EngelFish.Net

“But if we learn to think of it as anticipation, as learning, as growing, if we think of the time we spend waiting for the big things of life as an opportunity instead of a passing of time, what wonderful horizons open out!” - Anna Neagle

We don’t have much control over the situations which wander into our lives, but we do have control over ourselves. We can choose not just how to act, but how to think *about* the situations. We can think of the layoff as a financial disaster, or as an opportunity to do something new (unlocking the golden handcuffs). If we spend our time waiting for the next big thing to happen during our journey through life, we miss out on the value of the journey itself.

“when you’re no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn’t just a means to an end but a unique event in itself [...] To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top.” - Robert Pirsig

So what are you in the process of doing, or learning? How are you spending your time, enriching your life daily? Are you waiting for the next promotion, or your next vacation? You probably did things last week to meet goals at work, but what did you accomplish for you? If you are not doing something every day to excite yourself, or to make yourself happy, then what can you do *today* to change that?

The Mindfulist posed the question recently, “If today were your last, what would you do right now? What would go straight to first place on your to do list?” Thinking about my answer made me consider the questions “Who would you spend your last day with, and what does that answer tell you?”

People talk about prominent sports figures “getting back to basics”, and the concept seems to ring true, either from practical experience or common sense. You should be able to do the same thing with your personal life. The question is, what exactly are the basics of your personal life? What is it you get back to and practice? Do you practice living in the moment, or planning for the future. Focusing on hard work, or playing. Taking care of yourself first, or helping others? The question makes me think back to Psych 101 and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Find what level you’re on, and what would be appropriate for meeting those needs. Then again, I may be intellectualizing/overthinking it. What advice would you give to someone who is trying to simplify their life and “get back to basics”. And do you live by your own advice?

Life is rarely, if ever, clean and simple. But simplicity is a good goal. I think it is fairly common for most folks to stop every once in a while and realize how crazy they have allowed their life and schedule to become. We often keep saying yes to new commitments at work, at home, and in our relationships, even if we don’t have the resources (time, energy, money) to effectively meet those commitments. My todo lists (yes plural), have 691 things, of which 245 are supposed to be done “In the Short Term”. That is a little bit past the line where ridiculous starts. This Saturday I am sitting down for 2 hours and going through those lists. I will start by moving everything to a temporary list, and then really consider the importance, the immediacy, the impact and the investment required for each item. Some things will go on the “need to do soon” list and some will be “need to do TODAY”, but I will be moving as many as I can to a “Someday/Maybe” list, which I can then choose to ignore with abandon. If my list of things to accomplish today is only one or two tasks long, then I stand a chance. If it has 25 things, I will likely procrastinate instead of facing that wall of unfinishable dreck. It was recently pointed out to me by a pretty objective person that I might be a weeee bit A.D.D. (insert eye rolls from my friends and family here). I might as well be pragmatic and figure out how to work around my “oh look, there’s a distraction” tendencies. So… my goal is to pick only 3 things list items each week, and focus on accomplishing just those 3. If I keep it up for 230 weeks, my todo list will be empty.

As you can see from the change in Belle’s size from the last picture to this one, it’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog. Outside of taking up World of Warcraft and working a lot, I really don’t have much of an excuse. I doubt if anyone wants to hear about my Night Elf’s Mining, or the intricacies of SAS programming with regards to automation of home-brewed bank account reconciling programs, so I wouldn’t have made barn burning posts posted anyway.

So what is new you ask? Well, not much. I’m still looking for work outside of photography, but still doing photography full time as well. I really love it, and have had some great experiences lately shooting weddings. It really does make my day when we shoot a wedding where everyone is both good people and super photogenic! I’m planning on doing some website updates soon over at chrisengel.com, so keep an eye on that site too.

I’ve also been shooting some editorial stuff lately, and my latest project was about three times as much work as I’d expected it to be. When I bid the job I thought it would be about three days worth of work. The word “underestimated” comes to mind! I’m just wrapping it up now, but at least there were some terrific images. I’m looking forward to getting the editor’s feedback and seeing which images they run.

On the home front, Taryn finished her final undergraduate degree exam for the University of South Africa! She graduates, with a degree in Management-Finance-HR-Marketing, in March. We’re planning on going over for her graduation, which we’re both looking forward to. Taryn is also racing against the weather (it snowed here yesterday) to get her 136 pounds of bulbs in the ground. It has dropped into the upper twenties here the last couple of nights, so we’ll see in the spring if she won.

The menagerie is doing well too. All the animals (Felix, Oscar, Casey, Cleo, Alex, Xavier, and Belle) are doing fine. They have all decided that family togetherness is a good thing, and that sleeping on our warm bed is the way to go. I imagine the weather has something to do with that. Aside from a touch of hindquarter lameness, the Belle is growing well. She’s 6 months old now, and already the same size as Alex and Xavier.  She’ll be a bit taller, but probably not much heavier. She’s still the puppy though, and all things chewable are fair game in her eyes. The housebreaking is coming along, albeit slowly. She doesn’t like to go outside when it’s cold, and hates getting her paws wet… which means we have to be extra watchful on rainy days.

I’ll see what I can do about getting back on a weekly posting schedule. We’ll see how that works out. Anyone interested in taking wagers?