Life Beyond Spending by Ernesto Caravantes

Author:Ernesto Caravantes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780761862055
Publisher: Hamilton Books

CATEGORY IV

Lifestyle

SLOW DOWN

One of the simplest, yet, in a philosophical sense, one of the most profound things I have done in my recent years is to learn to slow down. We live in a society where “time is money.” That statement speaks volumes about our culture! It has placed upon our collective consciousness a pressure to achieve as much as possible and to not waste a single minute. This is the fast track to a heart attack. We have become a culture so obsessed with time, and with not wasting time, that we pay people, known as efficiency experts, good money for their expertise on how a company or corporate entity can operate faster, or more smoothly.

Earlier in the book I mentioned the instance when I was at the car wash, enjoying the soft summer breeze, and allowed myself a moment to relax and close my eyes and take a ten-minute break. The young woman next to me sat down and was texting like a madwoman, and never once stopped to slow down and enjoy the day or the weather. This is disconcerting, because it says a lot about our culture. We do not take the time to put our iPhone and laptops away and just enjoy the moment. People take their laptops on vacation. They use them during their airplane flights. They use them at restaurants. They never slow down. Why? Do they feel guilty if they slow down? Do they feel that they are wasting time if they were to just concentrate on the food they were eating? Do they consider such enjoyments evidence of laziness? People should slow down. They will find themselves old and worn out, and wondering what they ever did in life besides work.

I believe that we live in a culture that is constantly pressing the fast-forward button. I am domiciled in Southern California, and I am therefore routinely forced to drive on the freeways to get from one city to another. It never ceases to amaze me to see the angry, aggressive drivers. I once waited an extra six or eight seconds to let a bicycle rider cross an intersection before getting onto a freeway on-ramp. The woman behind me was having a cow, and when I made my right turn onto the freeway, she sped ahead of me on the lane next to me, and turned around to look at me. She was yelling at me inside of her car. And, sadly, this has become the norm in our culture. Take time to slow down. Do your work, and do it efficiently, but do allow yourself the time to enjoy a summer breeze. Life is much shorter than you realize. Enjoy it while you're alive.

UNPLUG YOUR iPHONE, iPAD, AND LAPTOP

One of the ways that you can slow and enjoy more out of life is to unplug yourself from all of the electronic gadgetry that we have become accustomed to in our daily lives. Our iPhones, iPads, Kindle Readers, lap top computer, and regular cell phones have taken over our every free moment.

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