January 13, 2024
Must say I was surprised today. Virtually no one greeted me or nodded in passing. I felt like I was walking in Vermont. Today is a Saturday and the trail has many more people on it then on a weekday. On reflection, maybe the weekend traffic is of a kind who travels in his or her own head. Maybe they are looking to escape interaction and rejuvenate. Get recharged. During the week its mostly the retired, like me, the unemployed and students. Just a guess.
Speaking for myself, I welcome polite interaction, the meaningless exchanges that I have with strangers. It keeps me civil, or maybe civilized, and connected. Otherwise, I am living in my head, just a little isolated. That is excepting the exchanges I have with Jill while she works in her office. I try not to become a distraction, pulling her attention away from her work.
Since I am out of the work force, I am not compelled to have a dialogue with peers, clients, or supervisors in encounters where something is on the line. I live in the present now more than at any time in my adult life. I heard a serendipitous reference regarding this today while watching YouTube. The content provider quoted Lao-Tzu, a sixth century BCE Chinese philosopher, who made a point about happiness: “People who are depressed live in the past, people who are anxious live in the future; people who are happy live in the present."
That is something I strive for every day. The Stoic Way. I used to be one of those weekend joggers. While pounding out a five-mile run I relived my week, my past, sweating next week’s presentations, my future, rarely being present in the 'now' and therefore, rarely fully happy even though I was surrounded with love.
