going nowhere

the conversation at lunch today turned to our frustration of not feeling the freshness of life.  well, my companions wouldn't have put it quite that way, but that is what we talked about.  when we were younger the time was a great vista full of endless possibilities.  as we have grown older time contracts and possibilities become fewer.  life has become dulled by age and the quotidian demands of living.

does it have to be so?  i don't know what the trick is to feel the freshness of life.  i think a few of our fellow human travelers have figured it out.  we live in an accelerated age.  sometimes we need to slow down and do as our late cat, ernie, would do, stop and eat the flowers.  sometimes we need to go nowhere.

our conversation put me in mind of travel writer pico iyer's TED TALK that i watched last weekend.  i believe aging and our quotidian demands of living need not dull the thrills of life.  i also think that one does not have to travel far to go the furthest.  the poet thom gunn ended his famous poem about bikers with the line, 'one is nearer by not keeping still.'  i have taken that line and rewrote it for my own mantra, 'one is nearer by keeping still.'  staying still and going nowhere can, i think, refresh and make life wonderful again.

tho i don't have the answers and feel as much frustration as my fellows this afternoon i do have a few rituals to keep me sane.  walking is one of those rituals.  reading is another.  staring off into space is one more.  below is iyer's talk.  after you watch it perhaps you might want to turn off your machines and do a few minutes of daydreaming.

i can't seem to embed this video so click here to view it.