Life
"The problem is, you THINK you have time" In this post we talk about Time, share some stories about lessons. We talk about Pamela Anderson's new documentary and some sobering thoughts about life.
In some instances, names have been changed where necessary for privacy and anonymity.
Tony Robbins (his real name lol) used the analogy, “live every day like you are getting ready to go on a vacation”. You know how you get everything done, your affairs straight, bills paid etc before you go? Work like that every day. And it seems effortless when you know there’s something good coming out of it.
Some famous scientist came up with the theory that everything in life follows a bell curve. There is always a start a climax and and end. Doesn’t matter what it is, everything follows this path.
My Analogy
Above is my own analogy of life and it’s “window of opportunity”. As babies, we are completely reliant on mother, father, adults because we can’t do shit on our own.
Roughly speaking, we each get 80 years here on earth. Some get more, some get less but for the purposes of this discussion, we use 80 years…
All things grow, simultaneously, our knowledge, our physical size, our sphere of influence, people we talk to, things we get ourselves into whether though school, area of study, maybe just who we know, where we were born, all these things come into play and our greatest window of opportunity is say between 20-60.
Let’s say your area of study is auto mechanics for example. One must consider that there will be a time that our bodies physically will cease to perform in the same way they did when we were younger. It’s hard to get under a car, crawl around. We’re not as flexible as we once were and to continue this path day after day, is going to have a physical toll on you like it or not. Sure there are those that keep doing physical work like this into their 80s. There are always anomalies in each case but were here to discuss an overall, generic picture, fair enough?
So we much consider that later in life, our physicalities will be less that they were in our prime. Does that make sense? This is the same at both ends of the spectrum. The young can’t do heavy physical work and the old can’t either.
Next we must consider our mental state. When we are really young or really old, there are things we wouldn’t want to be doing, for instance, if you were a race car driver, there’s such thing as being too young OR too old. Neither end of the spectrum will be wanting to fly into a corner at 200mph. The mental clarity has to be a 100%
Then there’s the “hire ability” if you’re too young or too old, many will not hire you, even if it’s “ageist” to do so.
So you see what’s happening here? There is such thing as too young or too old and roughly speaking our prime life is 20-60 (roughly speaking.
You could be doing something that takes more mind work than physical work, like if you are a lawyer for instance, this could be carried into later years BUT the mind has to be in good shape too right? Lots of times people’s minds give out before the body.
Time is constant
I think Einstein came up with this theory but in life, it seems to work more like an accordion, IMHO.
I’ve found, personally, that when we’re younger time seems endless. The summers were longer, the days were longer. We got to stay our till the street lights came on which was like 2200h during the summer and a DAY in SCHOOL seemed like an eternity!
In the later years however, things seem to speed up. Maybe this is because we think of all the things we want to get done before we’re too old. Before life’s window of opportunities closes the door for good.
Another way of looking at it
From birth we have little opportunity. We are dependant on others. During our prime, we have the greatest opportunity. As we age, the walls of opportunity come squeezing in, smaller and smaller as every day goes by, ultimately leaving us with no wiggle room and only one way out. It’s like a funnel you know? You can scoot to the left or the right but as time carries us down the funnel it gets smaller and smaller.
Now who knows really? The Bible tells us we will have ever lasting life after death.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 KJBV
The Satanic Nazi Pedophiles who are trying to take over the world, intend to put their consciousness inside some sort of Artificial Intelligence machine where their thoughts, dreams and memories can live on forever because who needs a physical body when all the “heavy lifting” can be done by machine right?
If you ask me, I would not want my mind trapped for eternity in some Bill Gates Software with parts made in China. Good luck with THAT! no doubt the computer would get a virus as all things with Bill Gates do, and he’d be running after you, in the AI for all eternity with an “AntiVirus Injection” Fuck that shit!
Look, either way we got nuthin to worry about. If there is no God, then we die, everything goes black and we return to mother earth. You can’t have emotional pain or physical pain if you’re dead and there’s nothing more, right?
If there is a God however, probably not a bad plan to get straight with him now.
A Lesson in Sailing
Myself with mom and dad aboard our C&C 38, summer 1982, Toronto Harbour. The picture was take from my father’s friend ‘Murray’s’ identical boat, another C&C 38.
When I was young, I was blessed to be able pretty much grow up on boats. We’d spend the weekends on Toronto island and race the boats there and back.
These were beautiful memories but one sail, something really struck a chord with me;
Toward the end of the season, way down in the fall, we were jockeying my dad’s friends boat from Toronto to Oshawa where it would be stored for the winter. That’s a long haul for a sailboat especially at the end of the season.
We were pretty hard core, determined to sail the entire way whether there was wind, no wind big waves, no waves, we’d still go. We pushed the season as far back as it would go, not pulling the boats until October or November at the first signs of snow!
It’s about 40 nautical miles from Toronto to Oshawa along the north shore of lake Ontario. This particular sail was SOOO cold, we were all wearing one piece, yellow floating survival suites. (still have a couple of them!) These things were like space suits but it was still damn cold. We had no scarfs so we actually took towels from below, wrapped them around our necks to keep the body heat from escaping around the neck. That really helped.
It was windy that day, a close reach back to Oshawa. For the non-sailors, that means the wind was coming from about 60 degrees off our port bow, combined with some apparent wind created by the boat moving forward added to the cold wind. It was an offshore breeze and the passing some areas, the wind would actually warm up a bit picking up some heat off the shore, unless that was my imagination. The waves were short and choppy. The wind would howl though the rigging and the unused halyards would slap against the aluminum mast. It was so cold, a wave would hit the bow, spray would fly across the deck and FREEZE like a thin sheet of ice. I remember we harnessed ourselves in because it was so slippery and anyone going overboard in those conditions, even with the survival suit would get a one way ticket to the forefathers.
The 38’s were a great boat but they were heavy, thus we’d sail them, usually overpowered. If you’re familiar, the #1 genoa, the largest front sail (back in those days was made of dacron), the boat would be heeled over, toe rail in the water and every time the spray would come, it would hit the bottom of the genoa and freeze! Icicles would hang off the bottom of the sail!
To make matters worse, it would get dark early that time of year up in Canada, so most of this sail, was in the dark.
There were four of us onboard. We’d take turns, two go below to get out of the cold wind and spray and two would stay on deck.
The two below had the dim light of a small single oil lamp. Oh how I remember the smell of that lamp. The two below would make hot chocolates or hot coffees with Murray’s new hot water on demand system on his boat. Of course they would spike the drinks with whiskey or Irish cream and pass them up to us on deck.
Murray was steering from the low side, watching the sail and the compass. I was in front of him trying to trim the jib (genoa). The lines holding the sail were wet and under so much tension, grinding the winch made a sound like, well, a wet line being stretched around the barrel of the winch. bup bup bup bup, almost like you hear the timbers creak in in the old square riggers you’d see in the movies. I don’t know how to explain the sound.
We’re trying to get the most speed out of the boat while “pointing” as close to the destination as possible. You see, if we “bore off” to the right a few degrees, we’d go a bit faster but in the long run, we’d cover move distance, so the whole run was paying one off the other. Point higher, more into the wind, go slightly slower but travel a shorter distance, or foot off for speed, which is also important because you want as much horsepower though the waves, otherwise you point to high and the boat slows down in the waves right? So we’re playin it, up for shorter distance, off a bit for speed and so forth.
Our drinks were in the winch handle pockets while I was trimmin’ the genoa and “Murray” says to me “ ‘Philip’, remember this moment, because it goes just like that.” as he motioned like he was snapping his fingers under his gloved hands. Ya “Murray” it does and you were so right! 80 years is not a lot of time IF we are blessed to get 80s years!
These people are all gone to land of the forefathers, mom, dad, ‘Murray’ all their friends as well, family friends, some young some old. And all we are left with are these memories. Makes you see what really matters you know, when you see things from this perspective.
the “Pamela” Documentary
Last night I watched the new documentary “Pamela” (her real name lol) about her life story. She’s in her 50s now. Not that old. She’s had a wild ride so far.
In terms of life, I said to myself, “Self, Imagine the highlights of one’s life can be condensed down into a 2hr movie!” 50 something years into 2 hrs! And let’s face it, if the “highlights” were written, it could be as little as a few pages.
And Pam lived / lives “high and wide” you know? How many lived 80 years, stayed in the same place, did really nothing outside of their condensed circle that nobody knew about? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact there’s good and bad in everything. There may be peace in living like a monk whereas Pam’s documentary showed her ups and downs you know?
Everybody’s got their own ideas of what is “the best life” right? Pam said “thinking is overrated” She did things on the spur of the moment without giving anything much thought. She married Tommy Lee after knowing him only 4 days. She had 5 or 6 husbands, none of which lasted more than a few months.
“Every man dies but few men actually live”
Mel Gibson, Braveheart
Maybe that’s ok for her you know? I mean who are we to say what’s right or wrong? But personally, I could see from the documentary, she doesn’t seem happy. Maybe happy is not the right word. I would say more less “unfulfilled” is probably a better description. Maybe being unfulfilled is good too because it leaves on hungry for more. Complacency is a place where nothing happens because ones who live there are happy and content. They don’t need more. Maybe that’s a good way to be?
Tony Robbins (his real name lol) studied the psychology of many masters over the years. He traveled all over the world and claims the happiest people he met were natives of Fiji who had very little of anything, yet they were happiest.
The point here is that it doesn’t matter if you “live large” or have lots of money or no money, the time we get on this planet is all relatively the same.
Death is the ultimate equalizer. Rich or poor, male, female, black, white, doesn’t matter. We all go back to meet the forefathers once again and as the bible teaches, no man shall know his last day. Of course the bible also condemns suicide which is AKA “MAID service” in which case one would know their last day but this is against the teachings.
Reviewing Documents
I find myself over this past weekend, reviewing documents of my father for reasons not necessary to discuss here but as another example, he made it 82 years and his life is documented on a few bundles of paper and some 8mm reels of film. I guess this is what prompted this report today.
Bed
I can’t say I enjoy going to bed. I rarely sleep more than 4hrs in a stretch and in those hours I usually have nightmares. In fact I’ve had nightmares as long as I can remember. I remember some nightmares, reoccurring nightmares I used to have as a kid.
A week ago, my wife tried to wake me up from a nightmare. I’m always fighting with someone or some thing in my nightmares. She says I grabbed her arm and twisted it. Thing is, I don’t remember that and if I’m asleep, how could have I grabbed her arm and twisted it? I don’t doubt her and I saw the results. I just don’t know how. I do remember opening my eyes, looking around. The room looked familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on WHERE I WAS! It was bizarre! Usually you’d wake up from a nightmare and “snap out of it” you know? Not this time! Very scary.
As I lay in bed one night, I’m looking at my arm thinking this bizarre thought; One day this arm will be dead, along with the rest of this body. The arm will lay beside me in a box. Will anyone dig me up 100s maybe 1000s of years from now and study my remains? Cuz if they do, I swear, I will HAUNT their asses till I get put back!
Wheel of Life
We don’t know where we came from and we don’t know where we’re going, so let’s not dwell too much on that but rather use it as a reality check or sobering thought if you get off track.
Myself, I believe that fulfillment is best achieved when we have a plan and fulfil that plan. Yes it’s good to be spontaneous as well but I think long term the accomplishment of ones plans and goals creates the greatest gratification and happiness.
We have to have long term plans but we also have to have short terms plans too right? Steps toward the long term plans. Spontaneous distractions are good too once in a while as long as you don’t live by them.
Imagine you planned to drive from Toronto to Florida. You get your map out and make your “long range plan”. You probably won’t want to do it all at once, so plan to go whatever your comfortable with, 500 miles a day? Makes some sporadic stops along the way, super! But if all you did was make sporadic, spontaneous stops? You’d never get there now would you?
When things don’t seem right, remember the analogy of the wheel;
If a wheel is not in balance, it doesn’t spin smoothly. It goes, thudump, tudump, thudump. We call this “out of balance”.
In life terms, there is too much weight or emphasis on one area of your life with not enough attention to other areas. So the one area of attention creates an unbalanced wheel, which surely will not run smoothly.
Look at what you have been neglecting while putting so much weight / emphasis on this one “heavy” point of your wheel of life. You will find that indeed, one area absorbs your time and energy while other areas get neglected, This for sure 100% causes an imbalanced wheel to go thunkity thunk down the road
here’s an example of a well balanced wheel;
Now let’s say we neglected our finances, health and social in this example (below). Think of the words left there as weights on the wheel. Too much weight on one side of the wheel, isn’t there? Not enough weight on the other side right?
Does this example look like it would spin smoothly like the one above?
Life is the Journey not the Destination right? Maybe both wheels get you to the same place eventually but one is a rough ride. Which ride would you rather have?
Peace be with you all.
hsmc