Modern Man and woman, in this industrialized age of speed, stress, hurry, activity and tensions, feel completely exhausted after a day’s work. In this situation it becomes difficult to know inner silence and stillness. What to do?
It appears that this is the case but the contrary is the case in fact. We are not exhausted because of too much work; we are exhausted because we have lost touch with our centre, our inner stillness.
Because of this industrialization modern man and woman have much more free time. All these automatic processes modern technology has devised makes it easier for us to play. Just look at how much time we are spending at our computers with all the different social median sites and linked in groups, personal or otherwise.
You can say we are all doing it for business or purely to connect socially, but in the process we may well be losing our vital energy. If at the end of the day we are still exhausted we are doing something wrong.
Either we are not living the so- called work day with full awareness (we’re all guilty of this) or we are not devoting enough time to ourselves for those quiet moments of rest and inner relaxation.
With all this spare time we have due to the technological innovations, if we cannot create or craft our life in such a way that not only suits us but delivers to us a life of vitality, health and wellness then we are doomed.
In the coming years, leisure, pleasure, fun and play will be the new currencies and work as we know it will look very serious. The real dilemma for many is how hard they are prepared to work for extravagances they don’t really need.
Look at children as they go about their day. They have boundless energy and at the end of the day finally plop into bed ready for a deep sleep. Usually they are bubbling with energy and ready to take on any adult and the adult can’t keep up.
It’s like when you go the office or work station, you feel tired but on the weekend you can almost do anything. Of course if the week has been such a drain then you will need to recharge your batteries. But this is a waste of valuable creative time, this draining, charging and recharging and charging again.
The human condition up to now has been work orientated and from now on we must bring the playful element into work or we are going to regret it. I see many people have got this message already and many more must get it.
I feel for this reason the social median networks are a great way to reach out to others who can give us a different perspective and with whom we can play.
The basic issue regarding our life circumstances is whether what we are doing, we are doing with full awareness; if what we are doing we are doing totally and in a relaxed way.
If we are going to the office, we should go with awareness, if we are planning a conference we should do it with awareness; in fact whatever we are doing, if done with awareness will bring a new quality to us; a quality of relaxation, watchfulness and a less judgmental attitude.
If we can remain in the present we will have more time, more energy, and more fun, less dissipation and ultimately life will be a play.
We can no longer make excuses that because we are exhausted we have no time for ourselves or our inner life. If we do we are fooling only ourselves and more specifically, if I do I’m fooling myself.
Cheers
Chris Borrett
Image Credit: FreeImages.com/Bonnie Martin
If by chance, you have not encountered my previous posts outside this blog, one of my favourites is about “A Woman’s Labour of Love.” You have the luxury of reading it by clicking here.