Here is a guest post from by Karel Murray, CSP, on the importance of not becoming distracted by the "latest and Greatest," cleverly using observations about marriage:

An acquaintance of mine shrieked in amazement when I told them that Rick and I celebrated 37 years of marriage in March. Her complete bafflement as to how anyone could stay together that long and still like each other floored me. Being with the same person for that long feels as natural as breathing to me, but she assured me that we must be doing something right for us to last this long.

That started me thinking about our marriage and the institution of marriage in general. According to www.divorcestatistics.org 50% of all marriages in America will end in divorce: the greatest percentage occurring under the age of 30.

Personally, I believe that Americans are in love with the idea of being in love. Consider the romantic movies and the success of shows like the Twilight series where love conquers all, even the tendency to have someone for lunch…literally. Then think about those comedies that highlight the realities of actually living with the same person – while futility settles in and the romantic glow fades, there emerges a desire to resume the search to recapture that “feeling” with someone new.

It’s hard to compete with boring! It’s like that new car smell… we love clambering into the newest model car and breathing deep with a satisfied smile on our face. But after about four months, the smell recedes and all we have is the car we are making monthly payments on.

The glamour of ownership fades…especially if the model you purchased doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the new ones being advertised everywhere. In our minds, the vehicle becomes less desirable, even though technically it was everything we could have wanted when we purchased it.

I’m distressed by this “shiny new object” thinking because it really makes it difficult to just be you with someone and be accepted the way you are and always have been.
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says Jeff: So, too, with not letting yourself be buffeted by all that competes for your time and attention. Let most of it go...