Today I feel like writing about calmness. A rare gift often confused with “having” or the aftermath of reaching a goal. There are a lot of meanings for this particular feeling, but my personal vision about it is more about considering it a priviledge and a scarce resource. It´s quite difficult to define calmness with words, or try to create a “one-size-fits-all” explanation for such an elusive idea, so strange and so beautiful at the same time.
Nevertheless, I can tell about some things that bring calmness into my life: doing something for pleasure: no clock, no rush, no rules. Pure enjoyment, a relaxed stroll with no particular destination, looking around with beginner eyes, reading a good book, letting ourselves into the story the author wanted to tell, listening to good music (whatever is your definition of it), meditate, sharing time with your loved ones, sleeping with no alarm clocks in sight, eating good home-made food…
I could go on forever but instead, I invite you all to join me for a stroll in one of my favorite spots. A place that, despite being near my house, always surprises and reminds me gently that civilization and technology are not the most important things in life. The old man that walks in front of me for some time remembered me about one episode of “The Walking Man”, my favorite book from Jiro Taniguchi.
Since I came back from Granada (Journey chronicle is on the way, I promise), I´ve been quite busy with small errands that have consumed a lot of time. So, I had to break the chain, a shame, since I love writing. But I realized that the “spare time belief” is simply a fallacy. There´s no such thing. Considering an unemployed person as idle or with a lot of free time is completely false. In these weeks I have discovered something I call the “Compulsive Time Occupation Syndrome”, that means that the Spare Time concept doesn´t exist.
As a part of my “mental detox therapy”, this afternoon I´m off to Granada, as I said some days ago. The most remarkable fact in this trip is that I haven´t planned it before hand, trying to knot all the loose ends, an old custom that makes me feel more secure. The next step will be going to the nearest airport or bus/train station and taking the next flight / coach to somewhere! But for now, it´s a good start. See you in a few days.
I wrote some days ago that we´re heavily focused towards the “success paradox”. thinking that it´s the “right thing to do in life”, mainly influenced by the society´s scale of values and the endless comparison with others. The typical ladder of “nice job, nice wife / husband, a big house with a clever dog, cute kids, lots of money” is simply not appropriate for everyone.
I´ve experienced many of the things of the list mentioned above, and my satisfaction level has not improved in the amount that “they” suggest it should have. Some economics theory says that we´re essentially insatiable, but, for one reason or another, one reaches a point where more is less.
And what is this all about? I wanted to talk about simple pleasures. Those little things that make us happy and content, and most of them have nothing to do with having a lot (or no) money. I´ve thinking that these things help to reach our inner self and to recover balance, often lost with all the noise associated with modern life.
Today I went to have a drink with a friend that I haven´t seen in ages. After a pleasant chat, I took my bike to go home, but decided to go riding for a while instead. After more or less one hour of relaxing exercise, I stopped at a bench, and stared at the flowing river, the trees moving along with the wind and the people passing by. It was a nice experience. To be simply there. No worries, no rush, no time.
I returned to my house feeling energized and in peace. And this didn´t cost me a penny…
10:30 AM. As almost every day, here I am, in front of my computer, listening music and writing. I cannot yet get rid of this weird feeling that sooner or later, I will have to go back to my daily routine (waking up, washing and stuff, breakfast and off to the office). The most difficult part is to slow down, and not to think about the gazillion things that I should / could do now.
Right now, I´m simply being here. Despite the fact that my house is a mess at these days, most of the time I´ve been playing with my Nintendo DS. I cannot remember the last time when I let myself into the fantasy world of a game, and I like it! I must say that I´m a little bit rusty solving its riddles and problems, but I´m enjoying it a lot so far.
Sunshine. It helps a lot. I like the light and the life associated with it. Of course I enjoy a rainy day or a cold winter afternoon, but at this time, I need to feel the sun shining all over me. It´s tempting to go flying but I don´t want to do anything because “I have to”. Fun is simply that: fun. Dr. Kawashima says when the brain detects this kind of behavior, its degeneration process speeds up, so I don´t want to rush things…
But, being a good and trusted geek, just purchased a brand new mobile, and I´m quite happy with it. It has a lot of features, and I suspect that soon I´ll find a button / menu that takes the garbage out and gives me a massage… It´s a year old model and the price was right. Paying to have the bleeding edge of technology has more drawbacks than advantages, and not doing it is almost always failure-proof and cheaper!
So what? This afternoon a movie and perhaps a stroll in the park… Next week I´m off to Granada, one of my “must-see-before-you-die” places. The trip was organized in no time, without chance to think about it much, as usual. I like to break my own paradigms, no matter how weird I´m feeling about it…