How many of us out there, myself included sometimes, spend a good portion of the day not quite awake. A friend of mine’s father owns a convenience store, and he told me that every morning quite a number of his father’s customers come in and pay him for the morning cup of coffee and newspaper. One morning my friend said to his father “Hey Dad, why is it a number of people don’t speak or return your “good morning”? His father replied “Don’t be offended son, they don’t even hear or see me some mornings”. “How is that?” asked my friend. “Well you see son, they head out of their house, stop here along the way, and then head down to the train station. It’s possible that they will repeat the same process for maybe twenty years….I guess after awhile it all becomes mundane”.

Whether all of this is mundane or not, it is still life. Many of us are so bombarded with pressures of the day that after awhile we start “zoning out”. I think the problem with this is that in some way we are being robbed of time. Whenever I meet somebody who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness one of the main statements I hear over and over again is “If only I had more time”. Isn’t it ironic that those who believe they have all the time in the world so freely waste it, while those who have so little time left cherish every moment.

In our busy hustle and bustle world each day there seems to be so many things on our minds…taking care of our spouses, kids, homes, work, and paying those bills. After awhile we begin to ask ourselves, Are we living? Or are we bouncing from chore to chore? There has to be a way of keeping it all in perspective.

We are born, we grow as children, we establish relationships, careers, and then one day we pass on. How we fill the space and time in-between is up to us. Each one of our lives has meaning. Yes it is important to be responsible to yourself and to others, but I do believe we are here for more than getting a paycheck each week. Life is something precious….a wonder to experience. With it we can grow. If you find yourself sometimes falling into patterns that you do over and over again, shake it up. Once in awhile it’s okay to walk a different way to the train station, order two cups of coffee instead of one, read a different newspaper, etc. Why is this important? Because it forces your mind to focus…because you are now performing a different task. Human beings on the whole resist change…but without it we just will repeat the same thing again and again. We have more value than that.

So this week try something new that you’ve never done before. It may surprise you. Inside you may start to feel new sensations, new thoughts, and see life from a different angle. Yes we all may still sleepwalk sometimes, but with a continued infusion of new thoughts and experiences we may find ourselves doing less sleeping and more walking.

Take the time to enjoy,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon