The Meaning of Life, Information Overload, and Death By Meeting

WORD COUNT: 983 Short, Yet Transformative Words

TIME to READ: About 4 Minutes

Many of my friends and clients confide that they often fantasize about unplugging from the frantic pace of modern life. Some have shared that they dream of escaping to a private retreat, removed from the frenzy of constant activity, where they can find peace and recharge.

Do you also crave calmer, quieter days, and more time to relax and take stock of what you truly want to be, do or experience personally and professionally?

Navigating the incessant activity, and continuous bombardment of destructive messages from the media, advertisers and others around us, can send even the calmest and most collected among us into a downward spiral.

Frantic activity is acidity to the human soul.

We're living in a culture where the vast majority of professionals are on information overload, besieged by meetings that go nowhere, with little quality time. Time that's needed to make the highest leverage decisions... those that help you align with what you really want, and then take the shortest and most enjoyable route possible. This is also time that nurtures your soul.

If you're feeling the stresses of everyday life, this also means that you're ready to embrace the opportunity for something better. You have the ability to give yourself the things that you crave.

There's a Taoist saying that goes something like this - "To the mind that's still, the whole universe surrenders."

In other words when our mind is quiet, when we're fully present, we have access to all of the insights, knowledge and tools we need to succeed. We release the struggling, and allow ease into all that we do. We reconnect with the human being, as we shed the human doing.

But how do we find peace and stillness in a culture that values hyperactivity?

How can we find meaning, when we're distracted by so many nonessentials?

The answer - we need to reclaim the time, and stop believing we're victims of social pressures. It's time to focus on YOU, Y.O.U. .. the individual, with a capital Y!

For you can't possibly find meaning, grow, or nourish your soul when you're focusing on everything else that's clamoring for your attention. And there's A LOT that's clamoring for your attention, and the cost is your personal happiness.

So decide what's important to you, and set the rest aside. You're worth it, reclaim your personal power! Say no and then mean it.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't be kind. But every time you surrender your well being, and every time you allow someone or something to pull you away from your true priorities at work, at home and at play... you give away your personal happiness, and a part of your soul.

Are you thinking that giving yourself the gift of peace isn't possible? Do you fault technology, or other aspects of modern life as the source of your stress?

If so, consider that the desire for more ease, less stress, and the quest for the meaning of life... is not new. People have been writing about the need for quieter, less frantic times for centuries. Which means that the source of the problem, and the answers are not out there somewhere.

We have to start from the inside out, by looking at where we are holding ourselves powerless.

James Truslow Adams, an American writer and historian, wrote in the early 20th century, "Perhaps it would be a good idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every telephone, stop every motor, and halt all activity for an hour some day to give people a chance to ponder for a few minutes on what it is all about, why they are living and what they really want."

James Truslow Adams passed in 1949, long before the birth of the Internet, cell phones, the rise of commercialism, the growth in single parent households, and dual family wage earners.

So imagine how much more we feel the pull for our attention than our ancestors did just a few short years ago. Now imagine what our offspring and their families will contend with, if we don't pause and define what we mean by quality of life.

More peace and ease is entirely possible, but first you must believe that it is so.

Breathe deeply and enjoy the silence. Relax, and forget for a few precious moments each day about the "Have Tos" or "Shoulds". This is your time. Use it anyway YOU want to, just allow time for nourishing your soul.

Give yourself the stillness you crave. We need time alone to relax, and to be at peace.

Give yourself time to unplug. Turn off the "crackberry", shut off the telephone, unplug the computer, move out of the traffic and halt your activity. Pause and just be ... for a few moments.

Activity certainly doesn't help you or those around you, if it's stripping away your ability to live and function well. Find what you're craving, then feed your spirit.

This is what gives you strength and feeds your creativity. When you're relaxed, you are able to tap your inner wisdom, solve problems faster and more effectively, AND explore and discover the meaning of life ... your personal definition of success.

Stillness is the prerequisite for clarifying what you want and how to best get where you truly want to go.

Nurture your soul with stillness and play. Reconnect with friends, walk in the park, splash in a puddle, hug your partner, play fetch with your dog, meditate, breathe deeply, take short breaks, or have dinner with family.

You have the ability to live a balanced and fulfilling life, one that allows you to share your gifts and help others, but most importantly... to enjoy the journey.

Reclaim your personal power. For it is in this space, that you will find clarity and peace.

You'll be amazed at how your mind, body and spirit will respond, and how the universe will deliver that which you seek.

Your friend and partner in creating empowering realities,


 

Laura Cardone, President of Profits with Purpose

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