I Wish------?

 

       If we could change our life, what would we do, what important things have we missed, on what pointless things have we spent too much time? In the final analysis, what is really important?
     I lifted this straight from, "Nut Buying Anything", perhaps it will help you answer those questions.

       No one on their death bed wishes that they had spent more time shopping on the internet, or anywhere else (except maybe the garden center). No one wishes they spent more time at work, so they could get more money, so they could spend more time shopping. When we stop to think about our brief time above ground here on this beautiful planet, shopping for entertainment loses its appeal.

       At any stage of life there is precious little time for us to engage in the activities that truly matter to us. Such activities would be those that lead to us becoming better humans, and those pursuits which help to make the world a better place.

      I like to consider as much as I can when deciding whether I need to shop for something right now, at a later date, or at all. Will buying that thing, or doing that thing, make me a better person? Will it make the world a better place?
     If not, why bother? Why waste the time, effort and money when there are so many more important things to be done? As King Canute said to his courtiers, "Time and tide wait for no one." Today he might say, "Let all people know how empty and worthless is the power of consumerism, for there is none worthy of the name, but Nature."
     While no one about to die wishes they had bought more stuff to cram into that already stuffed garage, here are a few things that they do tend to think about as their life comes to an end.
On their deathbed people tend to:

1. Wish they spent more time with family and friends.
   
2. Wish they spent less time working.
   
3. Wish they never started a bucket list.
   
4. Wish they spoke more honestly about how they felt.
   
5. Wish they chose to be happier and laughed more.
   
6. Wish they never sold their soul, and entire lives, to the system.
   

The clock is ticking. How will we choose to spend what time remains to us?

I Am Alive.

 From Not Buying Anything:

       I am alive, and it feels great. When Linda and I chose to live simply it was so we could feel more alive more often. It has paid off. We have no regrets.

Here are a few things that make me feel alive.

• being in nature
• riding my bike
• spending time with Linda, my best friend and companion
• writing
• meditating
• reading a good book
• cooking and eating a good vegetarian meal
• exercising
• listening to birds and frogs and bees and wind and rain and thunder
• making music, singing, listening to tunes
• contemplating death
• spending time with family and friends
  

What makes you feel alive?

        I read this posting from “Not Buying Anything”, I agree with practically everything he says. It could make for a very stress free life. However, I can't turn my back on the millions of refugees across the globe, fleeing death from wars and famine, the millions of individuals being ruthlessly exploited by the greed of the capitalist system, the dire poverty and deprivation heaped on millions because of the exploitative corporate world, the millions of innocent people, young and old, maimed and killed by imperialists wars. Nor can I ignore the gross inequality that blights all the countries on the planet, the stunted lives and destroyed potential of millions, as the system drives for ever greater profit.
       Sadly, I don't really know what to do about all these brutal injustices, except to raise my voice and stand with those who also see these things, and wish to try to eliminate them by bring down the system that is at the root of all these problems, capitalism. Believing that I, in some small way am contributing to the demise of this greed driven system and helping to shape that better world where we see to the needs of all our people, 

that is what makes me feel alive.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk