It seems to me that people have a hard time living in the moment. For the moment? No problem. But in the moment? That’s more elusive. We are always striving for something else. We are conative beings. Here’s what we do. We go to play school to get ready for kindergarten. Then we go to kindergarten to get ready for grade school. Each year of grade school is to enable us for what comes ahead, presumably university or technical/trade school. We go through those post-secondary schools to get ready for a J-O-B. The job is to enable us to reach retirement ---- the end goal? Well, we get to retirement and a lot of things are no longer working….we don’t have the energy we once did.
If you do not know how to live in the moment, you will always be struggling for something that you will not enjoy when it arrives. If you can’t enjoy the present, you won’t enjoy the future when it becomes the present. We need to learn that we always have enough right here and right now to be happy, and we need to notice what we have, be grateful for it, and enjoy it. That requires practice, and it requires a change in attitude.
Yes, living in the moment. This is so true. You've described the phases of life and that's what most of humanity goes through, without much thought to enjoy the journey. In my early twenties, I recall making Black Forest Tortes for groups of people during special occasions. It would bring me so much satisfaction to see people happy with just a slice of dessert. Today, I still find enjoyment in simple, everyday things, like a nice slice of home-made dessert, or the freshness of the first rain in spring, or the scent of my Sarah Bernhardt peonies in July, or the view of the golf course and mountains on a warm day in summer. It's good to meditate on these things and yes have an attitude of gratitude, be curious and look forward to each day.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the thoughtful article!
Send me one of those black forest cakes!
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