Another year gone and a new one beginning. However these are just calendar years which really mean nothing in the context of actual time. They are just symbolic milestones to give us a sense of moving in a direction but is that direction meaningful? By breaking time down into much smaller segments we can utilize our time more effectively. Think of every moment as a calendar year and it becomes overwhelming. Think of every moment as time that can be used wisely then it becomes plentiful but finite. Embrace every moment while you still have them.
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Quantified Self vs. ‘No-self’
The wearable technologies (WT) industry has leveraged itself on our intense fixation with ourselves as bundles of flesh and functions that are increasingly monitored and measured, a movement termed the ‘Quantified Self’ by Gary Wolf in 2007. The proliferation of health-monitoring devices drives expectations for WT. In 2013, Forbes predicted that 2014 would be the “Year of the Wearable”, and a year later Gartner Market Research reported that personal health and fitness devices would be a five billion dollar market by 2016. The problem is, the more data we generate about ourselves, the more data we encounter-and the larger the task of maintaining systems, training plans, and upgrades, all seeming to manifest a control society beyond even Deleuze’s wildest dreams.
If this trend continues, it seems likely that devices will eventually challenge our notion of dress as based on making choices (Lipovetsky), and more towards a different paradigm based on analyzing biometrics. And the possibilities are expanding. Already a macabre chronometer watch called Tikker, from a start-up company crowdfunded in 2013, calculates its wearer’s life expectancy and proceeds to count down to her projected time of death. Carpe Diem!
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Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth.
"...a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
- The World Health Organization
"a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential."
- The National Wellness Institute.
Maintaining an optimal level of wellness is absolutely crucial to live a higher quality life. Wellness matters. Wellness matters because everything we do and every emotion we feel relates to our well-being. In turn, our well-being directly affects our actions and emotions. It’s an ongoing circle. Therefore, it is important for everyone to achieve optimal wellness in order to subdue stress, reduce the risk of illness and ensure positive interactions.
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The online Self Improvement Community.
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At the age of 59 my friend Bob Boardman wrote, “If the 70 years of a normal life span were squeezed into a single 24-hour day, it would now be 8:30 in the evening in my life. . . Time is slipping by so rapidly.”
The difficulty in admitting that our time on earth is limited inspired the creation of “Tikker”—a wristwatch that tells you what time it is, calculates your estimated normal life span, and displays a running countdown of your remaining time. It is advertised as the watch “that counts down your life, just so you can make every second count.”
In Psalm 39, David grappled with the brevity of his life, saying, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is” (v. 4). He described his life span as no longer than the width of his hand, as only a moment to God, and merely a breath (v. 5). David concluded, “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you” (v. 7).
The clock is ticking. Now is the time to seek God’s power to help us become the people He wants us to be. Finding hope in our eternal God gives meaning for our lives today.
-David McCasland
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