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A Quick Reminder About What's Important

Posted by Gayle Kesten Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 10:19 AM ET

Easy: Getting caught up in running our businesses, trying to make more money, and thinking about what to do next, who we need to call, which bills are due...the list seems endless.

Hard: Maintaining perspective of why you're doing all of that in the first place. And stopping to smell those proverbial roses.

If keeping up with the Joneses is your answer, come back to my blog tomorrow. This one is about feeling at peace minus all the stuff -- something we can learn from generations before ours, says freelance writer Susan Brown. (Shout out to Jeff Cornwall for the pointer.)

"Success is good, but a problem occurs when enough is not enough," she says. "Our nation is heading down a destructive road unless our values change. Bigger government is not the answer. A diamond's size does not make a lasting relationship. True beauty is not superficial. House size, career title or bank balance does not equal contentment."

What does? "Priceless things like family, sacrificial love, quality time," Brown says.

I agree with Brown's premise: Society's values are out of whack. "Today, we ogle and drool at 40-something stars who look better than they did at 20," she writes. "My generation stresses ingesting organic, hormone-free foods but gives the nod to injecting poisons to preserve the 'youthful' look."

Brown doesn't deny she gets caught up in all of that garbage; neither do I. The squinty lines on the sides of my eyes attest to the nearly two decades I've spent reading off of a computer screen. I monitor them every day, then apply some cream. The glasses I bought to prevent further etching are trendy, too.

I realize I have a long way to go to reach contentment nirvana. And all the while, my backyard beckons.

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