2024 October 29 Every moment counts

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. If you like what you hear today please leave a “Like”, subscribe, tell your friends and send me a message! 

Thanks for joining me tonight to talk about treasuring every one of life’s moments. It’s a simple topic and it will be a short visit tonight because not a lot really needs to be said about it, but it is good to say it out loud every now and again.

Yes, I am well aware that many of life’s moments don’t seem especially treasure-worthy, but we often forget how many things have to work right to even have a bad day. There are many reasons for talking about this right now, including the place of work in life and priorities. I attended part of FinCon 24 in Atlanta last week and that had a big impact upon me, mostly because it re-reminded me to revisit my goals and perspective. 

The other part is that last night a neighbor was found to have passed away. It was a very quiet individual, but I could usually get him to talk. Then over the past few months he started talking to everyone a lot more, and suddenly seemed to realize the pleasure in being around people.

A few weeks ago we stood in his driveway and talked for over a half hour, and he was laughing, and wanted to get together to walk, and really seemed like a new person. And I was thinking about all the years he was hesitant to do that, and only discovered the joy of sharing life’s good moments shortly before his passing. 

And that is what got me thinking about this topic, along with a Facebook post I saw and mostly ignored. But it was from a group of old friends of mine, some of whom I have known for over 6 decades. 

It was much wailing and angst because the Washington Post took the stance of not endorsing any candidate. I do wonder how many of the complainers and accusers took the time to fully read Jeff Bezos’ statement on the subject.

Old Jeff and I disagree on many things, but his article was excellent. It isn’t easy to find, but it was, not surprising, in the Washington Post. Like the rest of the news, Google is returning everyone’s comments on his article rather than the article itself. His point was that newspapers shouldn’t be picking sides, they should be reporting the news and rebuilding trust, both extremely true. He went on to say that the decision should have been made sooner, but later is better than never and he took responsibility for it. 

One would think that should be front page news, but that’s not how life works these days. Instead, the news, and my friends, blasted everything, and because someone dared to find a different point of view, they had to condemn the action and everything about it. So much empathy, compassion, open-mindedness, and very importantly, a balanced life perspective. 

That was the tipping stone of this simple reminder to truly treasure every moment in life. Rather than trying to learn anything about the world and other people’s perspectives, instead accusations flew and spleens were vented in public over politics.

I know it certainly made me rethink some things and really reevaluate the place of social media in my life, and the place of people who are so quick to accuse and judge others, often in the most demeaning terms. 

And then I thought of the people I met at FinCon (the friendliest conference on earth, by the way), and then of my neighbor, who had just started to discover the pleasure that is possible in the world before he was called to leave the world behind.

Hence this short reminder; every moment really and truly does matter, because once it is gone, it is gone forever. It is up to you what you want to do in every moment, we talk about this often. You can be an agent for positive change, or for negative change. The decision is up to you, but once it is made, it can never be undone for the rest of eternity.

That is why I encourage people to always take the opportunity to improve the world even one tiny bit with a smile or a kind word. You are never sure how big a positive impact it might have, and it might save someone’s life.

I think of my neighbor, and I was glad to have spoken with him over the years, and especially more recently. I hope it had some effect in taking the chance to venture out and meet more of his neighbors, and start to realize life doesn’t have to be isolated. The cost to me was low, a little time, but my adjacent neighbor commented to me how friendly he always seemed, which was a total reversal of his very shy self from before. To me, that was such a beautiful payback for a few minutes of sharing some time with someone else.

The decision is yours now, when something is exactly what you want, how do you want the moment to be remembered? If you have the chance to make a positive influence, will you decide to make the investment? 

The world, and the US, didn’t get so hard-hearted by huge changes. It got that way one decision at a time, and it can get better the same way, one decision at a time. Every moment counts, every moment deserves to be treasured. Make the most of each one, and try your best to end it with a smile. I know it is often difficult, and none of us will always succeed, but searching for smiles instead of anger is a good place to start. That's it for the evening.

Your homework (always optional) is to just stay aware of your actions in every moment, and to try to find the good around you. Time passes by with little notice, so it is up to you to notice the good around you. No extra points tonight; the message and the actions are really pretty simple.

That’s it for the evening. Please remember the many wars currently active in the world – in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa. Everywhere there are disasters or suffering. If you are able and interested, the page of Ukraine donation links is still up at UKR7.com. The other link is to World Central Kitchen, which is José Andrés’ group. They are totally humanitarian, providing meals for people in need. You can find them at WCK.org.

Remember that one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. As always, be true to yourself and live your life aligned with your true goals and feelings.

As always, thank you for stopping by!  If you found something interesting or useful please pass it along and please subscribe and hit that Like button. If not, please drop me a comment as to what you would like to hear. Have a great week!

Remember to live the life you dreamed of because that is the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone and see you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com.