November 6, 2003
Being Present
The importance of being present is beyond belief for life is brief and a day can be spent so easily. Is it possible to be present with so much going on at once? The juggling of tasks, of events, of moments, of movements is an arduous undertaking. Can the every day be elevated higher so that every day is important? Is there meaning in the mundane, in the routine, in the rituals that we accept as annoyances and nothing more? Does a shared smile on a line in a store do anything more than improve a moment? Some days are long and boring while a few spark the soul. As the former greatly outweighs the latter are we just lurching across a desert from one oasis to the next?
Is it possible to stay in a heightened state of awareness for hours, for days, for months, for years, for decades, for a lifetime? Should life be a battle (for that is really the only time a person is truly hyperaware, when he or she is afraid that at any moment, the enemy will strike to take his or her life)?
The vigilance of a scout should be the model for the level of awareness that you should have when on the phone with family, during the day at work, while in class in school. To stay alert all day every day is tiring, so the question is then how do you gain enough stamina to fight the drowsiness, to remain alert?
I ask questions not to teach in the Socratic method - I ask because I wonder and do not know. Use the comments and post your view. Though only one person usually reads these posts, namely me, if there is someone else out there I'd like to hear what you have to say.
Here's the thing Jeff. You can't stay focused all the time. You can't always enjoy the mundane. Sometimes you just have to plod through stuff. Put your head down and your collar up, and just move. You just have to. But, yeah, it helps to try your best to make the everyday crap better. Have fun with everything you can. Smiling on the line at the bank and making friends always helps. But, for me, the big thing is making sure that you're on a path you want to be on. If I realize I am wasting my time, that is when I get most upset and angry. I can endure anything if it is leading towards some desired goal. When I realize that I have somehow lost my way, lost sight of the goal, or become unsure of where I am going, that is when I get concerned and re-evaluate EVRYTHING. Plodding through life is no way to live. Just my $.02.
Posted by: chris at November 7, 2003 5:26 PMThe thing is, people assume that they are living in the present but most of the time, we're hardly even conscious of it. We dwell on the past and envision the future so much so that we miss the single moments that establish the present. That being said, however, I do believe that it is possible to be "present" (without it being tiring). I once took a class called Art of Living (and usually I'm not one to take part in classes or bullshit that tells me how to live my life) but this course just works to make you conscious of the present through breathing. After all, the involuntary action of taking a breath immediately puts you in the present. Paying attention to something as inconsequential as rain puts you back in the present. Yes, it sounds a little cheesy but especially in a city like New York where we're running from place to place, multi-tasking and listening to our ipods to drown out a lot of things around us, sometimes it's important to acknowledge the present. It's definitely difficult to do this every moment, for days, months and years but there's no need to start so big. Try being aware of a singular moment in a day. It's how I stay sane.
Posted by: onlystarbuck at July 29, 2005 3:44 PM