Sometimes they’re there and then they’re not. There are those choices that we have to make that might separate us, if we let it. Will we let it? Life gets in the way. Plans get in the way. Eventually, friends disappear, then reappear, but something’s different. That which is familiar isn’t any longer and instead we’re left with just an impression, a snapshot in time… Sometimes what was is better than what is, and what is isn’t worth the bother. It’s funny to think about the present, and how it can drag on, but when it’s gone, and it can’t come back, there’s a sentimental longing to have that time back again. Life’s strange…

A couple weeks ago I read this note at Reddit about a guy who emailed Pandora and got a shirt. I love Pandora and I wanted a Pandora shirt, so I decided to give it a shot. So not expecting much, here’s what I wrote:

Hello,

I just wanted to tell you all that Pandora is awesome. I’ve been premium subscriber for a few years now. I listen to my stations every day. I tell everyone (who hasn’t heard about you) that they should not just listen but join to keep it alive, and overall, I’m one satisfied customer. I’ve been exposed to so many great artists and I have Pandora running when I work, at home, on my iPod about 18 hours a day, always listening.

With all of that said, I know that you sent another fan a shirt, and if you can spare a XXL for a brawny lad like myself, I’d like to promote you by sporting your dry goods!

Thanks and keep up the great, great work!

Matt

In short, look what arrived from Pandora, in the mail today, personally signed by the founder, Tim Westergren:

Let me also add, they even included a 2XL for this brawny lad. It’s just that kind of attention to detail that has made Pandora my #1 site and why they just might have gotten themselves a lifetime subscriber. While I would love to see them include more indie artists, as they did early on, there’s still nobody like them. They’ve changed the way I enjoy music and are what it means to be constantly striving to be better.

That’s why I heart Pandora!

From MetaFilter:

It reminds me of that Steinbeck quote, that ‘Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.’

I mean it’s really not. If you look at the amazing amount of stuff that’s going on and if you look at this thing that you’re dealing with, whether it’s at home, or it’s at work, or whatever, really, when you get down to it and look at it, it’s pretty trivial. If it were life and death, man, there’d be no bumming around or idle fretting because you’d be flying on adrenaline trying to get the situation in order, that’s the fight or flight reflex in full effect, our caveman brain, making us take action — nothing to contemplate or navel gaze about there.

It’s taken me a while to get this joke, but 95% of what ails us ain’t nothin’ at all. At first glance, stuff seems to be more than we can handle, but when we really focus on it, it’s nothing; nothing we can’t handle and nothing that we should be worrying ourselves about.

“There exists only the present instant… a Now which always and without end is itself new. There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now, as it was a thousand years ago and as it will be a thousand years hence.”
- Meister Eckhart

Looking at my Pandora player this is what the pop-up window on the screen is asking me.

Throughout my working life I’ve looked around the room, during meetings, and asked myself the same very question. At what point does a meeting become too much? At what point do we check out mentally and become disengaged? I think we all know when we’ve reached that place in our attention span where we just can’t sit and talk about abstractions anymore, the place where even tepid coffee isn’t doing it for us any longer.

The truth is: Any meeting that is necessary and purposeful is going to keep you alert and engaged because you need and want to know the content of the discussion.

How many meetings are truly like this?

Think about this before you schedule your next meeting. Perhaps a few direct 1:1 conversations might make more of an impact.

From  Chris Guillebeau’s blog, The Art of Non-Conformity, specifically his post on sufficiency:

One of the best feelings in the world comes from the awareness that everything will be okay. If you have that feeling, you know exactly what I mean.

Everything is going to be Ok, it really is. It’s hard to know this for sure because stuff feels crazy and out of control some times, while at other times feeling boring and restless. I think a lot of that is the human condition. We’re constantly looking back or looking forward, nervous, or excited, or anxious, or just anticipating with wonder and possibility. Really, though, and it’s conceptually abstract, all we have is now, and I tell myself this as much as I try to tell anybody who may be reading this.

I found Chris perspective timeless, and also timely for me, personally.