You walk out to the car after running into an office building and there is a parking ticket on your windshield. You sigh and perhaps yell a profanity and jump in your car driving off. You have just been a victim of a problem we have all created.
Society – it’s something that most of us live in. I say most of us because there are a select few who have chosen to be hermits and completely detach themselves from all of humanity and although I doubt I could ever do it, I completely understand why they do it.
Yep… We created it
We have created nearly every single problem that we encounter on a daily basis. The traffic jam you are stuck in wasting precious minutes you could be spending doing something else? Yep, we created it. The fact that you’re in debt or better yet, you’re rich? Yep, we created it. We created the concept of money and the need to earn it along with the destruction that it 
can do to people. Here is a small list of the ridiculous problems we’ve created:
- Money / Concept of Trade
- Poverty / Wealth
- Crime / Laws
- Social Class
- Organizations
- Corporations
- War
- Religion (Do not confuse religion with faith)
- Pollution
There are four things that we did not create, and it’s important to know what these are as they are really the only four things that matter in life when all is said and done.
- Love for one another
- Family
- Friends / Friendship
- The need to survive and take care of those closest to you (feed, teach, etc.)
Finding your piece of peace
When it all boils down to the truth, there isn’t much that a single person can do to sculpt an already thriving society. You can bend the road here and there and try to steer things, but in reality, you were born into your part of society and must do the best with what you have been given. However, there are small things you can do along the way, things that I do every day to step outside of society’s boundaries. Here are some of the things I do:
- Commuting through life: When stuck in traffic or stuck in the rat-race that is my daily life of commuting and dealing with a corporate job (that’s right, I actually don’t write full-time – though I so wish I did) – I call my father, mother, siblings, friends, anyone that means something to me. I take the time while I’m doing nothing but brainless traveling or commuting to build and hold on to what is most important in my life, my friends and family.
Smelling the roses: So many people talk about stopping to smell the roses, a ridiculous cliché, but in some respects apt. I have to run my children to their activities or to school or run errands. But I try often to pull the car to the side of the road and step out with them to play or walk in a park. Before I take them out of the car I kneel down to their level and grab their hand and ask them how they are. Before I drop them off at school every morning, I kiss them on the cheek and expect the same in return, then I whisper in their ear that I love them and I am very proud of [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fill in an activity that they did or an accomplishment].- Open y’er ears sonny!: Though some of my friends (and especially colleagues) would argue that I do not listen very often, I do in fact listen to my children and my family. I listen to their dreams, their problems, the things that scare them and the things they are proud of and I acknowledge what they have told me. Yes, I only listen to things I think are important… and I’m sorry to say but the job that society has created for me to do to put dinner on my table – ain’t all that important.
- Look for the peace of the moment: Sometimes it’s as simple as putting on my headphones and listening to some classical music. Other times it’s opening my sunroof and driving along the coast, just to unwind. Finding that peace in your life is probably one of the most critical things. That, and learning not to let things that really just don’t matter (like finances and stress) get under your skin. I know it’s easier said than done, but you make choices. Just make sure they are the right ones.
What do you do?
So tell me below, what do you do to unwind and relax? What do you do to step outside the bounds with which you were born into to appreciate the important things?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
I have an iPhone and frequently use an App called TeleNav. Pretty cool little program that allows you to use your phone as a normal GPS that you would have on your dash. I started using it a months ago and enjoy the ease of use and the convenience of always having it with me. That was until I noticed that there is no way to turn off the audio. On a phone call, listening to music, anytime, the stupid thing is always trying to give me play by play directions to the next turn. I finally uninstalled the thing because it was worthless to me if there was no way to shut off the audio. Another perfect example of technology trying to be too smart.
One of my personal pet peeves of a lot of newer cars is the auto lock feature. As soon as you engage Drive and start moving, the doors lock. I don’t want the doors locked unless I want them locked. I have this (perhaps irrational fear) of getting into a car accident, being unconscious and my doors being locked, thus making it impossible for someone to pull myself or my children out of the car. Very dangerous thing, I feel – also extremely irritating if you pull forward, realize you forgot something and need to jump out for a second.
I cannot attest to this annoyance myself, but my father – who is a farmer, brought this to my attention. A lot of the newer tractors have GPS guidance systems in them where you can setup a field in the computer, then press auto-drive and the tractor will plant a field (or harvest it) with extreme precision. However, one of the well known irritations is that the tractor tends to pull up on the planter (lift it out of the ground) before it reaches the end of the row. Those of us who are not farmers may say “so? what’s the big deal?”. Well, it can mean having thousands of dollars of crops not planted because you end up missing the end of the row by 5-15 feet on hundreds or thousands of rows.