A Budding Insomniac Faces the Future

Here's a typical day in my life…..

I get up at 5:25 and go to the gym from 6:00 until 7:00. Come home, shower and dress for work after spending at least 10 minutes making sure I have the coolest possible shoes to go with what I'm planning to wear. Make the bed. Look for lost car keys for 10 minutes. Feed the cats. Find lost car keys that were in my purse the whole time. Pet the cats. Put out the garbage. Halfway down the Mohawk Trail I remember that it's container week and I forgot to put out the recycling. Turn around, drive home and put the green bin at the end of the driveway. I wonder what the garbage guy will think of me...the only things in the bin are empty Chardonnay bottles and empty V-8 cans. That combo must have deep psychological meaning but I don't want to know what it is. Arrive at work late. I pretend something important at home prevented me from arriving on time. I know they know I'm late because I can't get it together but I'm the boss so we all fake it together. I work all day, then go to dance or Spanish, or work until everyone else in the building leaves and I have an hour of blissful silence to get stuff done. Meet friends for dinner, come home, do laundry, clean the litter box, talk to Dad or someone important (to me), sort through mail, pay bills, send texts to my husband, pet the cats, hula hoop for 15 minutes, work on a crossword or maybe Words with Friends, check Facebook, read, send texts to my husband, pet the cats, answer email, empty dishwasher, do laundry, send texts to my husband, pet the cats, talk to a friend, send email to my husband, repack bad mail order to return, pet the cats, add another book to the "I want to read this when I retire" pile, and watch 3 YouTube dance videos, praying they will bring me dance enlightenment which they unfortunately do not do. Next, I call ATT where I spend at least an hour with an unhelpful associate trying to figure out why I'm spending megabucks for Mexico to US phone service. I put us both out of our misery by signing up for some international package which is undoubtedly economical in the short run but is likely to cause me to spend more in the long run. Then, I climb into bed and toss and turn until 4:00 AM with occasional periods where I get up and check Facebook 8 or so times. 
The next day…REPEAT.

Happiness is a Retired Statesman

At a recent banking industry convention I attended, the keynote speaker was former US President George W. Bush. During the question and answer period that followed his prepared remarks, someone asked him about his retirement. I was interested to learn that without any artistic training of any kind, “W” has taken up oil painting.  He admitted that he has been as surprised as anyone that this activity has become such a passion.  Painting changed his life

President Bush explained that he was inspired to paint after reading a little book – an essay, really – called Painting as a Pastime, written by Winston Churchill in 1932.  In that book Sir Churchill describes his own passion for painting, discovered at the “advanced age of forty”.  I decided to read the book myself, not to see if I would be inspired to paint, but to understand how it so profoundly changed another’s life. 

I enjoyed the description of Sir Churchill’s introduction to painting and the joy he found with that pastime, but the book isn't really about painting.  It’s a book about happiness.

We humans are obsessed with happiness.  We talk about it constantly. We want it.  We seek it. We will do anything to get it.   And when we don’t have it we look for the reasons why it eludes us and we attempt to rid ourselves of the people or things that we believe stand in the way.  Even the Declaration of Independence guarantees our right to pursue happiness.  Happiness is a big deal!

I am amazed at how many people believe that others can cause their happiness or unhappiness.  That is such an absurd belief, when you think about it.  No other human can make you happy or unhappy.  If you doubt what I am saying, think about it this way:  Imagine a man is holding a gun to your head and will shoot you if you don’t do what he says.  If he says “jump”, I am sure that you will jump.   But if that same man says “be happy”, you will certainly act as happy as you possibly can, but his command will not necessarily make you feel happy.  Even if death is the only alternative, no one can make us happy.

Others can present us with their joys, their fears, their accomplishments, and their failures but then it’s up to us whether to absorb those offerings and allow our feelings to change in response.  We are 100% responsible for our own emotional state, including our own happiness.

 My wise husband has never had any patience with anyone who declares “I’m bored!” because he knows those who are bored expect others to be responsible for their entertainment.  In a world crammed full of opportunities, anyone who is bored has chosen to be bored.  It is the same with happiness.    Happiness is a choice.

That’s the real message in Painting as a Pastime.  If you constantly chase things or people in a quest for happiness, you will never find it.  But if you pursue work, activities and hobbies for your own satisfaction, happiness is inevitable.  Now isn't that a happy thought!