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Through my eyes

Through my eyes

Date: 2019-07-19
"It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about " - Henry David Thoreau

Many years ago a famous violin player took his time and played an hour in the metro station. You can find his youtube video here https://www.youtube.com/watch v=UM21gPmkDpI

He earned the occasional dollar, mostly from children. That same evening he performed for a sold out theatre, where people had booked seats long in advance and paid more for a single seat then he made in the entire hour at the station. This incident took place in 2007 and I think I did a column on it at the time.

Anyway what this simple experiment was supposed to show us is how easy it is to miss the beauty of life, the beauty of art, when we're in a rush.

We could all miss that world famous violinist if we don't pay attention. Missing out on the simple extraordinary things in life by being too busy or not paying attention.

The same applies to everything we do. We can all miss out on those exquisite experiences that life offers us, an art piece, painted with daily excitement, by being busy with being busy.

Personally I miss so much, births, deaths and weddings, somehow happen on my deadline or at a time when I am attending something I RSVP'd to weeks before and just cannot cancel. And more and more my life is too busy to enjoy the downtime because I feel too exhausted, well to enjoy it.

Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about how busy they are. My clients tell me they're busy. Too busy, in fact, to do the things they know they really need to - if only they had the time.

The simple truth is: we choose how we invest our time, energy and resources. While it cannot be denied that the world is full of external pressures to deliver, how we choose to respond is key.

Most of us talk about being busy for so long that we've forgotten that being busy was never the goal.We are not on this earth to be busy.We are here to build relationships, experience life, go places, create things, help others, or whatever else you decide is important for you. Our reasons for being will all be different, however I have a feeling that none of us feel we are here simply to be busy. But this thinking has led us to think busy is good no matter what we're busy with.

If we do not take a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

"Life is just a quick succession of busy nothings." -Jane Austen