I went through a phase where every night before bed I had a slice of apple pie. Grandma always served hers with a scoop of ice cream, she claimed it cut the sweetness. I continued that ritual until I could no longer fit into my overalls without a spritz of WD-40 and a shoehorn. The moral of this story is we should never sue the inventor of the fork just because our ass will no longer fit between the door jams. My wife jokingly accused me of making pie my God. This was a joke of course but, in every joke, there is always just a smidgen of truth. In every joke there must be at least a sprinkling of the truth, otherwise the joke doesn't work. One thing is for sure though, every bad habit we develop must be broken or it can become our undoing.
It wasn't so long ago I worked for just shy of thirty years for a man who lived and died by his reputation about town. He was convinced that money was the only God he would ever need and that he would be allowed to take all of his "stuff" with him when he expired. This is to say he had made material possessions his God. It's a shame those material possessions never brought him any real satisfaction. Most citizens just complain about such phenomenon, meanwhile the Rolling Stones wrote a song about the subject. "I can't NO", well you know how the rest of the song goes. People often try to fill their empty lives with copious amounts of stuff and cash and are therefore never satisfied. If they are lucky, at some point they will find that material possessions will never fill that void. Filling your living room with stuff only guarantee's that some night on the way to pee you will smack your knee on a credenza. In short, you will never see a U-Haul towed behind a Hurst. If you are a sports car fanatic one will never be enough, and every new one you purchase will likely be more expensive than the last. A person who is generally miserable won't have their reality changed by the lottery. They will just become a miserable person who all of a sudden has enough cash to pay their bills. Money is simply a means to an end. Let's take the narrative one step further, people with too much of that filthy green stuff will eventually find it cumbersome. People like Oprah and Garth Brooks have to employee people just to ensure that their excess gets distributed to worthy charities. In the end it is important to remember that humility is a gateway for transformation into something that is noble and worthy.
Another perplexing part of the human condition is that the same things we feel are causing us consternation in this life might be the very things that are keeping us alive. For instance, consider this idea and repeat it to yourself: "I am not cursed by my alarm clock, I am blessed with work." Trust me, if you make this thought part of your daily routine it will quickly change your outlook on life. Struggle of any kind (good or bad) keeps us breathing in and out and sharp as a tack. We all need something to keep our minds and hands busy. My grandpa on my dad's side was constantly asked as he approached age ninety when he was going to retire. His answer was simple, "if I love what I am doing (and I do) why would I ever stop doing it?" That's pretty darn fine preaching for a man who never attended seminary.
The truth about life is anything can be made into a God if we worship it long enough. Money, fame, alcohol, drugs, or loose women with few teeth and questionable intensions can become a God if we worship them with enough gusto. In addition, life is all about perception, not so long ago a kid I work with told me he wanted to marry a girl who was experienced. I told him "No, you think you do but you really don't because one day you will be forced to think about how she got that way." I don't want you to think I have been studying the teaching of the Dali Lama but the most important endeavor in life is inner peace. I am not talking about meditating, doing yoga in the downward dog position, or drinking cucumber water with a paper umbrella in it. Hippy dippy distractions won't give you peace, they will only distract you from what's real. Outside distractions will only distract you long enough for you to take your eye off the prize. We all have to regroup once in a while and remember what is most important to us. Hold up your index finger, this is the universal code for number one. Now, all you have to decide what is most important to you. Every person must decide what their number one is. Many things can bring you short-term happiness, but it takes something special to bring long-term joy.
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