Being Busy

Yesterday I seemed never to stop, it was just one of those days. I could not even find a minute to think about the content of this blog. I realised later in the day just how busy I had been when my watch told me it was switching off because of a lack of power.  This happens when I am asking it to record a large number of exercise sessions.

Yesterday I walked then cycled then I went for a swim cycled again and later did another walk. At that point, the watch seemed to say to me, "Enough, you might want to be busy but I have had enough.'"

It was Eric Hoffer who said, "The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is, on the contrary, born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else--we are the busiest people in the world. " It seemed like that kind of day yesterday.

Sometimes we get ourselves into such a state of busyness that we, in fact, do not get done half the things we had hoped to achieve.  

It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement.  I wish I could stop sometimes and remember this. You would think that the fact of being on holiday would bring it to mind more often, time to relax. But then how can we be on holiday, in reality, we are retired.

Busyness rapes relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It feeds the ego but starves the inner man. 

It fills a calendar but fractures a family. It cultivates a programme that ploughs under priorities. 

Many an organisation, even a religious group, boasts about its active program: "Something for every night of the week for everybody." What a shame! 

With good intentions the assembly can create the very atmosphere it was designed to curb.  

Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.  I found myself saying this more than once yesterday.

So a little thought for me today, maybe you also need to give it some thought.

It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement.  

I did in the midst of the day manage to finish a painting I started a few days ago of the dog in the caravan next to my motorhome.

Have a good and busy day. I cannot believe I just said that.