SUNRISE - January 19, 2011

"Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of to-day?"
- Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

January 19, 2011 Sunrise 7:21 am

January seems to be flying by.  It is the New Year and already it is picking up speed.  We are past the halfway mark already.  One twenty-fourth of the year has passed.  TIME.

My youngest son is helping me gain an edge on time by configuring my office equipment so that it actually delivers the results as promised in the ads.  I can’t seem to get some of this advanced hardware to perform as described before it became Visa time and I wasted an incredible amount of TIME trying to get it to work, all the while frustrated.   

There is a finite amount of time to accomplish a long list of proposed projects before me and with the printers, scanners, faster computer, recorders, video cameras (all working properly), I feel can gain that needed edge.  Stay busy.

“If you want work well done, select a busy man - the other kind has no time”.  - Elbert Hubbard

SUNRISE - January 12, 2011

“We wait. We are bored. No, don't protest, we are bored to death, there's no denying it. Good. A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste... In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness.” – Samuel Becket, Waiting for Godot.

January 12, 2011 Sunrise 7:23 am

So, does this imply (or even shout) about the beauty, pureness and value of diversion?  Does doing nothing with your moments place you in the midst of nothingness?  Does embracing the vast multitude of adventures (external and internal) place one squarely in the deliciously perilous path of diversion?  Dangers abound with every adventure, every bold stride, up, down, and around the cliff-side trails we may take in a fully realized life.

It is the invisible signs of danger that we should worry most about.  One can obtain a Radon or Carbon Monoxide detector for your home to protect you from the colorless, odorless gases that can kill.  Because you can’t touch it, taste it, see, it or smell it…does that imply that it doesn’t exist.  No.  Only your next of kin and the coroner can testify to its existence.  For you, it is too late.

Behind that rock, off to the side of the stream of living, is a nice safe spot with no obvious danger signals, as to the inevitable erosion of our given TIME.  As there are no obvious signs of peril with deadly gases in our home, does that mean that there are no apparent hazards of a dormant, unfulfilled life? 

Where is the life-unrealized-detector we can plug into to be warned of dangerously toxic levels building up by not living life to its fullest potential?  Can one pick up a handy, life-altering-warning device on eBay, at the hardware store or even at church?  I have walked by the shelf displaying radon detectors a hundred times and never acquired one.  Am I subconsciously wagering that the $11.95 is more valuable to me than to protect me and my family’s life?  Am I even conscious of the decision (through indecision) I am making?  One is now installed.

Does one have to be on their deathbed, muttering “if only I had…” to grasp the cruel lessons of a life unrealized?  At the end of our days, which memory gives us more warmth in our final hour? 

“I took that irreplaceable week out of my bank of time and just hung out, relaxed, watched TV and just chilled, I can’t quite remember the details.

or

“I took that week out of my irreplaceable bank of time and hiked the treacherous back mountain trail in Peru to the lost city of Machu Picchu and I remember quite vividly the unspeakable beauty and adventuresome romance of seizing the day”. (Thank you Sharon and Peter Chamberlin)

We cannot live every week that way, but we should have a bucket load of them in our personal story.  Perhaps we can enhance our story by spending TIME on behalf of  a worthy cause, pursuing a new skill, gaining knowledge in a hundred new ways, or simply the most personal and perhaps, the most perilous of all adventures: simple, quiet introspection.

There is much to be said about living our days, so we can be proud of the way those around us will remember our life, but more importantly, there is more to be said about spending our precious time in a way, so we will be proud of how we remember ourselves.  

Count your Sunrises.  Every day holds new promise of a life fulfilled.

“To live our unlived life is to become fulfilled, to bring purpose and meaning to our existence”.  Robert A.Johnson  ‘Living Your Unlived Life: Coping with Unrealized Dreams and Fulfilling Your Purpose.’

rlw

SUNRISE - January 11, 2011

Today is 1-11-11 on the Gregorian calendar.  Other than its resemblance to some bit of computer programming code, I am at a loss for its significance.  Or, perhaps that is because there is none.
A day!   What is its value to the whole of our existence? 

January 11, 2011 Sunrise 7:23 am

A single day in what we hope is the first of a thousand more.  If one were to remove a single line of computer code in a series of zeros and ones, it would change everything.  Every line and every day has vast importance to the whole, but only when combined with the whole.  A line of code by itself has no apparent meaning and does not reveal its importance as a catalyst to the lines of code that preceded it and those that will follow.
 

"Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!"
- Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

" Waiting for Godot."  A classic discussion regarding the value of time given and of time lost. How often in our lives do we have that epiphany where we have a  momentary glimpse into the secrets of the Universe, that bright, golden nanosecond of understanding, where the clarity of our mission, our point, our reason for being, is revealed? 

How do we possess that fleeting vision and build upon it for our remaining hours?  Every day comes to a close.  The new day dawns; ripe with promise.  What was the magic formula, the guiding principle, the key to understanding,  intended to enhance all of our tomorrows? 

It is said that each of the celestial souls wandering the Universe were created all-knowing. Not unlike the beauty of a fresh picked flower plucked from mother flora, the decomposition of man’s knowledge begins at the moment of birth, Our lives are spent regaining the wisdom we seem to have already known. 

Who are we really?  What is our purpose? When do we engage with life on our true path?  Where does our destiny lie – in this incarnation or the next?  Why do often we lose the path?  And most importantly, How do we regain our own true path and become reunited with the consciousness we had when our day dawned?

"But that is not the question. Why are we here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come”. - Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot