Ultimately There's Only the Process
Life is a journey, and the ultimate backdrop against which we live is our mortality. This realization often gives us a sense of urgency, pushing us to be goal-oriented in our pursuits of happiness. However, once we achieve our goals, they instantaneously erode and become mere memories, and we're again looking for the next goal or material possession that will ensure our future happiness.
Our goals should act as guiding stars, motivating us along our chosen path. But we must remember that happiness itself is not a destination—rather, it blooms from finding peace and joy in the journey, in the present, and our biggest challenge is not to be too distracted to appreciate the beauty hidden in our everyday moments.
Our lives unfold one moment at a time, and everything else exists either in memory or as a future intention. Or as John Lennon so wisely stated, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
Finding fulfillment in the present moment allows us to release the burden of chasing perpetual happiness through accomplishments or possessions. Instead, we become empowered to focus on living with purpose, finding grace in our actions, and discovering the beauty of the present experience.
Goals and achievements may naturally emerge from our journey, but they should only be seen as pleasurable achievements. They should not dictate our happiness. By understanding this, we free ourselves from the constant pursuit of external validation and the misguided notion that future achievements or the next material possessions will bring lasting joy.
With that in mind, let’s end this week’s blog with a quote from author and neuroscientist Sam Harris that summarizes this notion beautifully.
As a matter of conscious experience, the reality of your life is always now. And I think that this is a liberating truth about the nature of the human mind. In fact, I think there's probably nothing more important to understand about your mind than that. If you want to be happy in this world, the past is a memory—it's a thought arising in the present. The future is merely anticipated—it is another thought arising.
Now, what we truly have is this moment and we spend most of our lives forgetting this truth and refuting it, flinging it, overlooking it, and the horror is that we succeed. We managed to never really connect with the present moment and find fulfillment because we are continually hoping to become happy in the future, and the future never arrives.
It is always now however much you feel you the need to plan for the future, to anticipate it, to mitigate risks. The reality of your life is now even when we think we're in the present moment, we are in very subtle ways, always looking over our shoulders anticipating, what's coming next. We're always solving a problem, and it's possible to simply drop your problem, if only for a moment, and enjoy whatever is true of your life in the present.
Until next time,
Scott and Lennart