I find it interesting how some things hit me between the eyes.  I love what I read that said, “If you can’t take time to do nothing you are a slave to doing.  Doing nothing is a radical, revolutionary act.  It frees you from the universal slavery of our age: slavery to the clock.  The clock measures doing but not being.”
I was really enjoying what I read.  “…the faster  we go the more likely we are to miss what matters.  We can get so busy doing urgent things and so pre-occupied with what comes next that we don’t experience now.”
I am not for a moment advocating doing nothing on a permanent basis.  But I really do believe that hurry can be my enemy.  Especially the hurry I reckon is endemic of our culture and age.  The hurry of another’s bidding that leaves no room for enjoying who I am, at my pace.
I thought it was pretty profound another thing I read, “We don’t get to our futures any faster by hurrying.”  It sorta gets to me when I hear someone say, I’ll be happy when…”  It is like happiness is deferred.  I don’t know if others have noticed but often when the time of happiness is arrived at it is only to be replaces by another “I’ll be happy when…”  It is like the can is kicked down the road.
To me it is a different matter if someone says they are happy now and merely indicate a future happiness.  It is when happiness is conditional on achieving something or being some place in the future.
I am all for dreams and going for something, but I am even more for balance in a life.  Little to me is worse than burn out and it seems to be so common in our culture.  It may wear a cloak of another name but many ailments to me are the result of un-realistic expectations that either I place on myself, or are placed on me by another.
I am a great believer in work and rest.  There are times I need to just chill.  When a battery is recharged it is often in down time.  My batteries need re-charging. It seems the best time for it is in down time.  Some of my best inspiration comes when I am not trying to achieve what is often legitimate.  But I take the time to rest and do something completely different.
It hit me while I typed that I “take” the time.  Down time often has to be taken because unless I specify it for myself others will fill my time.  When I let that happen, I know I am the one that misses out and others can too as the moment needed for the “ah ha” moment is lost.
The future is not what it could have been as I was in such a hurry I missed now.

Yesterday was an exceptional day.
It started nice enough.  I commented to Merril that the mornings and evenings were the nicest part of the days at the moment.  We were gone from here before 6am to a prayer meeting we have.  We then went to breakfast with a friend.  When we arrived home about 8.30am it was already hot.  At 9am a mate came for a visit.  We spent the time in air conditioned comfort. 
After that another mate came over about 10.30 am.  After we had spent time together shooting the breeze we emerged into the heat again.  His comment to me was “it’s like an oven.”  It reminded me of what my mum used to say.  “The day is coming when it will burn like an oven.”
He left around 12.30 and Merril and I had lunch and then had a rest.
It was when we got up the action really started.  We were hit by a storm.  I have been in this suburb a number of decades and have never seen anything like it.  The wind was amazingly strong.  To me what made it more dangerous is the wind was coming from the opposite direction to normal.  Trees seem to develop strength to stand against prevailing winds.  As this was opposite, they seemed particularly vulnerable.
As it unfolded we were watching from inside.  We saw a tree opposite break and break again.  A huge gum down the road lost its canopy and I am told crashed onto the shed of the owner where it was.  During it we lost power.
Burpengary has been really good for maintaining power when it was out elsewhere.  But not this time.
After it was all over a neighbour said to me “it has just gotten real.”  He was spared any damage but power being out was incredibly unusual. It was actually out for going on 12 hours.  I was starting to think what I needed to do if it continued but fortunately it was restored by morning.
Another neighbour we checked on had a big branch of one of our trees in his yard.  I think his decision is sensible.  He has decided to leave it and wait until the end of this week and clear that branch and any others that may come his way. They had just sold the place.
I am so glad we chose to remove the huge bloodwood we had in the place.  The direction of the wind would have sent it straight into his place.
All in all we came out of it pretty good.  From the sound of the sirens and the report of a next door neighbour saying on the drive home from work he saw tress down and on cars everywhere, it could have been so much worse here.

A quote I read by Abraham Lincoln said, “nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
I reckon what I hold to may be controversial but the quote reminded me of words to a song I like.  “Every man has his beliefs, his own point of view, on everything from big to small, Some of them we must defend with everything we’ve got, some of them don’t matter much at all.”
I was reminded of that as I hold to the point that in matters that “don’t matter much at all” and they stand between me and power, it is good to give the one in power what they want.
I can site two different cases.  One gave the person in power what they wanted and assumed a position of power themselves.  The other fought and changed  institutions and as far as I know is still fighting.
Where things don’t matter much at all someone in power can hold back a person who sees the world differently.  This can be to the point where one never assumes power and influence is diminished.
I question is “is it worth it” for a matter that does not matter much at all.  As someone has I think rightly said, “pick your battles.”  I ask myself does bypassing the inconsequential justify never confronting what matters?
My answer to that is no.  The one who holds the power holds the reigns for good or bad.  When it is for bad that seat of power can never be confronted when those with opposing outlooks are stifled before the real confrontation can begin.  All because of an unnecessary early confrontation.
The way I see things can be modified but I do think it is a waste to fight when a matter does not matter much at all.  Naturally to me that is the first step.  Power is the greatest test of character.