Cloud Thought 23~ The Last Alarm Clock

The Last Alarm Clock:

This cloud thought is presented to you on the day in 2018 when the clocks went back an hour in UK. This is a day when we become more aware of time passing than ever. This is because we are physically altering our clocks by an hour.

 Many of us got an extra hour in bed and some of us were lucky enough to wake up when we were good and ready without the need for an alarm clock.

This got me thinking…

One day we will hear an alarm clock go off for the last time. We do not know when that day will be. One day we will see our last sunset, smell coffee for the last time, taste Christmas cake or feel the smooth fur of our much-loved pet. We do not know when these days will arrive, and we probably won’t have much advanced warning that these days are approaching or much say in the matter.

We may not have much control over the end of our lives, but we do have more control over the way we live our lives now than we imagine.

If you think about it, life is an incredible thing. Being human and living on Planet Earth as it spins in our solar system is quite remarkable.

Why are we here and what can we do with our lives? These are questions that we can regularly ask ourselves. There are all sorts of explanations for why and how we are here.

Part of the fun of being here is that we get to try and work this all out. There are many theories and religions attempting to explain what is going on and offering guidelines on how we should live our lives. People can learn a lot from studying religions but ultimately, we must decide for ourselves what we think life is all about and how we choose to live.

When I was little I asked lots of questions. These ranged from ‘Why is the sky blue?’ to ‘Why can’t I stay up tonight and have a midnight feast?’

I bet you asked similar questions. As children we were born curious. We found life exciting. Going for a walk in the woods became a fabulous adventure to us. A trip to the beach allowed us to build our own sandcastles. As little children, most of us had confidence in our own abilities. We believed that we could sing and dance, paint and draw.

Children tend to have incredible imaginations and believe that they could become anything that they choose to be.

As we get older we tend to lose some of this self-confidence and make less use of our incredible imaginations. Many of us start to feel that we can’t sing, draw or dance very well and so we often stop trying.

Can you remember your childhood? What did you like to do? What did you want to be when you grew up?

While some people do become who they set out to become, many don’t.

When I was little I wanted to become a nurse. Later I changed my mind and thought that I would be able to make a living as an artist.

I am not making my living as an artist, but I do have a job that allows me to be creative and that suits me.

Why do we lose the confidence we had in ourselves that we possessed when we were young?

There are lots of factors that can come into play. Our family lives are significant. Some of us consider that we have had happy childhoods while some do not. Some of us come from large families while others are part of a much smaller unit. Some of us are were not brought up by our parents, other people helped to raise us.

The opinions and beliefs of the people that brought us up can have quite an impact on our own beliefs. Some of us accept and some of us reject the opinions of our elders. Some of us were encouraged to do what we wanted to do by our parents while others were discouraged. Some of us felt accepted and others rejected.

Whatever our life experiences have been and whatever other people think about us, it is up to us to decide how we wish to proceed from here. Some people grew up feeling criticised or rejected and this seriously affected their self-confidence. Other people felt criticised but decided that this was not going to put them off, they decided that they were going to live their life for themselves.

If other people approve of us that is great but if not, why not live life your way anyway?

Our health is an area that affects the way we live. Some people are born with debilitating conditions. Others enjoy good physical health. Some aspects of our health are beyond our control. We may have been born with a genetic condition, for example. Other conditions are caused or made worse by our lifestyles.

We do have a certain amount of choice when it comes to the way we dec

ide to live our lives. We can adopt diets that we believe are good for us and we can ensure we get enough exercise, for example.

There are medical as well as alternative treatments and therapies to help us. Some come at a cost while others are freely available.

Our environment can also affect us. Some of us thrive living in the countryside while others are excited by living in cities. If we are living somewhere that does not currently benefit us, we may be able to make some changes. Some of us may be in a position to move to somewhere more appealing. Even if we can’t move, there may be some steps that we can take in order to make our environment more pleasing to us. Even tidying our place up can leave us feeling happier. Changing the colour of the paint on the walls can give our mood a lift too.

Friendships can greatly enhance our lives if we surround ourselves with people who want the best for us, but we can suffer if we surround ourselves with people who do not really care about us. Some people are desperate to acquire as many friends as possible not realising that in the case of friendships it is usually quality over quantity that benefits us. If we have one or two good friends who truly care about us and we care about them then this is infinitely better for us than having a huge list of people that we may call friends, but they are not truly there for us. Good friendships take time and effort and are worth treasuring.

The same applies to romantic relationships. Some of us have husbands, wives or life partners that make us happy and we make them happy in turn. Other people are unhappy in their relationship but feel unable to repair their relationships or move on.

Some people feel under pressure to find a partner and believe if they find the right person they will feel complete. In reality, if you do not feel happy and complete in yourself, introducing another person into your life is unlikely to make you feel whole.

It is possible to feel sad and lonely in a room full of people and equally possible to feel happy and fulfilled when you are alone.

The amount of money we have can affect how we feel. Some people are so afraid of going without that they will never feel that they have enough even if they become multi-millionaires.

Other people can make do with very limited funds and feel happy and secure.

Some people are driven by the urge to ‘become successful.’ They crave recognition and would love to become famous.

There are plenty of celebrities who have achieved fame but then realise that this did not provide them with the happiness that they had anticipated.

To me, the key to happiness is learning to feeling content in the moment. If we are grateful for what we have and appreciate the wonderful aspects of the life we currently possess, we are more likely to enjoy and appreciate what comes to us next.

Life is full of ups and downs but many of us find it very hard to accept this. We cling on to the happy moments and worry that they will soon end and then we fear what may go wrong. Dwelling on what has gone wrong in the past or worrying about what could go wrong in the future is something many of us do. While we are busy doing this, we are not taking in the present moment, we miss the good things that surround us right here, right now.

Once we accept that life is filled with joys and sorrows, that both are part of being alive, we begin to feel less stressed and that is when we truly do begin to appreciate our lives.

Another obstacle that gets in the way of our enjoyment of life is the difficulty many of us have with forgiveness. At times in our lives people will do things that upset us. Some do this deliberately and others are not aware of the impact of their actions upon us.

When someone does something to upset us, we feel wronged. Every time we recall what they have done we feel upset once again. Sometimes the person who has  wronged us becomes aware of what they have done and asks us to forgive them. Some people struggle to forgive even when forgiveness is sought. This is understandable. When we feel really hurt it can take time for us to feel ready to forgive the person that we perceive has caused this upset.

Once we truly forgive someone we can start to heal from the incident that took place. We stop reliving the pain, over and over again. This can benefit the person seeking forgiveness and it also benefits us.

If we can bring ourselves to forgive someone that has hurt us whether or not they seek our forgiveness we can experience that feeling of closure.

Sometimes the person we struggle to forgive the most is ourselves. If we do something wrong intentionally or unintentionally we can feel terrible. Even if other people feel able to forgive us for what we have done we can struggle to forgive ourselves enough to move on. We find it easier to forgive our friends and loved ones.

I read somewhere that if we can learn to treat ourselves as we would a good friend our lives begin to open up in many positive ways.

It is very hard to love other people if we don’t really like ourselves.

When we learn to love and forgive ourselves as well as others, our lives become much richer and happier.

If we believe that everyone is doing their best at any particular moment, we can stop judging ourselves and others. We can begin to accept people as they are.