Asparagus and a Sun Roof

Perhaps this has happed to you; it's happening to me a lot lately. You have a dream where you know most if not all the people in it, but you are all in a different scenario. 

Years ago I had a recurring one where I opened the door to the office and it was a grocery store. Everyone working in the store were current colleagues. My boss was working the cash and my assistant was managing the produce department. 

Recently, random people keep showing up in the most bizarre situations in my dreams again. In one, I was working at a car dealership and a former colleague whom I haven't seen in two decades and has since passed away came into the store. 

It's you again.

I knew I was dreaming but it was so vivid. She worked in another department and we didn't know each other well. Why did she show up and why in such a strange scenario? 

Our brains are fascinating factories of facts and instructions. Why do we store the most inane things in there but can't find our keys? I often ponder what life would be like if it was like it is in our dreams. 

And then I wake up. 

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Living By Numbers

The Power Of Then?

I’ve been thinking about NOW a lot lately. It may sound strange but most of us think of THEN and WHEN. And we do it NOW. I was going to share a bunch of math but for the purpose of this post, we can use round numbers.


Eckhart Tolle reminds us that the past is simply our interpretation of what may or may have happened and the future will never arrive. All we's gots is right now. I think most people grasp that concept, in theory. But do we do anything about it?



How Long Will You Live?
The worst place to live if you want to live long is Swaziland where the average life expectancy is 32. That’s not a lot of yesterdays and tomorrows.

More numbers here: South Africa is just shy of 43, Pakistan almost 64, Hungary 73, USA 78, Denmark and Finland 78. Hitting the 80 mark includes Sweden, Australia, Canada, Italy, Norway, Israel, Austria and Netherlands 80. The complete list is here.

So even if we’re at the top end and we get 80 plus years, let’s figure out how much time we actually give to NOW.

Sleep. Eat. Read. Line Up. Drive.
Wait. Tweet. Exercise. Work.

How much time do we really have to just simply enjoy this moment. Right now. Not to fill it with what ifs and soulda coulda woudas. Now – this meeting, this coffee chat, this conversation, this victory, this person or this very moment when you are doing absolutely nothing but feeling the breeze on your face.

As a card carrying member of the past/future club, I need a daily affirmation to get back to NOW. Hang on, how was that sentence? Was it too long? Too preachy? Did I use enough big words?

You did it again, didn’t you?

You were thinking about that other thing and not living right now. Go back to work. You spend 2,000 hours a year at it and don’t forget to answer one of the 27,000 emails you’ll get this year while you’re at it.

You got lots of time to do that other stuff …later.

@knealemann
Let’s create experiences, not campaigns.

image credit: toptiptrick.com