The Secret to Enjoying Everyday Life
The beauty of life is in the ordinary moments of the day. Close to 99% of our life is quite ordinary, we get up in the morning, brush our teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast, have a cup of coffee, drive to the work, send emails, have lunch, come back home and finish off our day with a dinner and go to sleep.
There is nothing extra ordinary about any of this. So the mind is never happy, it always waiting for that “extra ordinary” moment. It’s always in resistance to enjoying the everyday life.
We have become habitual “waiters”
We are all playing the waiting game aren’t we? Waiting for our finances to improve, waiting for our partner to give us more love, waiting to meet that perfect partner, waiting to be famous, waiting for that vacation, waiting for that raise and waiting for several other things.
When you are waiting for something to happen, what you are saying is that what you have right now is not good enough for you. What you have right now is always so ordinary and common place, and what you “want” is always the more enticing, extra ordinary moment.
The mind is never happy with what is, except for a few rare moments. These rare moments of being happy with “what is” happen so infrequently that they comprise of only 1% of your life. Rest of the 99% of the time you are always seeking something other than what life is offering you right now.
When you play the waiting game, you are simply focusing on some imaginary future without any consideration for this “ordinary” moment. The paradox is that the beauty of life is hidden in each moment, so you miss the beauty of life 99% of the time.
Why is the mind never happy with “what is”
Truth be said, your mind can never trained to be happy with “what is”. It’s just not possible. People who are straining to stay in the “now”, know the suffering they go through just to control their mind. What they fail to understand is that the “mind” cannot stay in the now because the very nature of mind is to be “time bound”.
What is mind after all? Just the movement of thoughts. There is no actual entity called the mind. That’s why the mind is called a “verb”, because it’s nothing but a continual movement of thoughts. To make the mind stay in the now is impossible, because a movement can never be still. It needs to keep moving.
The mind is never happy with “what is” because the very nature of thoughts is to move towards time, past and future. Don’t even bother with the uphill task of making your mind “appreciate” what is, it’s never gonna happen except on some rare moment temporarily. Enjoying the everyday life, with all its ordinary moments, is not in the capacity of the mind.
But you are not the mind, and you can enjoy “what is”
When you live through your mind you can never appreciate what is. It’s always about the next moment and the next “great” experience. The mind is the “time bound” aspect of life, let it be. You are not your mind. What you are is the “awareness” in which the mind happens. So you have the complete independence to enjoy what is, irrespective of what the mind says.
The simple proof, that you are not your mind, is that you can “watch” your mind, so who is the you? Quite simply the “awareness” which is always present. The awareness which perceives the seeing, the listening, the thoughts, the sensations and every experience. That’s who you are, the ever present awareness.
The very nature of awareness is complete acceptance. Awareness is never squirming away from anything. It embraces everything completely, it takes in everything and allows everything to touch it. Awareness is always open, the only thing that has the quality of being completely and unconditionally loving is awareness itself.
Awareness is always in love with “what is” because that’s what is it’s experience right now. It could care less if it’s the ordinary moment or an extra ordinary moment. It’s always in love with what is. The beauty and the paradox is that “you” are awareness, you are not some “body” or some “mind”. That’s a ridiculous “mis-indentification”, that happened through conditioning.
When you rest in your true nature, you will not have a problem with what is. Nothing which happens is that important, because it’s all a “come and go”. Awareness is always in “enjoy”, no matter what’s happening, because it can’t ever be harmed. So it’s playful, open and loving, because nothing can ever harm it in any way. Awareness is never touched by anything and yet it seems to touch everything.
Just rest as pure awareness and see if you have any problem with what is. Awareness does not analyse anything, it does not question anything, it does not what to change anything, it’s not trying to achieve anything, and basically it wants nothing. Its nature is to be aware, simply aware. You are awareness itself, that’s you nature. Just relax into your true nature and allow life to unfold, it’s becomes a beautiful play instead of a “constant” fight. When you live as your true nature, you will enjoy everyday of your life, and each moment is a gift.
About the Author: Article by Outofstress.com staff author. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce.
Additional Articles From "Articles Self Improvement"
- More Stress Advice?
- How Can I Let Go of the Past and Move On?
- Becoming Free Of The Mind – Letting Go
- What is Eckhart Tolle Talking About?
- Why is the Mind Unconscious of Reality?
- How To Stop Complaining So Much?
- How to Bring Good Luck into Your Life?
- How To Release Negative Emotions?
- 4 Simple Tips to Cope with Exam Stress
- How to Fall Asleep When You Are Not Tired?