Waking Up to Life

You only live once. And sometimes not even then.
— P. J. O’Rourke.

There’s a story about a monk meditating every day in the village square. A businessman would hurry by, going about his business and sometimes frowning and shaking his head. Finally one day he could stand it no longer. He asked the monk, “How can you waste your life just sitting there in a trance?” The monk replied, “But my son, it is you who is in the trance.”

My last post, A Habit Is Just a Habit, talked about how much of our behavior is automatic. We’re complicated creatures and couldn’t function if we had to do everything consciously. But if we never learned to step back and re-evaluate our habits, it would be like living in a trance…we would be acting like sophisticated robots, mere victims of our programming.

Adam Kayce suggests we set up an automatic system to remind us to take awareness breaks. We can set an alarm or use cues in our environment to mentally step back and check our emotional and physical states. If we’re worried and tense, say, we can briefly take corrective measures. As Adam points out, a small investment in time can do wonders for our productivity.

Of course, the monk in the story would say there’s more to life than just goal-achievement. If we’re changing our automatic reactions just for the sake of efficiency, then we’re simply acting as self-programming robots. We’re still not fully alive in the present.

The good news is we don’t have to sit and meditate all day to put that extra dimension of spirituality and joy into our lives. Some periods of meditation or reflection often helps, but those simple awareness breaks Adam suggests can do wonders. Only instead of taking them just for the sake of getting things done, why not use them to tune into your surroundings, your body and the life force within you and be grateful that you’re alive? People who have survived cancer or other life-threatening experiences will be the first to tell you…life, the present moment, isn’t something to be taken for granted.

As an ancient Sanskrit poem puts it:

Look to this day, for it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence,
The joy of growth, the splendor of action, the glory of power.
For yesterday is but a memory
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today well lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!

Picture by tiseb at Flickr. Creative Commons license.

Other relevant posts: Happiness, The Purpose of Life? and Linda Salazar’s Falling Awake.

Self-massage is an easy way to tune into your body.

For short meditation breaks, Tammy Lenski recommends The Meditation Room.