Ever say to yourself or someone else, “I have to go to work” with that sense of beleagueredness in your voice? Ever stop to reflect on how that happened or what it might really mean?
It can be very freeing and tremendously helpful to clarify needs versus desires in a very fundamental way. Last September on Labor Day weekend Scott Simon on NPR posted a very thought provoking essay related to this topic. There are really very few things we have to do, choices where we really have no choice and no ability to exercise free will. Our ultimate death is one of the few examples of something we have no choice about.
This weekend the weather was beautiful where I live. I sat in front of the fire watching the sun come up one crisp morning, it’s golden light casting into a golden relief the butterfly bush and laurel hedge visible through the windows on either side of the fireplace as it slow warmed the outside air to a very balmy 68 degrees. Each rain droplet in the garden seemed to gleam for a moment in the breeze before it evaporated. It was the kind of morning that did not beckon one to work.
As I switched on the radio for a brief dose of world events while I made tea and toaster waffles while watching the neighborhood brighten up and wake up, I reflected on how having to work colors the whole picture and can make a sunny day look cloudy.
