“Life is a series of interconnected wheels. Very little can happen to you without it being known ahead of time by you. All you have to do is learn to be aware.”—Harold Klemp The Language of Soul
So how can you become more aware? It’s really simple, but it takes practice. If you are cognizant of your physical and mental health, take care of your finances, maintain the things you own (including your mind and body), you can avoid a lot of problems that will develop over time.
Neglect the things you own, your mind, your body, your relationships, and they will wither and die. We are never static. We are either improving or degrading. There is no in between.
I’m not knocking leisure or having fun. These activities are terrific for your mental health. It’s nice to settle down with a good book and a cup of coffee or tea. It’s nice to close your eyes and listen to soothing music. But everything has limits.
Living the life of a sloth is a sure way to personal destruction. Look around your surroundings. Are things in order? Look at your digital life. Are your files organized in such a way that you can find what you are looking for quickly? What about your calendar? Does it have all of your important dates in them with appropriate reminders? Are your financial responsibilities automated? Is your medical, dental, eye, auto, home, and life insurance up-to-date?
What are you doing today to improve—to take one more step toward a personal goal? What do you want to achieve in the very short time you are here on this Earth? How do you contribute and make someone else’s life and the world in general better?
Tomorrow is the day I really take my life into inventory. It’s the day I do not schedule anything except my religious pursuits, my weekly review of what I did and where I’m going in the next week, and my workouts. It is also a time to re-evaluate. Am I really going in the direction I want to? Are there are any goals I have set for myself that I’ve realized that I just don’t want to pay the price for anymore?
If you are tracking all of the things you need to and are keeping yourself abreast of where you are and where you want to go, there are very few things that will surprise you. That doesn’t mean that life won’t surprise you from time-to-time. There are always unavoidable accidents that come our way that we had no way of seeing. A few months ago, I was driving home from my sister’s home and accidentally ran over a semi-truck shock absorber that sliced open both of the driver’s side wheels on my minivan. There was no way I could have avoided this, nor see it coming. This is an example of an accident coming out of nowhere. A buddy of mine likes to ride his bike back and forth from work. He was driving down a dark street one night and accidentally ran into a parked car. Another surprise, I’m sure he had no idea was coming his way.
So, here’s some advice:
Keep track of physical health by getting annual checkups and going to the doctor when you think something might be wrong. Get to the dentist to get your teeth cleaned and checked out on a semi-annual or quarterly basis. Get to the eye doctor once a year.
Make sure you evaluate your insurance on a semi-annual or annual basis. Laws change, insurance policies change. Do you need a power of attorney or a will? Get that done so your loved ones aren’t blindsided by an accidental death and have a nightmare to deal with in Probate court.
Get your bills, birthdays, holidays, upcoming trips, tax filing dates, and any other dates that are important to you on a calendar like Google with the appropriate reminder mechanisms in place, so you don’t miss these important events. Then you can forget about them. Your calendar will remind you when it’s time to send out a card or a gift.
Get to the gym! Get your strength training in. Get your cardio training in. Plan out your meals for the week. Research and get the supplements you need that are specific to your body and temperaments.
Schedule times during the year to take inventory of what you own and donate or get rid of the stuff that is just collecting dust and doing nothing for you but taking up space. Schedule weekly or bi-weekly times to clean your living areas. Dusting furniture, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning your oven, your refrigerator, your microwave. Get your laundry done on a weekly basis. Get your suits or dresses dry-cleaned so you have something to wear at the next surprise wedding or anniversary invitation.
I could go on and on, but you know what I’m driving at. So much of our lives can be automated and scheduled so you can alleviate the stress that is caused by worrying about these things. You also free up a lot of mental processing power because your calendar and to-do app will tell you what you have to do today.
By doing this you’ll be more capable of handling life’s “surprises” and be able to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get moving again much more quickly.
Well, that’s it for today’s Spiritual Saturday. I hope you are having a great weekend!!
Until next time…
Dave
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