Time to Relax

Hi, I'm Jim Prior and I formed Prior IT Solutions back in 1998, and have worked in the computer industry since 1983.

In this Leisure section of my "Prior IT" web site I wanted to take a different, more relaxed view of things and share some of the passions and interests my family and I enjoy.

When we work on a hobby or project, we often turn to the Internet for some initial research. Sometimes that information is hard to come by or lacking, so on those occasions I like to document our findings to give a more complete picture for other people to use.

From childhood I have had a passion for any kind of technology; computers, internet, space-age, cars, inventions, music, photography, electronics. Nowadays we all embrace and use communications technology to enhance our lives. Multimedia is at the very core of our modern lives, whether we like it or not.

Sometimes I wonder whether we could use it more wisely, and occasionally I think the Internet is becoming more of a beast than we can handle, although as always it's not the machine that is at fault, but the uses we put it to.

Communication. The information super highway. What a thing! Data beamed around the world in the blink of an eye. News from every quarter in the fullest detail, usually much more than you or I need (or want) to know, gives some people ideas that are not always good.

New knowledge to all people, making everyone equal. "Knowledge is power" - so they say, but often its difficult to know the quality and original source of information, and whether the story we are being given is genuine.

Yes, I agree that we need knowledge to move onward and upward. It is in mankinds nature to learn, progress and evolve. But we must also take the time to slow the pace a little - to let the back runners in life catch up a bit, to give them a helping guiding hand.

When you review the advances made over the past 2000 years it seems like time is becoming more and more compressed, and our technological advancement is moving faster and faster while our human egos are still working on tickover! What have we really learnt?

No, it's not stuck in my ear! My "Man-in-the-Moon" is a beautiful 3-dimensional wood-carved mobile hanging from the ceiling, I didn't realise he was "stuck in my ear" until after I had taken the photo!

I often think about the "good old days", as we like to call them, and try to figure out what it was that was "good" about past times. To be honest I think it was innocence - the childhood of mankind.

Too little knowledge is not such a bad thing!

Why do we have to know everything now?

We need to learn how to turn off, and turn away, to stop, relax and take stock of what we are doing and where we are going.

Personally I have a strong creative side that I have to fulfill, and I try to achieve this even in my leisure time through doing stuff. I like to encourage my children and grand children to learn how to do practical and inventive things, rather than sitting them in front of the TV or latest video game. The "mind" expands through being challenged, and the "body" becomes fit and strong through effort. No wonder many youths nowadays are becoming lethargic, unfit, prone to illness and thick!

Make your leisure time useful. Some of my leisure-time interests tax my brain-cells, while others are no-brainers that let my mind wander so that I can relax and take stock, and meditate on the finer things in life. The main point being to forget about my work, while still being constructive in either a productive (achieving something) or a passive (achieving peace) sense. I always endeavour never to be counter-productive (time wasting or destructive).

Keep the child alive in yourself, and retain some of that innocence. Enjoy anything and everything you do, take your time and do it well.

Just do it!