gift

I find enjoyment is another false concept. Do we enjoy all those wants in our houses or have they become a nuisance and another thing to contend with in our already busy schedule. Even large objects create a capacity to steal away our time. This doesn’t appear to bother anyone. Time is our most valuable gift, yet we hardly cherish it at all unless we have been threatened with losing it. It seems to be overshadowed and always available in the backgrounds of our lives.

Because it is more of a long-term item, we hardly pay any attention to it, as a result, we don’t notice how swiftly it slips away until we celebrate a birthday and discover how fast the years have gone by. I am not attempting to scare anyone as much as I am trying to shed light on the actuality of living.

I sense that most people have enough to enjoy their lives and live a worthwhile life. Perhaps those with less enjoy living more because they possibly spend extra time with the family than working on outside jobs. The time we spend in the presence of others is far worthier than items that occupy our time. Time is perhaps wasted on insignificant objects of all kinds. We have filled our lives with so many gadgets that it is consuming our love and identity.

Notice the treasures in our lives

If one asked us what we would want if we could have anything in the world, most of us might name an object. How sad for all of us that we would likely not think of asking for more time with our spouse or kids or people of importance to us. Those who are leaving this world may perhaps be the ones who would ask for more time. It seems so vital that we notice the treasures in our lives before we can’t have them.

I do wonder how items began to replace people. It seems to have happened so insidiously. One minute families were gathered around candlelight discussing the days’ problems and highlights. The next scene is the family spreading out in many directions to go to their corners to do their own thing and play with their many devices.

The interaction of people and feelings and emotions is gone. The camaraderie of the simple problems of life being solved within the confines of small groups of people has ended. Now we must travel outside the home to strangers who have mastered degrees in such areas to help us with our emotional problems.

We are more anxious because the ability to wait for solutions has lessened, so we expect things, people, and time to work out quickly. Impatience is rampant. Objects keep us company in amusing us, finding us answers, and increasing our self-confidence through the facade of a machine bolstering our egos through notes. Those who can’t master the machine again feel neglected and on the outside of life.

I am not insulting technology or the enjoyment all kids love. I am discussing the notion that we have replaced human contact, which is the most profound functioning object we will ever find because it has emotions and soul tied into the thinking. I would not want my emotions and soul replaced with a more thinking object of any kind. I would always choose the human, with all of her or his detriments and frailties. There is no duplicating human existence.

Appreciating those daily moments

When all is boiled down, perhaps, we might generate a greater attempt at improving our lives through increasing our human interactions with others. Our lives might be greatly enhanced simply by appreciating those daily moments spent with the humans in our vicinity.

Home environments can be spacious or cramped, filled with toys, or sparsely filled with people or just a couple. The physical time, words, and actions afforded to each other is what machines cannot replace, no matter how large or small our group of contacts is. We just cannot replace feelings, senses, nor our souls. Likely here is where our greatest concerns may be.

Those with so much less may be the winners in the end. They are not encumbered with objects. They rely more on people than things. Filling our lives with items removes pieces of us and others. It gives us less time to spend with others because we are too busy. Aging makes some of us attempt ways we can stop time rather than comprehending it. Maturing ought to have us focus on what is real and precious in our lives. When we come to that understanding, it demands we strive to make those people more prominent in our lives. It behooves us to allow them the time and attention they need.

Let go of some of the undesirable wants and useless items that only eat away your time and energy. Embrace actuality and find peace in an environment less complicated and demanding and less cluttered with senseless items. The serenity follows, as well as the awareness of the power of people to change your life for the better. The mysteries discovered will never be duplicated. The love that fills your soul will never be matched. The joy and contentment rise from the slower pace and the time allotted to simply tapping into the lives of people. That is the real power that has been ignored

“In your quiet moments, what do you think about?  How far you’ve come, or how far you have to go?  Your strengths, or your weaknesses?  The best that might happen, or the worst that might come to be?  In your quiet moments, pay attention to your thoughts.  Because maybe, just maybe, the only thing that needs to shift in order for you to experience more happiness, more love, and more vitality, is your way of thinking.” Marc Chernoff

“When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you.” Marc Chernoff

“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only – and that is to support the ultimate career.” C.S. Lewis