Too busy to take care of myself...

Modern life is complex. The speed of life has quadrupled since we started to talk with our fingers. The promise of a simpler life where robots go to work for us while we sip drinks with umbrellas in them has turned into a speed filled rush where the leash to work is a little tighter and shorter. I enjoy our new gadgets being an information pack rat and a communicator I also like the internet, but then I teach Kung Fu, I can look at the technology from a distance and go back to my practice. There is also more pressure on us to pay our mortgages and to keep up with the Joneses.

In the past 4 years I have noticed a gradual but definite change. I can explain it in one word : ” Busy ” People tell me they are too busy to commit to a regular regiment. Is that just something we have to accept? Let’s live impoverished lives, are we so confident that we feel there is no need to take care of the master instrument? Namely our minds and bodies, and of course the all important essence of our being : the spirit. Are we not being carried away in the sea of life, like lost sailors thrown around by the waves? Can we not look into the stars and ask ourselves the great questions, Where are we? How did we get here? Is there a God? and what the heck is going on on this planet any ways? Are we busy or mis-informed? Do we lack time or do we fill our time with the urgent rather than the important. As social creatures we follow the pack, but is the pack right? Should we all eat at McDonald’s, wear lulu lemon outfits, enjoy hockey and own lots of things. Some will say: “sounds good to me.” For me the warrior breaks from the pack s/he zags while every one zigs. The amount of time I suspect is not always the issue, the problem rather is not realizing that which is truly important in life, it’s a lack of wisdom not a lack of time. We need to get our bearings straight, be rooted, decide what is important in this life and concentrate on that. Go deep in a few important matters, and not lose sight of the big picture. I think being too busy is not to our benefit on the long or short run. Despite the propaganda that is aimed at us we need to take the time to find the great truths in life, take a hold of our emotions, know our selves and live lives of accomplishment. For me it has been important to search for wisdom beyond that which is found in coffee shops or in philosophy courses, to know who I am, what I believe in and why. I practice Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Meditation because I am a sick person in a hospital maintaining the master instrument through which I experience life. I need to stay centered, focused, calm, skilled and strong because I live a better life.I need to know the history of human civilizations and the content of religious texts to understand the world that is around me, I need to commune with the divine on a regular basis because I am a spiritual person, and all of these things take time. My family and my work, friends, the joys of life are all to be relished. Keep a birds ey view on your life, stay true to what is important, understand that great goals are not reached overnight, and that the crowd is mis-informed. Have courage, associate yourselves with like minded people who will support you in walking a different path. Stay dedicated rather than jumping from one thing to another, keep your priorities straight. Aim for the highest truths, the loftiest of goals, stay humble and seek wisdom on a daily basis. A Jewish Rabbi of great repute once wrote to his students: whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.Are we so busy, gmailing, and hotmailing, and facebooking and myspacing and consuming, selling and being sold to, that we have no more time for wisdom? and is that good? Remember : less is more, trim your life to be organizined according to what is truely important to you.