Keep Being

Hey, paradoxically, I'm in my office, but I want to talk with you about leisure. See, I was recently reading an article about leisure. I came across this wonderful quote. It goes like, who was the happy man? He painted a picture, he sang a song. He modeled it in clay. He danced to a call. He watched for the birds. He studied the stars. He sought a rare stamp. He sank a long putt. He landed a bass. He built a cabin. He cooked outdoors. He read a good book. He saw a great play. He worked on a lath. He raised pigeons. He made a rock garden. He canned peaches. He climbed into caves he dug in the desert. He went down to Rio, he went to Iran. He visited friends. He learned with his son. He romped with his grandchild. He taught youth to shoot straight. He taught them to tell the truth. He read the Quran. He learned from Confucius. He practiced the teachings of Jesus. He dreamed of northern light, sagebrush, rushing rivers and snow capped peaks. He was a trooper. He had a hundred things yet to do when the last call came. A hundred things yet to do when the last call came. You know, this reminds me of an equally powerful quote, one of my favorites by Robert Heinlein. I have this one posted on the wall of my office. It goes like this. A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, con a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Well, guess what? We live on a magical planet and you don't have to do it all, which could be just exhausting. But you likely could benefit from being with leisure just a bit more particularly productive leisure that doesn't involve TV and screen time and entertainment, which is what humans do with our free time these days, but does allow you to take a step away from the work and the checklisting and the doing, doing, doing, and discover a bit more about being.

A bit more about being. Watch this video again if you get a chance. Start to think about some of those activities listed. How often are you playing a music instrument, singing a song, cooking a meal, learning how to fly a plane, or just as Robert says, pitching manure? How often are you doing that stuff.

And just stepping into leisure?

Well, when it comes to being and.

Not just doing, do be do be do be do be, do. As the old song goes, do a.

Little bit, be a little bit rinse wash and repeat.

And that's a happy human.