Quote of the Week...from Morris West

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine.

                                                                            ---Morris West

Morris West (1916-99) was an Australian writer who put out a number of popular and critically-acclaimed novels, usually focusing on politics and religion.  Not that you need to be such a writer yourself or even interested in his areas of concern to understand and embrace his above quote.  As humans with functional brains, we will fill the conscious hours we have with thoughts of one kind or another...and to an extent we can control where to direct those thoughts.  Some people I know...as well as the previous president...spend an enormous percentage of their existence thinking about themselves: these are commonly called "narcissists".  Others are in the habit of repeatedly playing tapes in their minds about past offenses, losses or failures...or obsess on their old "glory days" that have long passed by.  Still others are present-focused, but train their thoughts on specific goals and actions in front of them...we all do that to an extent and need to as responsible adults.  And some people spend their time worrying about the future beyond the things they can personally control...what a waste of the precious and transitory gift of life!  There is a concept floating around called "mindfulness" that can, like with anything else, get muddled down with rules. But as I see it, its essence is for us at times to interrupt our habitual thought trains...including that pointless worry...with simply stopping, looking around, and appreciating what we have now in front of us.  When I was a youngster, I would go with my sister and parents to the local grocery store.  As we would  make our way up and down each aisle, I remember noticing the different decorations and pictures on the wall.  I could do this because my mind did not have the burdens of responsibility that my parents did, as they were focused on the items on their list...among whatever tapes they had going on in their own minds at the time.  Nowadays, I couldn't begin to describe my own favorite grocery store that I have been going to for decades...other than its functional layout of goods, registers, departments, and restrooms which corresponded solely to my purposeful actions.  I'm not saying that we shouldn't be responsible adults and just let everything slide in favor of aimless contemplation, but a little of the latter mixed into our lives can go far to interrupt the destructive mental habits we often engage in. Going out on walks and jogs often provides me with the chance to get out of myself and observe and appreciate the world around me.  And turning off the TV with its doomsday news channels and simply sitting in a chair on the back or front porch carries similar benefits...