“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

Life does not demand that we notice it go by — and for many people, it goes by mostly unnoticed.

Time flies for you, for me, for everyone. The Roman philosopher Seneca once said,

“Every day should be welcomed and treated as if it were the finest day imaginable, for the days fly past, and what flies past has to be seized.“

Yet it is common for the modern hustler to not notice the days, to always look to the future, to the grand thing they desire, the fame, the fortune, the success. These things sparkle and allure…and when out of balance make us forget the treasures we already have, including the treasure of Today.

It is impossible to deny that overall humanity has it better than ever before, with ever-expanding access to things that would have been reserved for royalty hundreds of years ago. And guess what? We barely notice them. We take them for granted. We feel that we need more to make us happy. It’s a treadmill of Hedonic Adaptation.

We’re sold bigger things, bigger dreams, bigger desires, and these “little” things are denounced as cheap, or waved off as being “always around,” always available, put on a back burner by a society that prioritizes what we do not have as opposed to what we have.

And we buy into it.

• While he walks a forest path, the CEO’s mind is on work, on being more productive, on chasing the success he feels he does not have. He finishes his walk unable to recall most of it.
• While she goes out to dinner with friends, she stares at her phone, checking the news, emails, stocks, and writing an ever-expanding to-do list.
• While he takes a flight to a country he’s never been to, he gripes over the first-class seat he doesn’t have but should if he were “somebody.”
• While she has a roof over her head, she dreams of the mansion, the vaulted ceiling, the butlers and pools, and gated driveway.
• While his family is aging, and his parents are unwell, he spends more time chasing “successful” people to network with, and shares more meals with strangers than with those he loves, because all he sees is the dream of what he doesn’t have and not the fleeting gift of those he has.

While these are caricatures, they illustrate the idea. There is something wrong with how we’re conditioned to live. Despite everything, we are not getting happier. Why?! It’s subtle, but there, a pathology of the very spirit of our age, and to swallow it on the daily is to risk letting all of the wonderful little things life has to offer us slip by, the thing that life offers us without a hefty price tag or a star-studded guest list.

Viral social media still champions the culture of chasing the fancy car, coveting the best restaurants and choicest seats, and associating with the “stars” and the “rich” and the “famous.” People convince themselves that this is what they want and put on blinders that keep them from noticing and savoring the simple and beautiful gifts life has been giving them since the day they were born.

I was reminded of this while reading Lin Yutang’s masterwork, The Importance of Living, a beautiful ode to experiencing life in all its fullness while at the same time embracing its simplicity:

“There are restaurants for giving grand dinners in a hall with gold-framed mirrors, and there are small restaurants designed for a little drink. All I want is to bring together two or three intimate friends and have a little drink, and not go to the dinners of rich and important people. But the pleasure we have in a small, eating and drinking and chatting and teasing each other and overturning cups and spilling wine on dresses is something which people at the grand dinners don’t understand and cannot even ‘miss.’”

Lin Yutang

Simple need not be derogatory. It only means that it is something that doesn’t make any pretenses of grandeur, or fame, or loftiness, but just is, by its nature, what it is. Remember the things in life you already have, remember the simple joys and the gifts life has already given to you — the places, the family, the friends, the pleasure and challenges alike.

Live Well, Live Today

“Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

Dolly Parton

Don’t miss living in the haze of being busy.

Don’t miss what you have in the pursuit of what you want.

Some of life’s greatest pleasures are already around you, and most are simple and absolutely free.

Today, open your eyes to the little joys, and the blessings you have. Call old friends. Get into nature. Watch the sunrise and watch it set. Read a beautiful book. Hug your lover. Tell your parents that you love them. Have a meal with a few old pals. Drink and laugh to memories of old. Be grateful for the roof over your head and the food on your table. Recognize that two-hundred years ago a rusty nail, polio, or measles would easily do you in. Realize that with the right people there’s more laughter and joy in a small informal cafe than in a swanky, posh restaurant.

These are the things that form the tender spirit of our lives.

The things that we must not miss.

Aim for greatness, but do not miss what’s around you.

Prepare for the future, but make the most of today.

Cultivate success, but not at the expense of living.

As Seneca said, there is noting the busy person is less busied with than living. While I encourage you to get busy making your life a success story, doing what you can, cultivating a dream, I also encourage you to get busy living too.

Enjoying life doesn’t need to come with a hefty price tag. Joy, love, friendship, and the enjoyment of life’s gifts — these are things beyond status and appearance, beyond finery and station. They are human, and to be human is to be free.

(Originally published on Mind Cafe)

(Image by Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash)