The importance of staring at computer screens!

A lot of today's work is done in front of a computer. I spend most of my working day staring at a computer screen. We know it's no good for the eyes. Is what we do important enough to risk the comfort of our eyesight for it? That must be a good question!

Before computers, work was being done too. People used different tools. Phones and faxes. Faxes must have been revolutionary enough when they came out. How miraculous was puting in a piece of paper here and have it come out thousands of miles away!

At the time of faxes, no one would have imagined something like email. The future might very well be hiding some other tools that we can't now imagine. Those who dream those tools will make the strange realities of tomorrow. But that's how it's always been. Dreamers create the future. They know that things can be better. Conventional thinkers are slaves of the past and the status quo.

But I didn't answer the question about our eyesight, the computer screen, and the importance of our work! Well, we can just accept the status quo. Think that there is just no other or better way of doing things.

But I rather be a dreamer. That's why I know that we can do important and meaningful work, with the most effeicient, eyesight-friendly tools!

Heavy possessions

A much needed simple living movement has been growing. People living in rich Western societies starting to realize that having more things didn't make them any happier. Not only it didn't make them happier, it actually decreased the quality of our life. The more stuff we have, the more stress we feel. Shopping became a new form of distraction drug. We buy stuff in a state of half awareness, and we wake up to find more things that clutter our life and we don't know why we bought them in the first place.

One saying of Prophet Muhammad keeps coming back to my mind, brief and to the point of this human misery. It's hard to render it in English and keep it's original brief power, but he simply said that having less stuff that gives us what we need is better than having much stuff that ends up distracting us.

The truth is, we feel more fulfilled with less, clear things. Once things increase in number, we start to loose control and loose track. We start actually loosing them. A place in our heart will keep worrying about those rarely used items. Our heart knows better. May be it worries how our world is going wrong, when we have things that we don't use, while other humans are in dire need of those same things. We fill our plate at this open buffet, but we never get to finish it all. The food goes to the trash. Trash full of food in one place; human stomachs empty of food in another. That's an insane paradox, totally unhuman.

If we really want to enjoy things, we actually need to have less of them. That's a proven fact. Some experiments found that children given too many toys to choose from lost interest and were lost and bored, while those given a fewer number were engaged and satisfied. I don't mean we don't have nice things. In fact, since we will buy less stuff, we can then invest in the ones that we really, really like and enjoy. We get less, higher quality stuff. Every piece will matter to us, and will have a place in our heart.

The sun is back!

I spent the majority of my time in America in the northern states. I grew up under sunny skies. A cloudy day in Egypt used to feel nice and different. But the Egyptian sun wasn't always a good thing, especially in hot summer days, in dusty cities, where the gift of the green color wasn't that generous.

Now 3 months into my second Chicago year, I'm again rethinking a new relocation. South. Did you notice: South and Sun interestingly share the same first letter!

Today we have a sunny day. The world looks different, alive, and beautiful. Hope is renewed, at least in my heart. My life isn't going exactly wonderful. Something is missing. Sunshine helps me look for it, well, under better lighting! I might know what's missing. But knowing is not finding.

I did live in Florida for about a year. I don't pretend that being in Sunshine State fixed everything. But at least it could help eliminate one mood-related problem!

But moving isn't that easy. You know why. Job, money, survival issues. I did make a difficult move to Chicago 15 months ago, and it made my life better in some aspects. But I always knew that I belong somewhere warm and sunny, somewhere outdoor friendly.

I should plan my next move. The question is: how to free myself from money, or from having to work for money. I will be thinking about just that!