Enjoy your existence!

I have a question, and it may cause me to sound a little selfish. Why do I have to fill my day full of jobs and activity? What is the purpose of all this activity and the stress that results from it? OK, that’s two questions, but I’m sure you get my drift!! It seems to me that there is an underlying ideal that suggests it is somehow wrong to have spare time, as if this will result in some awful calamity. Our modern society is finding more and more ways in which we should fill our days, and this is sent our way through advertising, work, peer pressure and even government. We shouldn’t waste time.

I think that filling a day with activity that you don’t really want to do is, in fact, wasting time. Succumbing to this mania for being busy and turning it into the belief that there is no alternative is really quite insulting to the universe in general.

Consider how many planets there are in the universe; trillions I expect, or an even bigger number. Consider the chances of life being found on them – very slim in need, in fact millions and millions to one. Consider then how lucky we are that our atoms have managed to organise themselves into coherent beings, irrespective of how you believe that has happened. Are we not, therefore, duty bound to spend some time simply enjoying our existence?

So enjoy a lazy day in the back garden enjoying the feeling of the sun on your skin, or listening to the wind rustle in the leaves (if you still have any trees left on your neighbourhood!), or simply being able to daydream. Keep away that nagging feeling that you should be doing something else. This takes a bit of training, but I can attest that it is very possible to do. This is certainly not wasting time, despite what your peers may say.

Spend some time marvelling in the fact that a thin layer of ozone is stopping you being fried on the spot you sit. Be amazed at how thin the atmosphere really is, and that without its accompanying magnetic field you would be exposed to the solar wind - and die very quickly. Spend some time thinking about the structure of the planet that provides this magnetic field. We live a relatively fragile existence and are here against all probability – probably.

So forget concepts like ‘productive’, being ‘time-poor’, or even the whole concept of wasting time, after all it is yours to do with as you wish. Physicists suggest that time might not be absolute after all – who knows what lies ahead; it might already have happened!

In these times of crisis and strife don’t forget how lucky we are to exist and be able to use our senses to enjoy the world. Don’t get too caught up in the politics, the financial crisis, or even, dare I say it, the environmental challenges we are facing. Life is about more than this, much more. We could be hit by an unknown meteor next year or next month, so think about what you can take with you when you go.

Well, actually you can’t take anything with you, and that is the point. The only thing that can be of any use when you’re lying on your deathbed (other than being able to reverse time – I’m sure aforementioned physicists are working on this!) is your experience of life. And we only get one go at it, unless you’re convinced that there is something to reincarnation. One go, that is all.

Don’t dream about what you want to do if you could only free yourselves of your chains, use some of your precious time to do that which you can (but ask your partner first, they might get a bit of a shock if you suddenly call them from half way up Mount Everest!).

Remember, a wasted life is one that you haven’t enjoyed…so enjoy it, and put modern society into its proper perspective. There will always be people telling you how you should live your life, but you are the only one that can make the decisions. And also remember that old adage – time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.