Animals and little children – a pleasure watching them. The total abandon, no thought except for the present moment. When do we lose this trait as we grow up? Is it possible to bring some of that back into our adult lives? Can we try to live ‘in the moment’, at least for a little while each day?
Very few of us live in the moment. Our minds are constantly racing back and forth between past and future, causing us to essentially miss the only time that really exists — this moment. None of us can go back and change any part of our past, or relive it for that matter. That’s because the past is a concept in our minds, a memory. Similarly, we can’t possibly predict the future. Even the best planning can’t guarantee that our future will be what we want it to be, and dreading or worrying about what our future holds is simply a waste of precious time. Worry or apprehension have no power to change anything. The only purpose they serve is to make our today less happy and less peaceful.
A study in 2010 by two Harvard psychologists, used an iPhone web app to gather 250,000 points of data on subjects’ actions, thoughts and feelings as they went about their daily activities. The results? Humans spend 46.9% of every day thinking about something other than what they’re doing. They concluded that “A human mind is a wandering mind and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” They found that people were happiest when engaged in activities that required them to concentrate on the moment such as making love, exercising or engaging in conversation. The research they say, suggests that the advice of all of the philosophical traditions and religions that teach followers that living in the moment is the way to happiness, appear to be right.
Living in the moment lets us experience our lives in a very rich way because it means we’re paying attention. We’re focusing on what’s happening now, which enables us to meet this challenge, enjoy this meal, this moment of sun shining through the kitchen window. Because our lives are really made up of moments and as Eckhart Tolle says in his book, “The Power of Now”, this moment is the closest thing to eternity we have. Even musicians like Van Morrison extol the virtues of living in the moment through simple but deeply true lyrics like Morrison’s “It’s always being now …”, from his album Hymns to the Silence.
A friend posted this on a Whatsapp group message and this resonates with the living in the moment topic:
1. Be happy with what you have today and grateful that you are in a better place than a million others – be it that you have a roof over your head, food on your plate, that you are able to walk, talk, see, speak, taste, smell
2. Focus less about what others think or want of you and more on what makes you happy
3. Be kind to others, there is never any need for malice
4. Reserve 30 minutes (alone time) in the morning to contemplate and plan your day, even if the plan is to just laze around. Plan on completing x things and y things as optional. And that there is always tomorrow. Almost nothing in life needs to happen now
5. Man proposes, God/Fate disposes, my dad used to say that and I am a strong believer and one of my keys to happiness. Read that as what is meant to be, will be, so don’t waste your energy/happiness over things that happened or did not happen
The best way to live in the moment is to practice mindfulness, a Buddhist concept that has grown in popularity in recent years because of its ability to change lives by waking us up to the richness contained in each and every moment. Check out Vipassana classes in your area.
Resources: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/wandering-mind-not-a-happy-mind/ and The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle 1999.
Love this article and especially the photo.
Yes, the world will not end if something didn’t happen NOW, or you are a little back dated on world news. So yes, take time off everyday–enjoy the sunrise, birdsong, a pretty blossom, the blush on your partner’s face on receiving unexpected compliments. Every day is a gift and unwrap it with the same excitement as a child opening a Christmas gift!
You’ve summarized it so well. Thank you! All of us need to be reminded constantly about looking at the half full glass, rather then the half empty one. The photograph is of my furbaby Chutney with a dear friend’s 2 year old. I lucked out and was able to capture them when they were still for all of one nano second. 🙂
Oh I think I know that two year old (now three)! 🙂
Ha, we all know the little minx all too well, Raghav.