They say that you’re supposed to be permanently dissatisfied with what you have; that you should always want more. They say that a sense of lack is the key to success, that it’s impossible to be happy and fulfilled if you aren’t striving towards a goal. That if you give up seeking, if you release the future to the future, you are giving up on life. That you must have ambition, drive. That there’s no time to rest.
I disagree. Fall in love with where you are. Bow before what you have. Let go of the hope that your happiness could ever lie in the future, that your joy is dependent on ’more’. Let go of the goal, lose your mesmerisation with the destination, and bring the present into focus. Slow down. Be here. Breathe.
For in reality you are always here, even though much of the time you are trying to get ’there’. (But even when you get ’there’, you will still be here. The present moment is your home.)
It is possible to live without dissatisfaction. It is possible to have great success in this world, live a life that you love, even honour a dream of the future, yet remain completely connected, grounded in the present. It is possible to live from a place of slowness, savouring each instant of life, tasting the days rather than rushing through them.
The living moment is not a means to an end, but absolutely full in itself; a complete experience. Live in the moment. The mind may call this ’lack of ambition’. I call it sanity, gratitude, rest; a place from which — ironically — all things are possible.
