This morning I got back from the gym and it was still dark out. I went ahead with my usual morning routine, and I was pleased to look up near the end and see the view outside of my office window. I took a few minutes to stop, and just glare into the almost neon orange glow of the sunrise, and appreciate the beauty reflecting off Mt. Bakers snow peaks and the ice on the roof below me.

How important is it to just stop at times! I’m no stranger to getting caught up in the fast pace of life and the busyness of business. Many of us would agree I’m sure. Sometimes though, we can easily recharge and be even more productive when we simply just stop in our tracks. Gain clarity. Breathe. Be in the moment and appreciate it.

I usually say, you can’t see until you stop.

This also reminds me of a quote I posted on Facebook the other day, although I do not remember it’s source;  “The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is now, live. it.”

There would be no light if there was not darkness, no joy if there weren’t suffering, no warmth without cold, no relaxation if not chaos. In this regard, how much more can I enjoy the beauty in this world when I’m generally fixated on the pixels of a computer screen through a large portion of my work days.

I am no less of a student than anyone else, but I do note the importance to keep things in perspective. Why the hell are we working 8-12 hours in a day? To keep working doing the same and enjoy the perpetual oyster wheel of dissatisfaction? Or is there a method to our madness? A plan in sight to provide the means of earning and quality of life that we can take the time to enjoy? I’m an odd duck perhaps, but I’ve abandoned one business at the peak of its profitability, and cut a client list in my current business to change directions – both, simply because I was not enjoying it. Nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t making me happy, and my quality of life is always going to trump a buck.

Life is too short to trade your time for dollars if you do not enjoy what you are doing. No, don’t paint me with a “zen” brush.

Let us remember where we are (whether Canada or America), where we can have and make whatever of our lives that we wish. We have unlimited freedom and opportunity. “But I can’t, it’s the economy, its this, its that”, sorry, don’t care. How free are we if we live a life dictated and directed by every external source and issue that we can muster up? Every resource imaginable that we could possibly need to aid in our success (on any level, relative in the eye of the beholder) or attainment of any goal or ideal, is already in existence. Its up to us to aggregate the available resources for our use. Its all available. Don’t mind the economy, mind your economy. Don’t let status quo dictate your limitations and possibilities. Get dirty and go against the grain a little bit. Its exciting. Life begins outside of your comfort zone.

Or, if you are content in your situation, you’re ahead of the game. Now just stop and appreciate that.

I’ll end this deferred tangent with a quote from the late Steve Jobs,

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” -Steve Jobs

So, just take this moment that you have. Stop. And make what you want with it.