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When Every Moment Doesn’t Need A Job · Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is episode 43, When Every Moment Doesn't Need a Job.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever enjoyed something unexpected and then felt a little guilty
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: because you were supposed to be doing something else?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: A conversation runs longer than you intended.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: You linger over breakfast.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: You follow an interesting thought.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And before you know it, an hour has passed by.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then comes that familiar question.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: What did I get done?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I had a small experience recently that made me think about that.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was getting ready to work on November's articles and podcasts.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: There were ideas to develop, pieces to write, and plenty to occupy me.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then two lovely Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on my door.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Their names were Lee and Ash.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I invited them in, and we began talking about truth.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: A modest little subject for a morning conversation.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: I had walked in their shoes early in my life.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I understood something of the experience they brought to my door.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that morning, they got to walk a little in mine.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: When our conversation was finished,
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I returned to my work,
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: and I realized that I could allow room for an unexpected occurrence
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: without feeling guilty about it.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I had chosen to invite them in.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I had enjoyed our conversation.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was enough.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder when we begin asking every moment to account for itself.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Even the things we enjoy can acquire assignments.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: A walk needs to deliver a certain number of steps.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: A hobby ought to produce something worth showing.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Time with a friend has to fit neatly between the things we consider more pressing.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And a quiet afternoon?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, surely we could have accomplished something.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm smiling as I say this because I have plenty I want to accomplish.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love creating.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I love bringing the idea, an idea into the world.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know the pleasure of finishing something that matters to me.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I also want to be available to my own life while I'm doing all of that.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Available to a person standing at my door,
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: to a conversation that interests me,
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: To the sudden desire to play some music or sit in my garden with a cup of tea
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: and watch the morning unfold.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: There is a kind of trust involved in that.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Can I trust myself to know when to stay with my plans and when to let them wait?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Can I enjoy the choice I've made without spending half
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: the time mentally reviewing everything else I should be doing?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that's something we can practice this week.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: When an unplanned moment arrives, take a breath before automatically dismissing it.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, do I have room for this?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Would I like to?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the answer will be no.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have commitments.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: We need rest.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: We may simply want to continue what we've begun.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the answer will be yes.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if it is, see whether you can give yourself fully to that yes.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let the conversation have your attention.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the extra few minutes.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Allow curiosity to take you somewhere.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can return to your list afterward.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I did.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And wouldn't you know it, the unexpected visit found its way into the writing.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't have scheduled that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: As I begin November,
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: I invite you to leave a little room for something you haven't thought of yet.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Something that doesn't need to become an accomplishment, a lesson, or even a story.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: You might simply enjoy it.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for spending this time with me.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Morning or afternoon or whenever you're listening.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd enjoy more reflections on Ageless Living,
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: you'll find a link to my writing in the episode description.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time,
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: may you find pleasure in the life you're planning and in a few things
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: that arrive along the way.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I invite you to enjoy the little...
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Non-planned sounds coming through this podcast.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually sitting in my garden in the afternoon, and it's just lovely.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't mind having some extra sounds,
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: whether they're airplanes or dogs or pings or whatever.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: That, too, is a part of life.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we cannot sanitize everything.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Again, thank you for listening.