Existential Savings Time

This weekend Daylight Savings time takes effect for the season. Such a strange concept. Probably outdated by now for its original purpose, (helping farmers, or something) but very much a profound symbol of perception and our power to change same on a massive scale.

Think about it. You tell a whole nation, (with a few exceptions in the Midwest) to literally move their clocks ahead by one hour early Sunday morning, and bingo. It is actually no longer the same time of day. One day stores just open, alarms go off, shifts end, all at a different moment in the day than previously, as measured by the position of the earth relative to the previous day. But because we all decide, "okay, that moment will as of now, be called 6:00AM as opposed to 5:00AM for a while" we have effectively changed time itself, as far as our perceptions are concerned.

Clocks do not cause time of course. They are mere machines that are designed to move in a certain pattern by which we can assign a numerical value to a specific moment, or collection of moments in our day, thus organizing our activities. Clocks are a 100% human construct. Yet by use of clocks we break down into bite sized pieces the very natural, inevitable advance of our lives, and the lives of our cities, our nations, and the world and universe even. Time keeping as we understand it is a means by which we turn a transcendent or even Divine concept into daily knowledge.

Just like that.Twice a year. Once forward, and once backward. And we go on with our day with ease afterward.

It works because clocks, whether digital, analog, or even a sundial, are perception. A universal agreement to observe something as inexplicable as time  in a very human, understandable way. A way that, twice a year we alter entirely simply by pressing a button, or turning the lever on the simplest of machines by 360 degrees.

As a society, we actually declare that it is no longer 5:00AM, by an act of "freewill". (Though of course if you opt out of it, you will be late for everything the rest of your life. But you get my point.)


So imagine what that says about the power of perceiving. The abilities we have as people to change our reality and come at things from a totally different angle. The paradigm shifts we can cause, for good or for bad, on both the individual and global levels, just by deciding we are going to define something in a different way. See it in a new light. Determine that our thoughts can in many ways give birth to a reality limited only by what we decide to think and see.


Yes, I will lose an hour of sleep on Sunday. But pondering the other truth behind this strange ritual more than makes up for that I think.

What DON'T You Want? (A Featured Post on Brazen Careerist!)

Being goal oriented is important. Most people know that. It gives one a focus. A target. Something to both visualize from the spiritual standpoint, and something for which to plan from a more earthly standpoint.

Yet goals are things which we have not yet achieved. Which means they are in the future. Which means there are bound to be obstacles on our journey to completing them.

Sometimes we know exactly what our goals are. When we do, we can easily see most of the obstacles that lie in our way towards said goals. What we do not see right away becomes clear as we take that journey.

But what if you are not sure what your goal is at any given time? Or what if it is a very broad goal? (i.e. move to another city.) What then? How to focus and gain all of the benefits of a clearly defined goal?

First, take total stock of all current condition pertaining to the subject at hand. Think really hard about every detail of your life. But instead of thinking so hard about what you want in the future, determine with as much specificity as possible what you do not like about the present.

Say you live in New York City. You want your life to change somehow. You want something different, but you can't quite put your finger on what would make you feel better. Set that aside, and think long and hard about what you do NOT like about your current situation. Perhaps you are tired of crowds. Of noise. Or pollution. You may not know what you want to do next, but by isolating those things that make you most unhappy, you would perhaps have discovered  it is time for you to make your way to the suburbs, or perhaps a totally rural environment. Where or how is not important today. Just determine where you could go to be away from that which dissatisfies you.

Your job is ok, but you feel it's time for a change. But a change to what? Is anything better than what you have now? How can you know? Again, think deeply about what it is about your job you simply cannot stand. Have you grown weary of all the traveling you must do? Do you miss being able to always be at home at the end of the day, instead of a hotel room somewhere else? Then perhaps this means you would prefer a desk job at this point in your life. Or at least a job that requires you to go only to one place during the day, and nowhere else. Again, you haven't decided where exactly you are going next, but you have determined that one of your goals will be to research jobs that will allow you to stay in one place.

Many advise you to ignore that which is negative, and think only of your dreams, and what you want. But if you are like me, and sometimes Too XYZ to know exactly what you want to change, it can be of great benefit to determine what it is about your current situation that you most want to be rid of.

Don't take this approach lightly. This should be the result of deliberate soul searching on your part. Because just as we are not always of what our goals should be, we are also not always sure what is bothering us about life. But take the time, and put in some mental/spritual effort, and it will come to you. And when it does you are one step closer to having an all important goal.

Have you ever made a life decision based at first on what you knew you didn't want any longer?