John Dilbeck Musings

Lately, I have been doing a lot of work and thinking a lot about business.

But, that doesn’t define my entire universe. I’m much more interested in ideas and concepts than I am in transactions. Transactions pay the bills — ideas create the world.

I truly believe that each of us can change the world by changing our concept of the world. If we hate, we can learn to forgive. If we are unhappy, we can change direction.

*Snap*

Just like that.

Why would anyone want to spend his or her life in an unhappy environment? Not happy with your marriage? Change it or end it. Not happy with your job? Find a different way to approach it or quit.

Why are we sometimes happier in our misery than we are motivated to change things that bother us?

I’ve said for decades that nobody changes anything until the effort to change becomes less than the effort to maintain the status quo — and then change happens in moments. We reach a tipping point and our world changes.

Why do we have to spend so much time being miserable before we make changes that are good for us?

I think about these subjects and many more, yet I rarely write about them.

I’ve changed the name of this blog and its look. This is a precursor to some of the changes that will appear in what I write about. Yes, I still spend a lot of time working — and I love what I do! But, I also spend a lot of time thinking about things totally unrelated to work, and I’m going to write more about that.

I’ve been reading Wayne Dyer’s book, “I’ll see it when I believe it” and a lot of what he writes about resonates with my own experiences and ideas. His mantra of “I want to feel good” can be applied to many things. I think it’s a good goal. I want to feel good, too, about many things. I’m going to be thinking more about this than fighting hackers and downloading email spam. I want to feel good.

I found a silver lining on the edge of the dark email spam storm clouds.

I want to thank my brother for giving me a DVD player for Christmas. I don’t rent many movies and my old VHS machine started eating tapes.

When David gave me the DVD player, I thought I’d watch a movie now and then when I had some time. It came with a coupon for a free trial membership at Netflix.com and I decided to try it out. That was a great decision.

I work a lot at night and have some time now and then, so I went to Netflix.com and queued up several movies I’ve been wanting to see. From new releases to old classics, I’ve watched many of them over the last several months. I realized I’d never seen “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Now I have — and I understand why so many people love it. I do, too.

There’s no cable TV or satellite channels here in our home, so I don’t waste a lot of time watching movies. I’ve seen bits and pieces of shows that I thought I’d probably like to watch, if I ever got the chance. One of those is Xena, Warrior Princess.

Of course, one of the reasons I wanted to see it was because of the pretty women in skimpy clothes!

I’ve been watching the series in order, one episode following the next as it was originally aired, using my Netflix membership. I got interested in Xena during season 1. I got hooked during season 2. Season three is shaking up everything. There is real epic storytelling in this series — interspersed with episodes that are pure comedy or farce. Lucy Lawless is an acomplished gymnist, dramatic actress, comedic actress, and quite a talented singer. Perhaps I’m one of the last people on the planet to learn this!

So, when am I finding the time to watch these movies? While I’m downloading my email!

Today I downloaded over 2500 messages and most of them were spam. Instead of sitting here and steaming over the crass disdain for my time, I sat back and watched Xena and Gabrielle in an operatic episode. I also had time to take a short nap while the computer was working away.

We have a choice in how we approach things. They can be problems or opportunities.

While I don’t love getting spam, I don’t hate it as much as I did before the DVD player arrived and I started getting the full benefit from my Netflix membership.

I changed my world by changing my perception of my world.

Life is good.