Take time to enjoy life
"We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."
Bill Watterson
Someone asked the Dalai Lama what surprises him most. He responded:
"Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived."
Previously, I wrote about the need to live in the now, but I want to write about how we easily get to a point where we aren't in the present. While related, I do think it is important to understand how we start shifting this way, because once that momentum starts, it is pretty tough to change directions after you have been going down the same path for some time.
This goes beyond stopping to smell the roses; this is going to the florist, buying the roses and really appreciating them.
I recently read an article featuring a terminal brain cancer patient who recently won a marathon. His advice?
"People shouldn't wait to live until they're told they're dying."
I feel like I read a similar article every couple weeks saying the same exact thing: Stop living in the past and stop living for tomorrow. Find a way to live in the now. But the thing I find most interesting are the people that are featured in the articles.
Most have had a big transition in their lives, whether changing jobs, moving geographic locations, mid-life crisis' or in the extreme, diagnosis of cancer. The point is, there was a forced period in their lives that allowed them to stop and smell the flowers, and when they finally were able to, they realized all that they were missing.
I have always struggled to understand why it is so hard to do, but at times it seems impossible to simply stop and reflect on what is presently going on around me. There is always something on my to-do list that is demanding my focus. There is always something in my past that I wish I could have done better. There is always an excuse to be busy.
The busy excuse is one that so many people use. I can't even count the amount of times that when I ask how things are going to a friend or colleague, I get "busy," "everything" or something similar -- and I say similar things. The response comes without even thinking -- it is as if we all need to be busy. Being busy means that we are important; people need more of our time than we have available; our time is too valuable to waste. But what does this do? It never gives us time to stop. Never gives us time to reflect. Never gives us time to live in the present because we are already on to the next thing.
I feel like I have been searching for the perfect answer for quite some time, whether it is cherishing the small things, looking into meditation or reading articles and books on the subject. But the truth? I am making it more complicated than it is. Every article makes it sound so easy and every response in my bones says "it isn't that simple, it isn't that easy." But it can be if we just take the time to do it.
Don't wait for a major transition. Don't wait until you have no other choice. Just stop from time to time and do so intentionally. Set aside time on your calendar, even if it is just for 5 minutes. Turn off your digital connections. Take time to appreciate the beauty and wonders that this world has to offer and I promise you will never ask for that time back.