Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others. This might not be obvious, especially when there are aspects of your life that seem in need of improvement— when your goals are unrealized, or you are struggling to find a career, or you have relationships that need repairing. But it’s the truth. Every experience you have ever had has been shaped by your mind. Every relationship is as good or as bad as it is because of the minds involved. If you are perpetually angry, depressed, confused, and unloving, or your attention is elsewhere, it won’t matter how successful you become or who is in your life— you won’t enjoy any of it.
Most of us could easily compile a list of goals we want to achieve or personal problems that need to be solved. But what is the real significance of every item on such a list? Everything we want to accomplish— to paint the house, learn a new language, find a better job— is something that promises that, if done, it would allow us to finally relax and enjoy our lives in the present. Generally speaking, this is a false hope. I’m not denying the importance of achieving one’s goals, maintaining one’s health, or keeping one’s children clothed and fed— but most of us spend our time seeking happiness and security without acknowledging the underlying purpose of our search. Each of us is looking for a path back to the present: We are trying to find good enough reasons to be satisfied now.
Acknowledging that this is the structure of the game we are playing allows us to play it differently. How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives.
~ Sam Harris. Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (Simon & Schuster. 2014)
Photographer: Sasha Onyshchenko via Thisiseverything. Blog post title is twist on Carpe Diem (Seize the Day to Seize the Moment)
yes, otherwise, there are no moments we experience in the now, only those we wish for in the future. a never ending quest. like dante’s inferno.
Yes. Unfortunately I never read Dante’s Inferno. Worthy?
yes, i think you would get something out of it. i could see you liking the way he deals with penance for the wrongdoing in our mortal lives, it’s an epic poem from the 14th century, and deals with levels of hell, a journey of sorts, kind of like the odyssey, but darker.
Thank you Beth. I’d add it to the list.
The eternal “if…then” fallacy…’If I have/get x. then I’ll be happy’. If it’s all if/then, there is no ‘now, no ‘present’, no sense of the perfection in the one moment we are certain to have…
Yes. Exactly. Now, to prosecute.
Yes! If we are only “doing” something now to get to some future point, how does that impact our present moment? Good stuff, thanks 🙂
Yes! That’s exactly his point Kellie…
You are correct. Our mind is such a precious thing. What we feed it determines who we become.
Yes, now only to feed it vegetables Bill, and not Twinkies or worse.
You are correct. But sometimes. ……
Smiling, exactly.
It’s so easy to get caught on this “gerbil wheel” of the never-ending quest for something more. We’re bombarded by messages that tell us if we only drove this car, lived in that manse, had mastered this skill, etc., all would be right with the world. And meanwhile, the world keeps spinning, we keep grasping, and the days keep passing, faster at every turn it seems to me these days. Be. Happy. Now. This is my new charge, and what a deceptively simple one it is….
Yes, Yes, Yes. Be-Happy-Now.
Without a doubt (pun intended from your post of a day or two ago…) this book is a must – purchase item for me…my gratitude for bringing it to us!
Hey, I thought you were already on the Momento Bus!
Conceptually, yes! I just haven’t purchased my ticket (this book) yet – I will soon though!
I’m using THAT line with a twist.
“I’ve purchased the ticket, just haven’t attended the show.”
Uh-oh, I just started a whole new analogy on one of your next posts. But yes, that TOTALLY works!
Yep, you have…I can see this (like Caleb on Wednesday’s) running for a long time…