As I mentioned before, I am trying to figure out how to evolve this concept of harmony with a dear friend.
So, I pulled all of my posts through this Summer (or actually my son did) and put them into a word document.
The other day, I printed them out, to read them and categorize them.
Seeing nearly 4 years of posts on paper on my desk was interesting.
According to the document, it's
2,246 pages
and
551,989 words...
It was probably nearly 10 pounds of paper, maybe more.
The 8 by 10s stacked well over a foot on my desk.
I looked at the pile of paper and had such mixed feelings...
Why am I writing?
Am I just saying the same thing over and over again?
Should I keep writing?
More than half a million words... I want to do a little exercise and count key words, but that is the engineer in me.
So, is writing worth it?
I picked up part of the stack of papers, feeling superflous and redundant...
The first page I saw was the day that my son left for college...
"Joyful Sorrow"
I read a few lines, and was transported.
I picked up the stack again, and saw the post about my son choosing between playing video games and going out shopping for his mom.
I picked up the stack again and was transported again.
I smiled...
This is life.
It's millions of words,
if you are lucky enough to live to 89 years old like papapa,
You get to live
32,495 days...
If you stack those days on a desk, they would be piles and piles....
If you picked up the stack and could see a random day...
What would you see?
What would you feel?
Would you feel that your life is just a bunch of repetitive days...
Or, would you be grateful to have lived them...
Grateful to have written them?
I have read many books, and a few of them I remember specifically, but even those, I remember one or two key thoughts.
I have been reading books for many years...
But the pace of my life, of my harmony, shifted when I started writing.
While I like the concept of writing a book, and I love the concept of reading books...
Life is not changed by a book,
Life is not changed by a thought,
Life is changed by LIVING...
By LIVING every day with a constant purpose.
By LIVING deliberately...
By LIVING deliberately...
EVERY DAY...
DAY IN,
DAY OUT...
The thoughts that make our life worthwhile,
are repetitive...
if we are successful.
The things we do to be happy,
are repetitive...
if we are truly happy.
That is life...
A lifetime of moments...
In a huge stack of days...
And, you only get to live in this one.
The only "IS" of your life that matters,
is the one you are living.
What do you want the rest of your pages to look like?
Harmony is a discipline.
It's a discipline,
a mindset,
a way of looking at the world,
that I am committed to...
and it may evolve over time.
I am committed to it because every book I have read supports it...
Every inspiring quote I read makes me think about it.
I am
over half a million words...
into my story of harmony...
and over 50 years.
Today is one more page,
maybe two.
Just one more day of my 32,000...
if I am lucky.
When I turn back on this page...
What will I think?
How will I feel?
How will you?
Over half a million words in nearly four years...
And the only one that matters...
Is the one you are
THINKING,
SAYING,
LIVING...
right now...
in harmony,
Nestor