Tomorrow I'll be Eighty (The Voice you have)

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Last Friday was the end of my first full week of work. I came back on Wednesday, February 1st and I am amazed that I've already had two Fridays on the job! Time really just flies by at gale force. As I have been at work though, I've been thinking about the way people perceive others, based solely on the tone of their voice, or perhaps their style of speaking. If you are soft spoken, people tend to think that you are soft, and likewise, if you have a loud or deep voice, people tend to think you are forceful.

My next thought was about the tone of our language. If people make assumptions based solely on the booming or whisper-like nature of a person's tone, do they also make assumptions based on the strength or passivity of the language we use? In science, researchers reporting their findings and theories are told to use the passive voice because it lends to the nature of research, i.e. incomplete understanding. A researcher is told to use the passive voice for reporting because they should be objective, less self-convicted, and more aware of the existing mysteries in what they are researching. In everyday speech and fictional writing, the passive voice creates ambiguity and can be a tool (for politicians, for e.g.) to give information while being vague about the details.

I titled this post "Tomorrow I'll be Eighty (The Voice you have)" because I was just thinking about how fast the time flies, and also about the Resolution below. Feeling as though you contribute and are being purposeful in my mind, has a little something to do with what you are saying about yourself in your actions and in the voice you use to communicate you to the external world.

9.) Wherever I go, there I am. This relates to Res 2.) and 3.), but is important in its own right, because this speaks to one's state of mind at every point. This is especially important in those transition times, in the times where you are fed up of where you are, and every day increases your angst. All [last] year here I've been looking at ways to combat feelings of meaninglessness which erupt most when you aren't doing everything you wish you were. The goal of this Resolution is to find any and every thing that could make you feel like you are contributing and purposeful where you are. I really think people need to know that they add to their space, and deciding to be present wherever you find yourself is my answer to an uncontrollable restlessness. 

In my opinion, there is always something that you are absolutely sure of. For me, purposefulness is the key, or one of the keys to happiness. I don't mean having things to do when I use the term “purposefulness” though, I mean having an increasingly clear picture of what you were made to do, and doing it. Abraham Maslow called this “self-actualization,” where you are the person you envision yourself being and your needs are being met. What I have learnt is that there is a certain amount of liberation and more importantly, increase in happiness when you actively insert yourself into your days. At the end of the day, I don’t want to be so wound up because I'm completely dissatisfied with everything that I have and everything that I've been doing all day. My theory is that we feel like that when we know of other things we could be doing, we know we didn't say things that we believed and that we were basically letting life happen to us all day long.

When I die, I want it to be true that I happened to the world around me. I want it to be true that wherever I went, I made the environment different. I want to know that my humour brightened up my office or my therapy session. I want to know that my determination made someone try something new. I want my blog to have touched someone. Do you see what I’m saying? I’m using my own personal examples, but I really want to challenge you to be thinking about who you are. Ask your loved ones what your best qualities are, what really moves them about you, and see if you are cultivating that in every aspect of your life. Do you know why you are at the job you are at? Do you see how your skills differ and improve your environment? If you don’t, I’m encouraging you to find out, and make sure you’re using them. I'm saying be present and active in your own life. If you like, you can come back and comment or message me (which a lot of people seem to like to do) about how you find that experience, if you think that is always possible and what are some things you can do in the situations where it's hard to be an individual.

Life seems to just fly by, and in my opinion there is a lifetime and not much time at all. I see you as having great potential, and the world is so very blessed to have you in it. Imagine what the world would be like if more people were being active in the voice and the actions that they use. My challenge for the week is for you to be wherever you are, because at the end of our lives we will look back and my hope is that you'll be able to say that "That was me. I did that, and I'm so glad that I had the courage to..."