40 Investments In 5-Minutes — Part 06

Investment 01: Learn Something New

Right now, at our fingertips, is a limitless abundance of information.

The source of this information — or, perhaps, the system that facilitates our access to this information — is “the Internet”.

You can, within the span of just five-minutes, go online and learn something new.

Something new. Something special.

My favorite way to perform this particular investment is to go to the “Wikipedia” homepage.

You can find quick facts and images regarding all sorts of subjects.

For those that want to learn even more about what you’re seeing, there are links to the Wikipedia pages for the facts and images on the home page.

Many of these pages take longer than five-minutes to peruse.

But, you can read a few sections — or a smaller page — in just five-minutes.

You can, in doing so, learn something new, expand your mind, discover a new topic that excites you, uncover a new passion; along with many other possibilities.

All it takes is five-minutes — or less — to learn something special!

Investment 02: Perform An Act Of Bibliomancy

Divination is the act of gaining insight through means as vast and varied as reading Tarot cards, holding a pendulum, reading palms, poring over tea leaves, or reading a book; among a wide variety of other, equally valid, methods.

My favorite divinatory method is, as the title of this investment suggests, bibliomancy.

To perform an act of bibliomancy, all you must do is take a work of writing that resonates with you, and seems appropriate for your query, and, then, open it to a random passage.

The passage you open relates directly to your question.

Or, at least, that’s the idea.

Your mileage may vary, when it comes to the results you experience.

No matter your results, though, it’s fun to, at the very least, see what happens.

To do so, think of a question.

Your question can be any question. So long as it’s meaningful.

Right after you think of a question, find a book you can use.

Or, alternatively, you can use your journals, or some other work that you’ve created.

Let the question flow through your mind and, then, open your book.

Just let yourself flip to a random page and, then, put your finger on a random passage.

This works best if you close your eyes. That way, it’s a little more random.

The passage your finger is on is the one that answers your query.

Right after you have your answer, let yourself meditate on what it means.

Sometimes, the meaning will be obvious.

Sometimes, it won’t be.

Sometimes, there won’t be any meaning.

No matter what, though, let yourself meditate on what you’ve chosen.

There’s a chance that nothing will come from this. But, there’s a chance that something will.

Just let yourself reside in that sense of possibility, if only for a few minutes.

Investment 03: Journal For A Moment

Journaling offers many benefits.

Some of these benefits include improved writing abilities, memories you can return to, insights you can return to, the freedom to write the way you wish to write, a space to jot down any ideas that come to you, as well as the ability to check in with yourself.

Of course, there are many more benefits than that. But, these are some of the most notable.

You can journal for long blocks of time. You can journal for short blocks of time.

You can also journal for really short blocks of time, without any particular goal.

To do so, just open up your journal — perhaps, you own a diary and a nice pencil, or rely on a piece of software; it doesn’t matter, so long as it works for you — and, then, write.

Just write whatever comes to mind.

But, the idea is to keep writing, without distracting yourself, until five-minutes elapses.

You will be surprised what comes up.

You will also, by the time you finish writing, have a snapshot of the moment.

A snapshot of the moment that contains, in its own way, your feelings, your emotions, your state, your thoughts, your dreams, your passions, your desires; among many other things.

Sometimes, within this snapshot, there will be ideas and paths that resonate with you, allowing you to go further and move forward, in ways you were unable to prior to journaling.

Or, perhaps, you’ve journaled for five-minutes and, well, that’s that.

No matter what happens, though, it’s worth setting aside a little time to journal — to enjoy the benefits that journaling offers — even if, on the surface, very little happens.

Investment 04: Listen To Some Music

To some extent, this is cheating.

Some songs, along with other types of musical pieces, are five-minutes.

Many of them seem to be a little longer than that.

Or, perhaps, that’s just my experience, based on my listening habits.

Regardless of that, though, listening to a nice piece of music — a piece of music that evokes something with you — is one of the best investments you can make.

You can focus on the music itself or, as most of us often do, engage in a task while listening.

For the best experience possible, choose a piece of music that makes you feel good — something that brings you energy and vividity — and, then, focus entirely on that piece.

You will start to feel really, really good. And, the energy of the piece will begin to permeate other aspects of your behavior, making it easy for you to have a really, really good day.

Or, at least, that’s my experience.

Once again, your experience will vary. But, even so, it’s still worth trying.

Investment 05: Make A List Of What You Would Love To Do

Right now, it’s likely that there are a number of things you would absolutely love to do.

But, for a variety of reasons, all of which are valid, you are not doing those things.

Or, perhaps, you haven’t done those things, at all, yet really want to.

Some of these might be traveling to a specific part of the world, being in a wonderful romantic relationship, going camping, visiting a new restaurant that opened up; and so on and so forth.

No matter what your desires are — this is your life, so these are your desires; everything is permitted — take a moment to let them come to you.

Right after these desires come to the forefront of your mind, begin writing them down.

You may have many, many desires, so there’s no need for you to write them all down.

Not yet, that is.

But, try to write as many as you can, within five-minutes, or less.

Right after you make this list, you will know, with a measure of clarity and specificity that may not have been present prior to making this investment, what you want.

Many of these desires will shift and transform, as time passes.

But, many of them will not.

Return to this list and, in returning to this list, allow yourself to focus on those desires.

Set aside the time and energy you need, to make them a reality.

Or, alternatively, allow the act of you having written out your desires to do the work for you.

Some of the work, that is.

The act of writing out our desires seems to, in my experience, bring forces and events together, in surprising ways, that allow for these desires to come forth, with remarkable ease.

This may, or may not, be entirely true. But, it never hurts to try, and a little clarity is always nice.