Eye-opening truth: Sports, Movies, other Content are distractions from achieving your Intentions

Image by Nile from Pixabay

I came across video footages of a man sharing some eye-opening truths. 

Here's one about watching sports:

Does it make sense to be cheering for people who don't know you... in a game that doesn't matter ... while you can't pay your light bill, you can't educate your children the way you want and you can't take a family vacation?  But you are jumping up and down cheering for people you don't know...

It doesn't make sense for a broke person to watch a sports game - how can you watch someone win when you're losing? Unless you are studying how to win.  And then you're delusional to call all those people on that team 'your' team... They might be your team, but you ain't 'their' team... 

You're broke and watch somebody play get paid for playing a game... You are broke and trying to figure out how to pay your life bill... but you're getting excited because your team won?  No, you are making your team lose because you're real team is your family.

And here's one about about watching movies:

You're broke and you're watching a movie.. you are watching people who are rich pretend to be people who don't exist... to distract you from intention in your life... from making your family's life better for generations... You're watching fake people live fake lives to create real feelings in you that anesthetize you from the fact that your life isn't working.  

Spot on, right?

And you can easily replace sports and movies with other content or activities like streaming, shows, social media posts, etc.  - anything that distracts you or keeps you away from the things that you are supposed to do in your life with utmost priority.  He advocates being hyper-focused on intentions, instead of distractions.

I tried to research who the man is and his name is Myron Golden.  Interesting nuggets of wisdom.  And he did say that when you can afford to (e.g. you're not broke anymore), you can watch and do these activities if you want to. 

But I was thinking - even if you are not broke, it would be great to continue pursuing purposeful activities and being intentional (most of the time... and with occasional bouts of spontaneity).  Case in point - for more than a year now, I've deactivated my Netflix account.  Since then, I had more time to pray and to go to Holy Mass on ordinary days (I am work in progress .. still a long way to go, but God is patient!), to reflect, to connect with others, to walk in the park, to listen to podcasts about topics I want to learn about, and to cross off personal tasks that have been on my list for a long while, among many other things.  

When you allow distractions to consume much time in your life -  that is real time taken away from your life that you will never gain back.  A movie could easily take away 2 to 3 precious hours, and doing a tv series marathon could easily take away 12 to 24 precious hours (or even more) from your life which you would never be able to recover - no matter what.  Been there, done that.   

More than a decade ago,  I played a virtual game - spent hours virtually planting crops and harvesting.  Real time spent but no real vegetables & fruits to harvest.  Isn't that ridiculous?   And to think it is not even hard or expensive to plant (e.g. herbs).   Of course, while I was into the game, I didn't realize how ridiculous it was.  To borrow the term by Golden, I was anesthetized!  Why not spend time planting real plants so you'll have something real to harvest and eat? If you're curious what jolted me to wake up, here's my old blogpost.  

Just to reiterate one final time - time wasted is permanent loss.  Unlike lost money which you can possibly gain back with effort, or health which, with proper discipline & care, could be recoverable,  time is the only form of wealth that can never be regained.

Viewing Challenges as Blessings

Here's a beautiful quote from St. Pio of Pietrelcina:

"Blessed is the crisis that made you grow, 

the fall that made you gaze up to Heaven,

the problem that you made you look for God."

In fact if you have the habit of reflecting about life, you'll realize that all the hurdles that happened in the past (no matter how bad they seem to be), all happened for a good reason. :)

How life can be more meaningful and worthwhile

A friend recently forwarded this message of Pope Francis - a good reminder for all us. 

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay 

Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is… Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you.

Let us all remember then that every changing colour of a leaf is beautiful and every changing situation of life is meaningful, both need very clear vision. So do not grumble or complain, let us instead remember that pain is a sign that we are alive, problems are a sign that we are strong, and prayer is a sign we are not alone. If we can acknowledge these truths and condition our hearts and minds, our lives will be more meaningful, different and worthwhile.

Wisdom from London Underground Quotes

Have you seen some thought-provoking and insightful quotes written on London Underground's message boards circulating online?  This practice of writing a daily quote started in 2004 in London's Oval station where the customer services manager thought of writing quotes from his favorite book, Tao Te Ching.  

Then something wonderful happened. Commuters started approaching the station's staff to tell them how the quotes inspired them or how the quotes talked to them and helped them get answers to whatever they were going through in life.  Eventually, the other stations picked up the initiative.  

Today, 15 years later, the Oval station and other London Underground stations are able to spread the inspiration and wisdom to the rest of the world via social media.  Isn't just amazing how these quotes which were just meant for the daily commuters of London are also able to impact the lives of people across the globe?     

Sharing with you some quotes I like from recent IG posts:

You cannot suffer the past or future because they do not exist.   

What you are suffering from is your memory and imagination.

We are not given a good or bad life. We are given a life and it's up to us to make it good or bad.

One day you will tell your story of how you've overcome what you're going through now and it will become part of someone else's survival guide.

Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. 

I've seen better days but I've also seen worse. 

I don't have everything that I want but I do have all I need.

I wake up with some aches and pains, but I woke up.

My life may not be perfect but I am blessed.

You're not going to master the rest of your life in one day.  Just relax.  
Master the day.  Just keep on doing that every day.

Some of the quotes are funny too. Here are some of them - 

I can't decide if people who wear pajamas in public have given up on life or are living it to the fullest.

I'm in a really good place . . . I don't mean spiritually or anything; I am in bed with cake. 😂