“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”  ~Henry David Thoreau

Have you ever really thought about your day-to-day activities?  For most of us we get up, go to work, spend a short time with our families and go to bed.  We repeat this cycle and are often miserable throughout the process.  Think about where we spend our awake productive hours?  Usually at work.  If the price of anything is the amount of life exchanged for it, are you spending those waking hours doing something you are truly passionate about?

This quote really made me think about life.  Why do we spend time in a job that makes us miserable or at a school studying something we aren’t sure of?  Why do we teach our children that they need to get an education leaving them thousands of dollars in debt where they end up stuck in a job that makes them miserable?  When does this cycle stop?

Think about this quote….every moment of life is an energy exchange for our choices.  Working a job that makes you unhappy creates unhappy energy.  That energy is carried into everything you do.  You have to stop at the grocery store on the way home and the lines are long…you are already unhappy and the lines now make you impatient.  You then take out your frustrations on the person working the counter.  The long lines are out of their control, but now this person is upset because that energy has been passed on.  You leave the grocery store and continue home dealing with traffic and someone doesn’t use a turn signal or cuts you of…traffic struggles are endless.  Your energy perpetuates and you finally arrive home being greeted by your family, but you are already unhappy and take it out on them.  What was the price you just paid?  Peace of mind?  Increased stress levels causing health issues?  Can you place a value on that?  Should you have to?

I’ve been reading a book called Change Our Ever-Present Companion by Mary Anne Smrz and in this book she talks about change and how it is the only thing we can depend on.  What an interesting concept?  Most people fear change, but it is the only thing we can depend on?  If so, why is it so hard for people to accept.