I'm usually up around 4am, so no sign of the wife or kids, plenty of time for a long hot shower, and a leisurely relaxed shave, time to think about what I have to do at work that day, and generally some me time!!!
When I use a DE or SE I let thoughts wonder while sometimes listening to music. Currently using a Magic Shavette and to be honest I really have to concentrate 100% while shaving with it because if I don't, it will bring me back to Earth by way of a small amount of pain and lots of red if you now what I mean
This is going to sound really cheesy, but recently, I've been hitting the "record" button on my phone and sitting it down on the counter while I shave. As I think of something, I just say it out loud to myself. Later, I go back and transcribe any thoughts I think are important. Here are some of the thoughts I have had while shaving: Go to bed earlier. You don't need to stay up for that. Spend more time on the things you love and less time on the things that are just ok. Depression = living in the past. Anxiety = living in the future. Peace = living in the present. Cultivate a habit of spending a little time doing nothing, or at least not panicking about productivity for a few minutes. White space can make life better. Subtract! Reduce your possessions, reduce your commitments—say no sometimes to people and things and free up time for living and doing what's most important. Set a timer and stay focused on the task until the timer goes off. Get your priority tasks done first, even if they're loathsome, and then you'll be able to remove that burden from over your head and enjoy the next thing. Use a daily goal to measure productivity, rather than task completion. When you're done with the day's goal, you're done for the day! Be more conscious. That was a refreshing glass of water, wasn't it? Isn't this chair nice? Wow, my wife looks beautiful today. Schedule it if you want it. If you don't set aside time for it, it won't happen. If you don't love a book you're reading, drop it. This isn't an antibiotic—you don't have to finish the full course. You're going to miss out on a lot of great things. It's physically impossible to experience every good food, place, activity, book, etc. It's impossible! So enjoy the delicious slice of life you've been given and quit wasting time dreaming about something else. Dreaming is not the same as doing. It goes "Ready, aim, fire!" Stop spending all your time reading up on and thinking about getting ready or aiming. We need to spend more time doing! Put it away and/or clean it when you're done with it, when you bring it home, when you finish eating off of it, etc. Don't set anything aside for later. Just get out the door. Once you get outside, you'll be fine. Change just one tiny habit at a time. Once that tiny habit is normal, then move on to the next one. Pause after every urge. Consider the urge. Think about it for a bit. That pause gives us space to decide. If everything is important to us, then nothing is. Reset from time to time. You are not 5-years-ago you. You don't have to work toward a goal you set 5 years ago if it doesn't match what you want for life now. Ignore advertisements for the better life. You know what would make your life better, and it's not found on the shelf of a retail store. It will never be something you buy with money. Again, shaving has been great for me as it's freed up time to think quietly about life and to remind myself of things I think are important (or am trying to figure out). I think I'm going to continue recording my thoughts as they come!
Because it seems to fit with your theme and you may have already heard this; it's Dennis Prager's formula for happiness (look it up on Y-tube, it's a bit more involved): Unhappiness = Image - Reality I've been percolating that a lot lately. The opposite way to state it might be, Happiness = Reality - Unrealistic Expectations Of course this isn't the true key to true happiness but I shant go into that here.
I'm close to finishing my undergraduate studies, just one more class over summer. During my shaves, I've just been thinking about how much different my life will be once I move out of my apartment and start working a real job.
Heh - Depends on where I'm at. Around the ears I'm thinking "pay attention, don't nick the ear" On the neck I'm thinking "don't plow into the goatee" On the cheeks and jaw line I'm thinking " up here, back here, across here and watch out for the 'stash" After, I'm thinking "Ok dumbass, try to rinse without getting water all over you slippers this time"
I usually have to slow myself down. I'm a get it done quick and efficiently type of person. I have to tell myself it's not a race and just let it happen. The afterwards I usually do the once look/rub to check it and rub my face for the next hour or so.
Let's see ... I wash and condition my hair. Rinse after each one. Lather up the pitts and go at it with my L6. Praying (thinking) I don't want nick anything I can't see! So far this not looking has worked out for me. Rinse. Adjust the water spray, lather up the left leg. Start at the bottom inside of the left foot, head all the way up to the knee. Commence to shaving around the ankle, all the while I'm thinking, "please don't donk your ankle again.". Rinse, repeat with right leg. At this stage, it's a good sign if there is no blood. Now for the cold water ... and I think "I sure do hope this cold water is what's making my legs look NICE!"
"...if I should I go number one or number two? I think I can hold it till lunch time." Sorry, Steve. I'm one of those guys who see the irreverent and irrelevant in the smallest of things.
I like this one especially....it's actually ironic that you posted this because I'm currently reading the '48 laws of power' book before bed and while some of it's interesting, some of it's pretty irrelevant to me and I'd probably be better off reading a good fictional book for pleasure.
Yeah, I enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction, but I found myself finishing whatever book I picked up, even when I wasn't getting anything out of it. The same holds true for movies. I've watched movies my family or friends recommended, and I felt some obligation to finish them even when I knew halfway through that I didn't like them. Life's too short and there are too many great alternatives to waste your time with mediocrity. You don't have to finish something mediocre for completion's sake.
