Life Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Scott's Thinking

If Life Is Too Easy

Posted on December 1, 2021

You’ll find a way to mess it up. You don’t have to mess it up, but that does seem to be what many people do.

With ease comes complacency. Then you can fall behind the pack. After that it seems easier to play it cool then to try hard to catch back up. Then the seeds of self-destruction are being sown. You shrug it off and say you don’t care, when inside it is eating at you every minute. Envy, jealousy and hate become commonplace in your mind.

To turn that around you need gratitude. Appreciate all the little and large things in your life. Write it out. Don’t just think about it. Write out, ‘I am grateful for….’ It could be ‘I am grateful for my health, heat in my home, food on my table and a comfortable place to sleep.’

If life is too easy, we don’t appreciate it. There was no struggle. We want to prove we had to struggle so we create some drama. There is no need to do that. There is enough you are already struggling with unless you have the body, finances, relationship, education and career you always wanted. If not, get committed and be disciplined every day until those things are 100% how you want them. Until then, be grateful for every moment of being alive and being able to work toward your dreams.

Observe Reframe your thoughts Time

Life Is Like Chess

Posted on November 16, 2021

The more you consider the long term, the better you usually do. It starts off so clean and simple. But then things get more intertwined and complex. If it lasts long enough, everything thins out and becomes simple again.

Action Financial Gratitude Reframe your thoughts Time

Key Skills In Life

Posted on August 31, 2021

You need five key skills in life. That is all. Not 2,000 and not even 200. Nor are they difficult. But without these you will struggle.

Learn to work diligently and with pride.

Be appropriate with money. This includes spending less than you earn.

Be selective with your time. Enjoying time spent is one thing. However, wasting it, especially repeatedly, is an entirely different story.

Learn to be kind to others. This also includes being well mannered.

Finally, be grateful and appreciate all of the people and things that are in your life.

Yes, you could list more here. I could even break some of these down to be more specific. But generally, if you can manage to do these five things, within the broader context of your life, you will do well. By which I mean you will earn a decent living, be joyful, live with little stress and retire on your own means.

Work on these five key skills in life every day.

Action Reframe your thoughts Time

Making Your Next Episode

Posted on June 18, 2021

Your life could be viewed as a movie, mini-series, or tv show. Although it is probably most like a tv show. Making your next episode is a weekly occurrence.

With that in mind, how do you rate your life? Is it a drama, sit-com, tense thriller or mind numbingly drab? How do others see it? How would you like to see it?

The amazing thing is, you are making the next episode as your day unfolds. You are the writer, casting director, overall director, executive producer and star of the show. In the early seasons you were primarily the star. Your parents played the other roles in the credits. But once you turned 10, you started heavily influencing the other production roles.

You may like to feel as though you’ve given up artistic control, or never actually had it. However, every day you should remind yourself that it is you that makes the bulk of the decisions in your life. You decide if you are a stunning, fit and joyful lead character. You also decide if your role is that of a tired, bored or restless individual.

The people on the set are all selected by you to create the ambiance, atmosphere and interaction. Scenes start and end how and when you want them to. If a storyline isn’t working for you, you can just leave it on the cutting room floor.

Every week, you are making your next episode. Pay close attention to how you write the script for this week.

Gratitude Reframe your thoughts

Deciding What Is Important

Posted on May 31, 2021

What is the deciding factor for relative importance in your life? For most people it is their values. Deciding what is important is an ever-shifting game you play in your head.

Do you remember what was important when you were three days old? Perhaps it was food, warmth and comfort. But when you were eight, 16 and 21, what you prioritised may have been different. I am almost certain that it would have been.

What is valued by a 30 year old is unlikely to be the same as that valued by an 80 year old. Time, location, wealth, health, education and family will all have an impact on what you think is valuable. In addition, what you value can shift as your life shifts or with new information. It is inevitable.

A good way to discover what is truly important to you, is to check how you spend your time. If you spend your time at the pub with friends, family may not be as high on your list as you thought. However, working everyday to bring in the income, so your family can be fed and safe, may take precedence over spending time with them.

Deciding what is important can be tricky and have many layers.

Observe

The Dichotomy Of Life

Posted on May 22, 2021

You have to be impatient at times and patient at others. The dichotomy of life recognises that an extreme action, or its opposite, may be required depending on the situation.

If your daughter has had an accident, you should be impatient in getting her to medical help. However, 99% of the time, you should be patient when going through traffic.

Do you ever find yourself out of time? Yet, at other times, you have too much time on your hands? (Cue the 1981 song by Styx here)

You have songs espousing to Keep The Faith (Bon Jovi) and groups called Faith No More.

There is a delicate balancing act between the extremes most of the time. It isn’t always there, but it is usually a good thing. Go and find examples of this in your life. Although, they may not come quickly to you, if you put in the effort, and have patience, you’ll see them.

You will find many articles written on this topic. Have a read and see what you think. Do not think you are alone in your thoughts. At any given moment, other people have the same thought as you.

The dichotomy of life is real.

Action Gratitude Observe Time

Life Changes Fast

Posted on May 3, 2021

A lottery win, new contract, new partner or a promotion can be wonderful. Especially if they were unexpected. Life changes fast. Sometimes it changes for the better and sometimes for the worse. I guess that is the reason for the marriage vows being written that way.

We all hope for the good kind of life changes. Although the other kind show up sometimes too. We need the resilience to deal with those.

Whether it is one of those Friday afternoon meetings which ends with your job gone or simply an unexpected injury, its rarely pleasant. We want to get through this pain point as quickly as possible and have everything running smoothly again. However, with most of these events, it does take some time, and work, to improve on the situation.

Amazingly though, life can turn on a dime and you can be moving forward again. I wish this for you. I hope your troubles are few and you manage them with personal strength. Hopefully you get more of the good changes and can let go of the other kind.

Moments are the creator of our destiny. Those moments will stay with you. They are usually easy to spot if you reflect a little.

Life changes fast. Roll with the punches.

Action Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts Time

Pure Joy

Posted on April 17, 2021

Birthdays are awesome when you are young. They tend to have new elements each year. In addition you enjoy getting older. They’re pure joy to watch too. I just had that feeling again with my son turning 12.

It was great to see his enthusiasm for the day ahead. Then throughout the day, he was smiling, laughing, energised, and fully enjoying himself. Despite the lockdown limitations, and this being his second lockdown birthday, he seemed to love it. And it was pure joy to see him embrace it and enjoy the day.

We will celebrate across the weekend as he opens gifts and cards and receives lovely messages from friends and family near and far.

As you get older, the enthusiasm can switch from looking forward to a birthday to being thankful to have reached it. Either way, we should try to remember that every one is an event to cherish. In addition to every day in between them.

Looking at the smile on my sons face today reminds me how fortunate we are. Count those blessings. Enjoy even the troubling times together. But most of all, be grateful for those sounds of laughter, energy and enthusiasm. It is amazing how quickly 12 years can swoosh past.

Savour it. It’s pure joy.

Financial Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts Time Video

Life Is Like A Movie

Posted on March 19, 2021

Have you noticed how things in certain movies become things in life? Remember the swish swish of doors in Star Trek? Life is like a movie, though only certain ones at certain times.

So when I was growing up, the swish swish of the doors on the Starship Enterprise seemed so futuristic. However, now most metro centres have thousands of these doors.

Then things started to unfold like the Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. The whole idea of virtual reality. We are getting there with Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. We certainly have driverless cars on the near term radar. And trips to Mars being scheduled.

Then we have seen some elements of Tom Cruise’s Minority Report. People are being condemned for even thinking of an activity with a criminal element. It doesn’t matter if a crime has happened. The fact that it could have happened is enough for you to be removed from society.

Now things are moving on with skins in Fortnite and a virtual world in Clubhouse. This and the VR makes me think that the Ready Player One reality is not that far off from our current life.

Finally, we have Terminator. Well, that melting man business and pulling yourself back together is quite impressive. But happy for it to be a few more years before that.

Life is like a movie. Go get the popcorn ?.

Action Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts Time

Saying Goodbye To Covid

Posted on March 5, 2021

So kids are heading back to school on Monday. Vaccine’s are rolling out. There is a plan to open back up. Saying goodbye to Covid is starting to feel more real today.

And there is a bit of melancholy that goes with that. Yes, that may seem a little odd for some. Though I imagine some others will recognise it too. As with all of life, it depends. It depends how it affected you and those around you. And it may not feel like it right now, but maybe when the hustle and bustle of the everyday is back, it will be more noticeable.

There has been time for other things. We have found new ways to do things. Alternate activities have emerged. Patience and greater understanding seem to have become greater priorities for many people. We’ve all changed a little.

I will miss having the kids at home for lunch. The calmer vibe of not having to race around will also be different. This does not necessarily mean better or worse. It is simply going to be different. Chats at home will be chats in the car on the way to sporting events. Scheduling will become a little more important.

Moments in time, good or bad, have a way of sticking with you. And I feel that end of an era (holiday, job, class, etc.) feeling.

Saying goodbye to Covid may be more difficult than it looks.