I clench my jaw
As the world turns
Is there respite?
Is there grace for the weary?
Is there strength for the weak?
Or is it all myth?
Is myth as powerful as truth?
Is truth more the power of an idea
Than its accuracy?
The outcome of a belief
More than that belief’s validity?
One can have knowledge
Of the machinery of the universe
But do they possess truth?
Does that knowledge inspire?
Is truth really just inspiration?
Dance with me
In this Castle of Lost Dreams
Under the slumbering spires
And the wistful clouds
Silence cascades over sea-slicked stone
A testament to history forgotten
To lives well lived
But living no longer
You and I come here
On the windswept banners of sleep
Across the dreary oceanic wastes
Our ship borne gently
By music and memory
We never meet in the waking light
Only in sun-bleached visions
Forever banished to this lonely island
Grateful guests in the Castle of Lost Dreams
I’ve always been a proponent of small breaks from your daily work to clear your mind, rest your eyes, and recharge your energy. For some people this takes the form of smoke breaks. Wouldn’t you say it’s a sad reflection on our priorities as a corporate society that people take up unhealthy habits just to get a small reprieve from the stressful grind of work? I have met people in my career that have done just that. They don’t take a break to smoke – they smoke so that they can take a break.
We as a society undervalue the benefits of a content and happy person. We focus on the amount of time put into a project rather than the gross amount of energy and excitement that is dedicated to it. This makes our most gifted individuals less productive, while all the while we operate under the assumption that they are more productive because they put in longer hours. That’s a backwards understanding of the human psyche.
This idea of the smoke break has applications in our personal, “extracurricular” lives as well. The average adult in the US spends 5 hours a day consuming visual media via one screen or another. If you consider that the average individual may only have 14 hours a day to distribute across work and other duties, that leave very little room for peace and quite. We are actively robbing ourselves of the time alone with our thoughts that is needed more than ever in today’s world. Our brains are shellshocked by the bombardment of eighteen different storylines from all of the shows that we watch – on top of the data that we feed into them at our places of work. It’s no wonder we are tired, anxious, and oblivious to the things that are most important.
All that said: we need more smoke breaks. I’m not encouraging you to take up the habit of polluting your body. Simply this: give your mind a rest. At work, at home, and at play. And I’m mostly speaking to myself.
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