A story of cause from antiquity

I have been reading the book Flow which has been a fantastic read.  There is a story of Democritus a deep thinker sitting around the stone bath deep in thought. This guy actually sat around thinking for days at a time.  They even brought in the famous Hippocrates, the doctor to see if he was psycho or sick.  He was neither.

Our friend Democritus found great pleasure in meditating on the deeper realities of life and created his own reality of cause.  I greatly appreciated his quote regarding cause and happiness.  "Happiness does not reside in strength or money; it lies in rightness and many sidedness"; "I would rather discover one true cause than gain the kingdom of Persia."  (Page 127 Flow)

Case Studies Of Your Life

I was with an IT/Accountant/Financial Analyst yesterday and he used the phrase: "Case studies of your life."  I loved the use of those words.  We all have some very natural case studies in our lives to reflect back on.  The school age years, the junior high days (Yikes!), the high school years, the college years, the single days, the married without kids days, the married with kids days, the empty nest phase, the retirement years and the golden years.  

In reality, these 4 - 15 year segments contain important chapters in our lives.  We can look at each chapter and glean powerful insights and connections about our existence.  We may have regret or feelings of inspiration.  No doubt you can find some themes in the midst of each case study and no doubt use the past to inform your future.  

In your search for a sense of cause and purpose, I would suggest a review of your life's case studies and reflect on your moments flow, energy and purpose.  Let those inform you of your future.  As you are doing this, might I suggest you enlist some friends at each phase and ask them to tell you what they saw in your life.  See if it matches up!

Reformat your life, routines and computer...

Even as a Mac user, every two years I wipe my hard drive and start over.  Ah yes, a fresh clean hard drive, which yields the wonderful experience of having faster load times and quicker start times.  It feels great to have your desktop salvaged. Certainly, the greatest challenge is putting all your important data back onto the new hard drive.  Apple has a great program called Time Machine to help with that.

Sometimes it is helpful to reformat some of the routines of your life to build refreshment into the soul and out into the world.  I plan to reformat my Saturdays.  I wake up with a huge sense of urgency to get everything done.  It is like I want the house picked up, the dishes done, reading to be completed and kids rooms scrubbed before 10:00 a.m.  This is not working and not surprisingly so.  It is really a bit insane.

I need a bit of cause to my Saturday.  My intention will be to wake up eat breakfast collaborate with my wife on a checklist and walk through the day with some clarity.  I will choose to filter the undone things with a new filter.  The filter of enjoying the process, confidence and relationship.

I look forward to sharing with you more about my Saturday next Sunday.