On Experiencing Wonder Again

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

~Albert Einstein~

How long has it been, I wonder, since you’ve had your breath taken away, since you’ve been completely delighted? When was the last time that you were speechless with joy, or laughter? If you aren’t experiencing moments like these in your life with some regularity, perhaps it’s time to reassess the reason your doing what you’re doing. I've been blessed in the last 6 months to have many such moments, and its awakened me to the fact that for a time, I wasn’t having so many of these moments. In looking back, I believe I can identify three things that I was doing in my life that were keeping me from having those “speechless” moments:

1) I was moving too fast~ I know I've mentioned this in my previous post, but it just can’t be overstated. During the time when my life had few moments of wonder, I was constantly on the run. My weekends were spent seeking some fun and adventure that was at least several hours from home. Now, there's nothing wrong with travel, and I love travel. But when you try to force too much travel, too many experiences, too much fun, into too short an amount of time, what you end up with is one fun but stressful blur. I have experienced many more moments of wonder laying in the grass around my house, or walking in the woods right outside my door.

2) I was spending too much~ This really goes with point one. I've found that my low key, low cost adventures yield my a much richer experience than those that I payed out the nose for. There are some exceptions to this, but they are few and far between.

3) I had no time for introspection~ At the end of my day I was so tired and exhausted that I usually couldn’t even fire off a half baked prayer, let alone have the leisure to reflect on the events of the day. This kind of living leads to what I call a reactionary lifestyle. We get to moving so fast that we have no time to determine why we are doing the things we do. We simply must react. This type of unconscious, unintentional living is one of the best ways to waste ten years of your life, or find that somehow your life is not turning out anything like you had planned.

So those are just three things that, once removed, have brought back the “wow” factor in my life. So take some time today and reflect. What makes you smile? What stops you in your tracks? What makes you laugh so hard that you cry? Figure out what it is, and put your life back in tune.

Exploring Digital Culture

Today I want to make my music loving readers aware of a really nice little piece of software that you can use to really explore the net in a whole new way. Its called songbird, and it’s a music centric Mozilla based browser built by the developers group pioneers of the inevitable (the people who made winamp). If you’re like me, you may have tried songbird in its early stages of development and found it simply too rough around the edges to use on a regular basis. Well thankfully, times have changed. The recent release of the 0.5 build has really, in my mind, ushered in the first incarnation of songbird that is usable on a daily level. The load up time is a bit long, but once up and running (or flying), the software is smooth and mostly snag free. Speaking of snag, here’s where you can download the build. So, the point is give the bird a try. I guarantee that if you’re a music fan you’ll find something worthwhile. Still not satisfied? Want more? Here’s an excellent link to lots and lots of free music for you to peruse. Support the remix culture and enjoy the work of artists whose prime concern isn’t making money, but being heard. Speaking of just wanting to be heard, try out Jamendo while your at it. Although linux users are probably familiar with this music community because of its integration with rhythmbox, mac and windows users may be surprised to learn that you don’t need to run the GNOME interface in order to participate in this creative commons music community. So listen, make, and Create!

Culture Trends in America: The Illusion of Escalating Needs

Last Sunday I had an epiphany while attending services at my local church. This wasn't a moral or spiritual epiphany (although I've had some of those lately as well). No, this was an epiphany of a much more concrete sort. The lesson was dealing with cultural trends, which as you all know I have a great interest in. The minister was enumerating some features of our culture, among them was a concept that I found to be particularly insightful. It was titled the illusion of perpetually escalating needs. The gist is this: we always find something else to "need", and our consumer culture makes sure that its always there for the purchasing. And that's when I had my epiphany. I have fallen prey to this escalation of "needs" on at least a level. Raise your hand if you've upgraded your ipod, cell phone, or computer before you really needed to. How about your car, bicycle, or wardrobe? Can you see just how prevalent this concept is, and how deeply ingrained? Now, if you've read my previous post you know that I am a strong proponent of capitalism as a governmental model. It is however not without weakness, and this is perhaps one of them. The free market pushes companies to get the average individual to consume consume consume. And one of the most effective ways to achieve this is through the escalation of perceived needs. The tech world is positioned well for this strategy due to its rapid advancement and lowering cost. So now, in tech at least, we can have a new "must have" item every month. So the question is, have you fallen prey as I have to the escalating needs? Is this attitude wrecking your finances and stealing your enjoyment of life? I have made a list of three questions that you can ask yourself in order to escape from the escalator:

1. What really makes me happy? This is a crucial question. Many times we assume, without really thinking about it, that new gadgets will make us happy. If your like me though, a quick look around the house at all of yesterdays "must have" items tell a different story. It may even be helpful to make a list of things that make you happy. Most of the time, you'll find that they aren't the latest and greatest thing.
   
2. What's Wrong with what I have? Yesterday, I noted that my younger brother was still listening to a old discman that I had given him when I got my first ipod. I've since upgraded three times and probably spent at least five hundred dollars on the process. Sure, I can carry all eleven thousand songs in my pocket, but do I need to? When I listen to the Zepp, does it sound any different than on my old discman? I don't think so. Asking yourself this question, I have found, will save you loots of money.
   
3. Why do I want the "new thing"? if your answer has anything to do with a new commercial or because your friend owns one, you're probably falling prey to the "escalator". If you didn't need it until you realized it existed, you probably don't need it.
   

If you consistently ask these questions, it becomes much easier to jump off the escalator, free yourself of "stuff", and just get down to loving each day. That's where it's really at after all.

*********************************POSTSCRIPT***************************************

Here is a simply fascinating series of articles dealing with the concept of digital culture. Many thanks to Artmaker for the link!

INTERACT: Breaking down the barrier beween the reader and the author

Well, its the end of my first month of consistent blogging. I must say that I am enjoying it quite a lot thus far. The ability to voice ideas and be read is extremely cathartic to me, and I have begun to anticipate each posting. One aspect of blogging that I have grown to really love is the immediate and instant contact with the reader. I find that this instant feedback refreshes me, and inspires me to write well. What I want to do with this post is get even more personal in my interaction with my readers. To that end, I have placed a twitter widget and a IM widget on FreshSqueezed. So please, feel free to drop me a line. Complain, comment, trade ideas and opinions, or just say hi. I would love to hear from you. This to me is one of the most exciting aspects of digital publishing. not only for ones voice to be heard, but to build relationships with ones readership. how exciting!

Weekend Pearl: The Best Place to Learn Guitar

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

~Berthold Auerbach~

I love music. A lot. For years, my love was limited to appreciating the work of others, then I learned to play guitar. Now my love borders on obsession. The ability to play has really enriched my life, and I want to share with you what I have found to be the best site to learn how to play. Its Called Chordie.com. You don't need any formal training or knowledge of guitar in order to get started. In fact, with a little persistence you could probably learn a simple song in just one day. There are even diagrams to show you how to play each chord. Check out this public songbook that has some easy to play songs. So use the weekend and open some new doors in your mind!

Vapid dialogues and Shallow Demagogues

“What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?”

~William Shakespeare~

I don’t know about you, but I'm sick of hearing about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Senator Obama’s racist, anti-Semitic minister. I know, I know, it’s important to the campaign. And it’s not that I'm sitting in Obama’s corner wringing my hands about his chances of winning the primary elections. I'm simply weary with the fact that we as a people haven’t moved beyond this. In my estimation, the dear Reverend isn’t even the main issue here. There have always been and always will be madding, divisive demagogues spewing forth their vitriol to the masses. The question that looms in my mind is, when the masses will stop listening? The real moral tragedy isn’t that the Reverend hates me because I'm white, or hates me because I'm middle class, or hates the Jews. The tragedy is that he has been able to make a lifelong career out of playing the race card and harming his own ethnic community through his attitude of learned and eternal victimhood. If he was one crazy, hateful man, it wouldn’t matter. But he’s not. He’s one hateful man that has 10,000 people in his congregation who evidently really enjoy listening to his drivel. THAT is a moral travesty. My suspicion is that, as senator Obama maintains, many in the congregation aren’t even listening to what he’s saying, perhaps the senator and many others are only there to enjoy the reality-TV-show like shock factor. Regardless of the reason, this huge following is very telling. Our popular culture seems to be more fixated on ideas and people that are shocking or entertaining than upon those that have substance. Our world has become so superficial that we have in many ways regressed into a pre-enlightenment dark age in which spectacle reigns supreme. We look with horror or morbid amusement at the savage glee surrounding witch hunts, but have we not become the same? Giving our attention, and often times support, to an idea or public figure merely because we are amused by the grotesque nature of them? In the last few decades, we’ve lost our moral anchoring, and drifted into hedonism. Now I fear that even hedonism has lost its allure, and something darker and uglier is beginning to hold us in its thrall. Are we becoming modern barbarians? Fixated on the spectacle of watching proverbial blood spill? Only time will tell. We desperately need a grassroots movement that champions ideas , entertainment , and people of substance. The greatest hope for this, I believe is in the free exchange of ideas we find here, on the web. So let’s stop having vapid conversations about hateful men, and move on the dialogues that have some substance!

5 Steps to Enjoying Each Day

“Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going to fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

~Eddie Cantor~

Anyone who's been watching the field of tech knows that the future is mobile. We all want our computers a little lighter, a little smaller, with more battery life and internet capabilities. Why, you may ask? Well so that we can get more done of course. So we can now take work with us wherever we go. As I was pondering this, it struck me as how we are all really missing the point. The original purpose of the computer was to free up more time, not take up more time. It’s the same with most of our technology. I didn’t have to bring in wood this morning, yet I'm warm, and breakfast is cooking. I didn’t have to draw and heat water over a fire when I took my shower, etcetera. We have all of this technology in place to save us time, and so it has. It is what we have done with our time that is the problem. Instead of using our free time to enjoy each day, we've used it to do more each day. Instead of allowing us to slow the pace of life a bit, it has allowed us to speed it up. Today we leverage the time saving aspects of technology so that we can maintain a quick, almost frantic lifestyle. Our lives have become so fast that even our leisure time is stressful and expensive. What would happen I wonder, if instead of filling our new found time to the bursting point we filled it with just a reasonable number of good things? What if we used our time to just stop and enjoy our day? Here are five steps that I have found help me make the most out of my day, instead of just doing the most:

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1) Get up early- I have consistently found that my best days are those in which I get up early. There’s something about not being rushed during those sacred morning rituals that really helps start the day off right.

2) Turn it off- We all love our gadgets, myself very much included. But if you can just turn it all off for even half an hour, you will be well on your way to really being able to enjoy the day. Our computers and phones speed us up far more than I think we often realize.

3) Don’t try to do it all- this applies to work and leisure. Take your day, pick only those things that absolutely must be done today, then do them. Then pick only a few things that you want to do, and really enjoy them. If you want to go to a movie, go to a movie. Don’t go shoppingthentothearcadethentotheputtputtcoursethenamovie. Just pick one thing, and really enjoy it.

4) Get outside- Walking to your car doesn’t count. Actually step out of the door and enjoy the day, it won’t hurt you. Literally take time to smell the roses, or whatever flower happens to be nearby.

5) Learn to say no- This is perhaps one of the most valuable skills that you’ll need to acquire if you want to enjoy every day. You may have succeeded in slowing your life down, but it’s all a moot point if you allow everyone else to speed you up again. Its hard to say no to coworkers and friends, but if you want to be able to slow down and really enjoy life, instead of just blitzing through it, that’s a skill you’ll need to master.

5 Blogs that will improve your life

Anyone who has ever read a book knows about the potential that a good read has to mold your philosophies and changed your perception of life. Well, a good blog can do the same thing. In fact, a blog arguably has more potential because of the increased intimacy between the blogger and their audience. Below you’ll find the five blogs that have enhanced my view on life in a very positive way. They have made me a better person, so I thought I’d share them with my readers.

Zen Habits- This is overall my absolute favorite blog. Leo is a fantastic blogger, and his consistently thoughtful and gracious writing has many times changed how I view the world. I couldn’t speak highly enough of this blog.

Life Remix- The recently launched Life Remix is a collection of the crème ala crème of personal development blogs. It’s a great blog for discovering other writers that you really enjoy.

Lifehacker- For all things digital, it doesn’t get any better. Lifehacker has multiple writers so it’s constantly updated and consistently useful.

Get Rich Slowly- Money isn’t what happiness is all about, and it much easier to accept that when your not struggling with debt. This blog will change how you think about money.

Lifedev- Productivity can be about one of two things. It can be about getting more done in your day, or it can by about getting your day done in less time. Whichever one of these scenarios fits you, you’ll find lots of ways to achieve it on Lifedev.

And lastly of course there’s squeezedfresh! I created this blog because I could never find anyone who was writing consistently on our ever shifting culture. So read on, and make friends with some good blogs.