Technology

From The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.

I am as all mortals are,
unable to be patient.
--Pablo Neruda

So often, in our agitation and impatience, we hurry off, annoyed and troubled…

Having said I like to think of myself as a patient person, there is one thing that is guaranteed to be the exception to that rule: technology.

When technology fails, or doesn't work like it should, or makes it impossible for me to do something that I want to do, I lose patience, get frustrated and fall foul of and prey to kneejerk reactions. Which happens a lot…

I run an old computer, and when I say 'old' I think I bought it in 2003… and as such it's quite slow… it doesn't have the best system resources. So… I try to make allowances for that… to remember that I may have to wait a while for a program to open, or for connections to be made or whatever. One of the things that was really bogging it down until very recently – system hog that it is – was Norton… so when it came up for renewal last week, I started looking at other options, asking advice, and eventually settled on a new software. I kid not, since the new software is installed and Norton uninstalled, my system runs more quickly and on the whole more smoothly, (it still has a problem running SimsSocial on FB, because of issues with Flash, but… on the whole it's true). But my computer is old…

When you're talking about large companies, and particularly companies whose line of work is technology and communication – I'm sorry, but I don't think it's too much to ask to expect their computers and interfaces to work properly. 'Nuff said.

A Negatively Vicarious Past Stifles the Future

From The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.

My mom said she learned how to swim.
Someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. That's how she leaned how to swim. I said, "Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim."
--Paula Poundstone

Reframing what happens to us can be a healthy way to survive terrible things, or it can become a veil of denial that keeps us from moving on.


I was thinking about this in light of my dad today… and in relation to some things he's said, and done, (or not done as the case may be). Today he went for a AAA scan. Something to make sure he has not got an Aortic Aneurism or anything like that… anyway, basically to make sure he's as healthy as he can be. Talking to him today – about why he was having the scan, which is essentially a research/experimental kind of thing – he said that he thought he should because in the family history, there's a danger of that kind of thing. One of his brothers died from a heart attack, and the other of a cerebral haemorrhage, framed that way it makes sense for him to check that he's healthy. Having gotten the all clear, is it going to get him to 'reframe' what he does from here out…? He did not fly to come to our wedding because he was afraid he was too unfit to do so. He rarely goes away from home even on holiday unless Mum drags him kicking and screaming all the way. He uses these concerns (understandably real fears), to avoid doing things, and yet, last week, when we were talking about his motorbike, and him taking his bike test, it was so that he could 'go touring' and visit the museums and places.

I hope he does these things, I really do… he deserves to enjoy his retirement, not chain himself to the house because he's too afraid to go out and live. We'll see what time will bring…

A Dis-Eased World

From The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
--Lao-tzu

Beyond what we need to survive, to better ourselves has come to mean having as much as one can store, and as such has turned into an addiction in our modern world.

I looked around me today and saw all manner of people hurrying too and fro, not even pausing to give each other the time of day. I hear today from a friend who is being treated like shit at work, and from another who is facing uncertainty because of governmental funding cuts… and I wonder just what in the world happened to us as a race that we must treat each other like shit; climb on each others' back to get ahead, and general act with inhumanity toward our fellow man? It has really troubled me today.

On the other hand, I heard from a friend I haven't spoke to in a while, and have the chance to reconnect with her, and completely out of the blue Kay messaged me from NC, (must have been her break or something) using Facebook. It felt as if the Universe was trying to remind me not to lose heart, that there are still some good people in the world… there are still those of us that have time for each other.

I'm not trying to say I'm perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, I don't always act altruistically and without regard to materialistic concerns, but I do try to be a decent human being, and so it bothers me when I see others around me not doing so. It's like... let me ask this. How many people would step around someone that suddenly trips and falls, and how many people would lean down to try and help them up, or at least ask them if they are okay. I frame the question that way because it happened to me once - where I was the one that had fallen. I'd had an operation, just by keyhole surgery, but it was abdominal surgery, and after a week convalescing at home, I was supposed to be fit enough to take a short journey to a friends house to spend the day with her, and as I was going stir crazy, this seemed like a good idea. It was two bus rides... one into the city, and one out the other side... and between the two bus rides, a short walk from stop to stop. During that walk was when I tripped over a kerb-stone, and fell to the pavement (sidewalk). I couldn't immediately get up, because I had knocked the wind out of myself, and the number of people that simply changed path and walked around me, really was quite disturbing and upsetting. Finally a frail little old lady shuffling along with two walking sticks changed her path to bring her /to/ me, to help me up and check I was okay... a lesson in humanity for all of us there, I think.

Just because someone trips and falls, don't assume that they are in any way a bad person, drunk or an addict (as I'm sure that's what the others were thinking). It really might be a simple accident and they might need our help.