From the Bottom of the Bucket

Return from the Forest (Part 2)

This month's post is a companion post to last month's chronicle of The 2018 Fall Fire Circle.  The post describes the event in detail.   This month I would like to add some thoughts about Living in the Bucket and finish the year with some comments.

This blog was started with the purpose of providing a simple, defined structure for organizing your life for optimal satisfaction.  I spent a whole career gathering the steps outlined in what I call "The System", which is detailed in this blog's archives, or emailed to those who request it.

I am not claiming to be  a guru.   In fact, I am trying to "pay forward" all of the help I have been given in my seventy years on this earth.  But there is a personal reason as well.  Trying to stay intellectually involved after retirement takes effort.  It is all to easy to slip into a lifestyle that asks nothing from you and is characterized as leisure but, in fact, looks more like decay.

At the center of this approach is the  concept of Activities.   We can observe what is important to a person (What do I stand for?) by watching how they expend their resources (money, time, vigor, etc).  To be purposeful about such Activities, is to improve the probability of being  satisfied with the outcome.  Defining them provides a real time reading to determine if you are "walking the talk" (accountability).

We all seem to use the excuse "I haven't the time to.....", when, really, it appears that it just isn't a priority.  That's ok, you should just be clear what and why your real priorities are.

This  process is easier when you remove distractions from the event. One of the best ways I know of to do this is to get out into nature.   The ever moving motion of Nature, provides the perfect opportunity to affirm your direction in a dynamic world.  This is what Iearned when I adapted to my injury and the rainstorm on the hike.

As we draw the year to a close, I can say that I (mostly) stayed my course through the distractions that were handed to me.  During the three weeks where I thought my death was near, I found peace in the knowledge that I had indeed "walked the talk".  Now that I have been given the gift of more time, I have doubled my determination to keep learning, defining my Roles, and taking the right paths.

To that  end, my wife and I are shaking up family tradition by spending Christmas in Barbados and New Years in Antigua. Totally foreign environments that will force us to define how we see these holidays.  When we return, we will have a fresh perspective and ready for our 2019 Planning Retreat, the cornerstone to identifying what you stand for and how you intend to organize your resources for the satisfaction of who you are. 

Until next time, I wish you fulfillment.

Bob