I consider myself a fairly high energy person. There are times when I feel tired and worn out but I think it's more of a mental state than anything else.
The things that make me feel drained are the drudgery of the daily grind. Get up go to work, come home, go to sleep, do it again. We spend so much of our precious time at work, paying bills, doing what's expected of us in this society that we have very little time for the things that really matter. Why should we have to choose between spending time with family, or doing kung fu or any activity that we love? It's hard to get pumped to do something and accomplish meaningful things when we have a pile of boring errands and work troubles weighing on our minds.
I see so many people around me in similar states. I'm so lucky to have kung fu to keep me grounded. Otherwise I'd likely be just like the so many people in so many houses in front of the TV every night. When I walk by and glance inside I just want to bang on the window and shout at them "What are we doing? Wake up! Get out there and do something. Live your life!". I don't though. I'd be called crazy if I went around doing that and who am I to judge them anyway?
I'm not sure what the solution is. Should we all go back to the days of pre-industrial revolution before the invention of regular working hours and consumerism? Maybe it would work but at this point it's a bit unrealistic. All I can do and all I can encourage others to do is to get involved. Be a part of a community, get excited about something, enjoy the simple things in life, move your body, connect with people. Care. Do something!
Life is not shopping, life is not watching the tube, life is not keeping up with the Joneses.
Life is Living!
2 comments:
It makes one thankful for the gift of kung fu and the perspective it brings that helps us avoid becoming one of the living dead.
I like your post.
I know sometimes I feel like I'm not participating in life because I am not always out in the world being social. I suppose the ways that I engage are on a more focused and introverted level. I pick up my knitting needles and yarn, or my quilting needle and thread, and focus my attention on something small and simple and constructive. I suppose that in the bigger picture, it could be considered disengaging from the world, but I feel like I'm re-engaging with myself when I do it. Each time, I feel like I bring a little bit of order to the chaos by creating something beautiful out of relatively benign component parts. Perhaps this is why handicrafts are so addictive -- not just because they are ways of feeling productive even during 'downtime' but also because it feels like each little item is a way of contributing to the world in some way.
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