I am terrible at actually writing a journal or blog. For some reason I can never get around to doing it. I wonder why that is. A good guess is that I am just another product of our society--I call it the "I'm so busy" complex...Somehow our society has deemed it good to have a million things on your plate and be involved in so much that you constantly feel busy. And then after running around for a period of time, you come to the mindset of "I'm so busy" that being, you commit to a lot, so even at times when you may not be so busy you still project an "I'm so busy" complex. Sooner or later a normal response to 'how are you?' will be 'busy'. Just as commonplace as when we respond with 'fine'. It's so sad. It's just as Richard Foster says in his book on, Freedom of Simplicity, "We dash here and there desperately trying to fulfill the many obligations that press in upon us. We jerk back and forth between business commitments and family responsibilities...What will set us free from this bondage to the ever spiraling demands that are placed upon us? The answer is found in the grace of simplicity..." Foster talks here not only of doing practical things to "unbusy" our lives, but also of finding an inner unity and sense of simplicity in which we evaluate and direct our lives.
I have made up my mind to ditch the whole busy complex because I think it makes people think that I am unavailable even at times when I am or would make time if they called on me. I hate the fact that someone may need to talk to me, and then think, oh she's really busy and not call. I mean really, if people are my priority I need to make room for them. Ahh, so easily said! But not easily done....
Now that my plate is significantly less full, it feels nice to have time to read or sit, visit, or watch TV. That's the lifestyle in Africa. When I lived there, you could really see that others were the priority no matter what you had planned. I could show up on anyone's door step and they would have me visit and feed me all day long without looking at a clock. That type of behavior reflects a society who prioritize others over themselves and relationships above all else. It is so often that I think, "why can't we be more like the Africans?" and yet most Canadians think, "oh they have such a sad life"...We are the ones with the sad life...So busy, no time, and for what? A buck that you can't take with you when you die.
On another note, I read the coolest bumper sticker ever today. I want to have it. It goes:
The problems we face cannot be solved by the minds that created them. Published by Mindy on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 at 8:05 PM.
1 Comments
I have made up my mind to ditch the whole busy complex because I think it makes people think that I am unavailable even at times when I am or would make time if they called on me. I hate the fact that someone may need to talk to me, and then think, oh she's really busy and not call. I mean really, if people are my priority I need to make room for them. Ahh, so easily said! But not easily done....
Now that my plate is significantly less full, it feels nice to have time to read or sit, visit, or watch TV. That's the lifestyle in Africa. When I lived there, you could really see that others were the priority no matter what you had planned. I could show up on anyone's door step and they would have me visit and feed me all day long without looking at a clock. That type of behavior reflects a society who prioritize others over themselves and relationships above all else. It is so often that I think, "why can't we be more like the Africans?" and yet most Canadians think, "oh they have such a sad life"...We are the ones with the sad life...So busy, no time, and for what? A buck that you can't take with you when you die.
On another note, I read the coolest bumper sticker ever today. I want to have it. It goes:
The problems we face cannot be solved by the minds that created them. Published by Mindy on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 at 8:05 PM.
1 Comments
Hey Mindy
Didn't know you had a blog, but I found it through Decker's new one.
Thought I would just drop a comment and say hi; and also to encourage you. You have readers from around the world, lol.
I know what you mean about not writing. I don't know about the i'm busy complex, for me its more like the "I am absent minded complex". I like blogging, I like reading others blogs, I like getting comments on what I write. So why don't I blog? who knows... I am not super busy most days, even though I am teaching over here.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading your stories and such.
God Bless