November 3, 2008

We May Be Officially Overwhelmed

Have you felt it? There are too many thoughts rolling around your grey matter which causes you to be frozen?

All this talk about the economy, business, the new secret thing, the latest gadget, the coolest idea, the blogs, the news, the errands, may confuse not improve our lives.

It makes sense that some decide to minimize and make life simple. I asked a colleague years ago what he would do if his current career path met a snag. His response (at the time) seemed silly but with more thought made perfect sense. He said he’d either become the mayor of a small town or open up a fishing lodge. He’s still thriving in his current career, but I know now that he meant it then and still means it today.

Technorati lists about 130 million blogs, there are an estimated 8 billion websites and growing, online marketing is inching toward $130 Billion annually in North America, mergers and bailouts consume our consciousness, and there will be a new U.S. President elected tomorrow.

I open my Google Reader each morning to see several thousand new posts and I try to at least skim most of them. Our sound bite, have it now world has caused us to grasp new concepts in small pieces and move on to the next.

Eckhart Tolle talks about the importance of living in the NOW. It’s all we have. The past is our interpretation of what may or may have happened and the future will never arrive. That is simple, to the point, and correct.

One of my mentors once reminded me that if I’m faced with too many choices or things to do, it’s best to just pick one and do it. It matters not the order or order of importance. Acting is better than adding more stress through inaction.

In a world where we are bombarded with more ideas and information than we can possible digest, perhaps the only plan of action is to either grow a second brain to store the information or simply do something. The important stuff will rise to the top and for the most part the small stuff that has become the big stuff (in our brains) will go away.

Tolle suggests to stop the noise and ask yourself one simple question; Am I breathing? For that brief second, you won't think of anything else.

Then perhaps you may get the urge to open up a fishing lodge.

km

 
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