Prescription Versus Description

In college one of the things I studied was linguistics. One professor described the field as being descriptive rather than prescriptive. What he meant by that was we were learning how speakers used language instead of telling people how they should speak. It wasn't about the right way to use language it was about how language was actually used in practice.

I found that wonderful and very inline with how I liked to look at the world in general.

It sends it can be applied to any aspect of our life. Doesn't it seem much more realistic? Usually we spend a lot of time trying to arrange our world just the right way. We try to fit the round peg of our circumstances into a square whole. It would be better to just admit the peg is square and work from there.

I think the danger of trying to live prescriptively is that we never accept how things are. We get caught in our wishes or how we think things should be. Then it's hard to look past that.

Maybe someone was supposed to meet you at 11 and they didn't show up so you keep complaining in your mind how they didn't do things the right way. What good does it do you? It just brings stress and discontentment.

Another way would be to just realize the person you were meeting is not here yet and leave it at that. It doesn't mean you helplessly accept the situation. You can decide to leave or keep waiting or make a phone call or whatever. You work from where you are, not where you think you're supposed to be.

There's freedom in that.

Get Your Meal Served First On An Airplane

If you're traveling by plane, an easy way to get your meal served first is to request a special meal when booking your ticket. As a vegetarian this is something I do anyways so it's a nice extra bonus. I'm not sure why they make the special meals first and not last, but I'm not complaining. As long as they correctly record your request you should be all set!

And of course you don't need to get the vegetarian meal.  Airlines usually have several special meal request types depending on the airline.

Thus Have I Done

I figured I should give an update on what I've been up to the last not-so-little while.  Too much has happened to go into detail so I'll just give an outline.  What the heck, I'll start from when I left work.

Here's an outline:

• Summer 2011: Left work. Vacationed.
• Fall 2011: Sampled life in the Rural Northern State.
• New Year-ish 2012: Went to Southeast Asia for simple life and volunteer work.
• Summer 2012: Returned to the US to see a friend get married and see a new nephew.  Spent time reconnecting with friends and family in the Rural Northern State.  Met new group of friends.
• Summer 2013: Began volunteering in the Rural Northern State.  Completed first short meditation retreats.  Hiked a small portion of the Appalachian Trail.  Vacationed.
• Fall 2013 - Spring 2014: Continued and expanded volunteer work.
• Summer 2014 - Winter 2014: Continued volunteer work, but transitioned to working more on my sibling's new house.
• Now: House is finished.  Wrapping things up for the next phase.
• March 2015 - ?: Return to Southeast Asia.  Attend long-term meditation retreat(s).  Whatever else happens.