All posts filed under: Contentedness

What I learned about waiting from Africans

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Contentedness / Cross Cultural / Tanzania / Time / Traveling

Waiting is a skill that you learn through practice.   Perhaps there are some people who are naturally good at it, naturally patient, but most aren’t. There is probably no group of people on the planet less likely to be good at waiting than Americans.  We are programmed early on to fill every possible moment with stimulation, and reduce to a bare minimum anything we can term “waste of time.” Produce, create, entertain, achieve, at […]

Contentedness and the Cat

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Cats / Contentedness

My cat is completely contented about 98% of the time.  My cat does nothing.  Zelda (blame my son for the name) literally sits and stares, grooms her nether regions, sleeps, eats, and starts all over again.  She has no concern about productivity, what anyone thinks of her, or what will happen tomorrow.  Zelda does not brood with resentment over our leaving her last week for 6 days or the time I accidentally stepped on her. […]