As you probably know, our universe has been around for more than three billion years.  While I’m able to think in terms of millions of people or millions of dollars, I admit that I have no real concept of what a billion is.  Let’s just say it’s a very long time, especially when compared to a single human lifespan.

As you also probably know, human beings have been around for several hundred thousand years. But it’s easy to forget that many tools we enjoy today have not always been available to us.

How about electricity?  Usable electricity is a relatively recent innovation, and one I think we should appreciate more than we do. From transportation to artificial lights to central heating and air conditioning, electricity is the common thread.  Can you imagine what life would be like without it?  And yet, electricity has only been available for use since the days of Thomas Edison (1847-1931).  He developed many devices for electric power generation, as well as mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.

So where am I going with this?

I think we should appreciate the technological advantages of living in our world today. Human ingenuity and creativity have engineered so many conveniences that we now take for granted. For example, most of us enjoy watching television, and yet it only became a part of our culture during my lifetime. Before that people had to sit around the living room and talk to one another.  Horrors!  When my father was born (in 1914) radios were not in general use, there were no interstate highways, and people walked to their place of worship on Sundays or travelled in a horse-drawn buggy.

I have no idea what the future will bring, but I do believe that each of us should strongly appreciate the fact that today we seldom have to climb five stories of stairs (that’s what elevators are for) and we can drive home safely – at seventy miles an hour – even when it’s dark. I for one enjoy watching football on TV, and I love being able to take a hot shower every day.

And so, if you’re looking for something more to appreciate in your life, I hereby nominate Electricity!

Hip hip, hooray!

Alan

Today, I’m scheduled to enjoy my monthly lunch with one of my sons.  As I shared a few weeks ago, at a recent lunch, he noted that if we see each other once a month for the next eight or ten years, that will only be about 100 more visits in my lifetime.

Ouch!  That idea woke me up. Am I doing everything I can to make every moment count?

There are many aspects of life that we take for granted.  For me those include good health, the abundance of healthy food and safe drinking water and all the other necessities for living well that I am lucky to have access to. I am secure in my thinking that my comfortable life will continue forever.  Well, if not forever then at least for a long time.

While it’s easy for me to say, “nothing will last forever,” it’s another matter entirely for me to believe that everything I know will end. Because that is much sooner than I would like.

We can respond to life’s limitations by fighting against them – but ultimately, we will lose.  Or we can keep in mind that our time on earth is limited, and our job is to find our personal niche and occupy it with as much joy and satisfaction as we can muster out of every moment.

I have six biological children, whose occupations include doctor, lawyer, and college professor, yoga instructor, editor and therapist.  I’ve been an accountant, attorney, and for many years a real estate investor.  When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a writer, and as an adult I published five books and founded a prestigious literary journal. While lately, the only writing I’ve been doing regularly is this blog, for more than ten years, and I’ve never missed a week.

I invite you to consider your niche in life.  Have you found it?  Do you occupy it most of the time?  Does it bring you happiness and satisfaction? My younger brother, who died way too young at the age of 60, made a career out of being a kid.  I think he preferred the company of seven-year-olds to the company of adults.  “Kids have more fun,” he once told me.

If you have found your niche, I applaud you.  If you still have a way to go, I encourage you to keep looking, because finding your personal niche is worth —

Everything.

Alan

It was bound to happen.

After writing my blog every week for more than ten years I’m sitting at my desk at 1:49 pm on Monday afternoon, wondering what I should write about.

In freshman psychology I learned that if you can’t solve a problem consciously, just stuff it into your subconscious and wait for the answer.  I even wrote a People Tool about that.

Hello, subconscious.  You don’t have much time left.

Aha!  Subconscious suggests writing the story of my Shakespeare class.  That’s as good an idea as any.

But as my subconscious often does these days – it forgot that I’ve already shared that story with you in a previous blog. But in case you are as forgetful as I am, (and I know many of us are) let me briefly remind you.  In my second year of law school, I was rather bored with law classes, so as a treat to myself I enrolled, at no extra cost, in an evening Shakespeare course.  This meant that I would be in class from 8:00 am until 9:45 pm, with only a short break for lunch.  Little did I realize how much I would enjoy that class or that it would turn out to be the very best class of my life.

During the second lecture, other students peppered the instructor, Dr. Alan Cason, with questions. “Save your questions for the end of my lecture.  I probably will have answered all your questions by then.” I thought he was arrogant, and promised myself I would have at least six questions for him at the end of class.  I even wrote them down.

Unfortunately, I failed to ask him any questions, because by the end of his lecture, he did, in fact, answer every question I’d thought of, as well as many I could never have imagined.

What brought this to mind was the lecture I attended last week by Thomas Friedman, long-time columnist for the New York Times.  His words were both informative and highly interesting. I was reminded, once again, how much I enjoy a fine lecture.

So, if you’re looking for something new to do, consider enrolling in an extension class, or attending a lecture.  The secret?  Pay no attention to the subject matter.  Just find someone who really knows her or his subject and can speak in a manner that is both informative and entertaining.

Not only are you likely to enjoy yourself, but it’s inevitable you’ll learn something too.

Alan