Sunday, October 20, 2019

Killing Time, Intelligently …

Yes, there are people who have time to kill, at least from their perspective.  For example, a while ago I was stuck in a high rise elevator, and it took them over two hours to get me out.  So what do you do with all that time to yourself by yourself and nowhere to go?  No WiFi, no phone connection either.  Well, no problem for me.  I did my Tai Chi exercises, nice and slow, and again, until the rescue crew was able to pull the elevator up to a floor and pry open the door.  I did have my iPhone with me at the time, but there was no reception in the elevator.  Otherwise I might have been online instead.

Yet there are many occasions for many people to be stuck in what could be dead time, which could be filled usefully somehow.  For example, I know retired people who, after a full professional life, are now in a totally relaxed position, free from any work demands, free from having to interact with busybodies and other keyed up individuals pursuing some urgent idea.  Actually, as some have told me, they wake up, and after breakfast they dread the empty time laying ahead for a day in which nothing is going to happen except that the usual timekillers like watching TV or watching the birds can be followed.

These empty times waiting to be filled are not only available to oldsters.  They come in different forms also for the young, maybe even more so, because they haven’t been exposed to all the multitude of world-intruding opportunities.  For example, the weather is bad and it’s not advisable to go outside and play.  All the other players won’t be there either, for the same reason.  So, what do you do?

Well here is the answer, or at least one answer, if the reception on your cellphone works, or a computer is handy, hooked up to the internet:  Go ONLINE and learn something!

Yes, that’s my recommendation.  Learning is and should be a lifelong process.  There is sooooo much to learn, much of it useful, and some of it just for the pleasure of it. So why not go for it?  If you absolutely have to, or want to, kill some time, go ONLINE, and study something,

If nothing comes to mind that you’d love to study (which is hard for me to comprehend), start with the history of your name, where it comes from, what it means, who else has it.  Then go from there finding out who those people were, where they lived, and how, what their lives looked like.  Who were their friends?  Their enemies?  What was or is their society like?  What would they look for in you, what you’d be doing and hopefully accomplishing.  Come to think of it, look at your society around you, of which you are a part.  Find out how your society sees you, what it likes to see in you and expects you to do.

That should give you a good start for subjects to examine more closely and learn about.  ONLINE all the way!  No more time waiting to be killed.  Studying and learning means and keeps you alive.  Being bored and mentally inactive means and does diminish your health.  Yet you are here to live, be healthy and happy.  That’s what it’s all about.  Why not go ahead and have fun!



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