A case of the Mondays...

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
~ Marcus Aurelius

Today is Monday.

While on some weeks that fact is responded to by inward (and outward) groans and grimaces, this Monday I'm glad. To be completely honest, after a properly enjoyable weekend, I'm ready to get into the swing of the week again because a part of me misses the driven productivity of my workaday world. Isn't that what weekends should be anyway? A respite from the life that makes you need a respite?

Of course, in an optimal world, your whole life would be enjoyable and you wouldn't need a respite. I'm not referring to winning the lottery and going to live in seclusion on a private island, although that's what most of us tend to think an "enjoyable" life would be - truthfully I think we'd also be pulling our hair out in a month from the boredom of it. What I mean by an enjoyable life is one that is balanced - that has play, work (that is fulfilling and that speaks to your spirit, whichever language that takes), love for the feeling of it, interesting things for the thinking of, and ways to enjoy your body (physical exercise, etc.) all in amounts that combine to make a satisfying life. Not just a life that satisfies you, but one that also serves the greater good...

It's one of my beliefs that if everyone followed what their heart truly wanted them to do in life, they would end up doing things to benefit the world and themselves. It may be naive, but from what I've felt and seen in myself and others I believe it to be true.

So anyway, back to Mondays.

As for me, my life is not perfectly balanced, but I'm working on it. And something that's helping to push me along that path is this nice Monday morning - I can buckle down to work this week knowing that I've also spent time doing things that needed to be done for reasons other than grades and paychecks, those reasons being things like, enjoying the summer:Happy Monday!