By Daniel Chejfec

 

Over the last week, the dominant theme on our local media (and probably everybody's life) was the snow. With a nice 1-2 punch of the snow storm and more white stuff coming over the weekend, it is interesting to think about what do you do when you are stuck at home?

 

Internet provides a partial solution, since there is only that much time you can spend in front of the computer screen; TV is better left alone as the quality of programming seems to follow an inverse proportion to the passage of time (translation: it keeps getting worse). So what's left?

 

Here are my suggestions:

 

1- Spend the time with your loved ones...spouse, children, grandchildren or even pets. We do not always have the time to give them that they deserve...

2- Read. This old-time consecrated practice has a way of exercising our brains while providing information. We're overwhelmed every day with the need to read to keep up with our professional demands that we tend to postpone reading about issues we're interested in but do not relate to what we do. So if you go for the paper version or the electronic reader version...take advantage of the extra time. How many times we say “If we only had more hours in the day?”...well, the snow gives you that. Enjoy it.

3- Exercise. This is in fact a necessity. Whether you need to shovel the snow in front of your garage or behind your car pr just the walkway by your house...look at it as the exercise modern life many times does not allow us because of its time demands.

4- Dedicate time for introspection. We all know introspection is good for us – but how often do we indulge in it?

5- Write down your thoughts. Years from now you might want to remember who you were today, but you will be somebody else, changed by experience, and your memory recall will function as a filter so you will remember only what you want to remember. If you write it down, it will be there in black and white...no deformation through the lens of time.

6- Study. We all would like to study some subject that we never have the time to do. Well, here's the time.

 

It all comes down to one basic idea: Use the time for yourself, for what it really matters to you. In the rush to deal with the realities around us, we often forget to deal with the realities within us...