It was a beautiful scene, and it inspired me to write a short poem about it. The theme of my poem was the tension between water and rock, or in this case, water vapor and a mountain. Natural beauty is all around us, we just have to know it when we see it. We also have to learn how to appreciate it. Guam is a land of beautiful people, inside and out.
Our reality is formed by a number of factors including what we do, what we say and what we think. But there is a core value to our reality that is related to our use of time. What we decide to spend our time on is really who we are.
In his very interesting book, “Blink,” Malcolm Gladwell discusses how people rise to the tops of their fields or become experts in particular subjects.
According to Gladwell, there is a basic rule that if a person spends about 10,000 hours doing a particular thing or studying a particular subject, they become an expert or elite performer. The key of course is to have the discipline to use time consistently in a programmed fashion.
MIT has a wonderful open coursework program and anyone using the Internet can develop their skills for free. One of the subjects I used as a sort of trial run was a course called PE 550, “Designing Your Life.” The idea behind life-design is to start today to make your life a better place. Large life goals are made and then efforts are taken to meet these goals and keep on track. Distractions and life clutter are avoided and periodic evaluations are made of progress. Making peace with parents is a part of this process. It is a really neat and free program. Our potential opportunities are truly wonderful if we avoid distractions and stay on track.
About six years ago, Rhonda Byrne came out with a book, called “The Secret.” The primary premise behind the secret is that by focusing on a goal and eliminating distractions, we can reach that goal. Quite a number of the concepts in Byrne’s work are very old and are related to positive thinking. But, two points come up a lot. The reality of our lives is really a result of how we use the focus of our time.
We really have two choices in life at all times. We can choose to do things or we can choose not to do things. We can decide which channels to watch on the soap opera of our lives. We can also decide not to watch at all. Learning how to avoid wasting time is a key life skill.
RON McNINCH
Mangilao, Guam
