THE CONSUMPTIVE WORLD

Like it or not, we live in a consumptive world today. At almost every moment we are driven to consume:  products, food, ideas. Media and advertisements thrive on creating an insatiable appetite for something NEW.

Flashy, attractive ads float across our eyes and ears, and seep into our consciousness in subtle ways. They pry on our desires, fears, insecurities, and innermost thoughts. They feed the appetite for MORE, and before it is all over, they have compelled us to buy the NEXT thing we knew we couldn't live without.

This is a cheap and hollow cycle that leads to nowhere. Once you step off that hedonistic treadmill, and once the high from the burst of retail therapy and serotonin has worn off, you're right back at square one -- trying to fill the void with another new thing.

IF YOU'RE WAITING

If you're waiting to do something. Stop. If you're just waiting for that perfect moment when your schedule magically clears, and you finally have enough time to do something you have been putting off, just stop. That moment will never get here. Start now. Make a small change, or effort toward getting the thing done and out of the way.

Too often we put things off because we think that somehow there will be a better time or circumstance to do tasks later on. We think to ourselves, "I'll do that later." "I work on that later." "I'll worry about that later." Later, later, later.

But, the truth is, it is later in the day, and later in our lives than we realize. Time is a finite substance that each of us have been given, and no one is promised tomorrow.  We are but mere mortals. Yes, those are scary thoughts, but they are also sobering thoughts. These thoughts allow us to put things into perspective and challenge ourselves to quit putting things off until a later date.

TURNING OFF AUTOPILOT

So much of our everyday lives are lived in a sort of autopilot mode. We go through vast portions of time where we are basically set on cruise control:  Get up. Bash the alarm clock. Brew coffee. Brush teeth. Get to work by 9 a.m. We end up losing out on the moment, because we are not even there for it. We aren't conscious for what is going on, because we are too busy going through the motions.

Part of what forces us into this autopilot, cruise control mode is the fact that at every moment we are thinking of the things we should be doing, the things to we need to be doing. I need to get those TPS reports done, or I'll lose my job (Office Space reference). I should exercise more. Of course, those needs and shoulds help to motivate us to get things done. There is nothing inherently wrong with that.