If you’re like most of us, you’re driven to accomplish certain goals—
goals
personally meaningful and valuable to you. It doesn’t much matter
whether the end of your pursuits is completing a manuscript or a
marathon. And your “payoff,” your “high,” revolves around your final
achievement. It’s unlikely that you consider the actual
doing—the specific activities
engaged in to reach that goal—as particularly notable or sustaining. Yet if you’re to live life to the utmost—which is to say, live it
mindfully—it’s essential that, independent of your aim, you fully immerse yourself in the moment-to-moment progression toward this aim.In a sense, this piece complements an earlier four-part post I wrote entitled “The Purpose of Purposelessness” (see parts
1,
2,
3, &
4),
in which I advocated approaching life more playfully—without, that is,
constantly focusing on the practical utility of your behavior. For if
all your actions are goal-oriented, life becomes pretty much a
“business”: more work than play. And it’s questionable whether living in
such a purposeful, “directed” manner ultimately yields as much
happiness, well-being, or peace of mind as might otherwise be attainable.
Here what I’d like to emphasize is that there can be satisfaction,
pleasure, and even joyfulness in the “doing” of virtually everything you
undertake. As long, that is, as your mindset is one of acceptance and
creative absorption. This is generally what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
refers to as
“flow,” as well as a fundamental tenet of
positive psychology.
It’s about getting
lost
in the moment, losing your sense of space and time, concentrating your
attention on all you’re doing and, too, all that’s going on outside you
(even if it’s just waiting in line!). It’s about going
with the flow (vs. struggling against it) and becoming one with whatever occupies you
right now—however
petty or mundane. And it has the power to ward off the frustrations and
disappointments you’re vulnerable to absent this mental outlook of
adaptation and acceptance. You’re totally awake to the current moment.
And your “present-ness” can—paradoxically—
itself be your goal.
When you’re doing something that may be tedious but nonetheless
essential to realize some specific intent, could you become creatively
absorbed—and sufficiently satisfied, even “enlivened”—by
that?
One
example I might offer here is the act (or art) of fishing.
Recreationally speaking, fishing is about relaxation (more so than skill
building); and maybe also about socializing—or, well, its opposite,
solitude. If you were the fisher-man or -woman, could you experience
pleasure independent of whether you actually landed any fish? Even
though fishing expeditions are conventionally viewed as mostly about
catching fish, could you take comfort and contentment in—and maybe even
celebrate—the activity itself . . . without feeling somehow defeated if
the fish just didn’t happen to be cooperating that day?Obviously,
the larger question I’m posing isn’t about snagging things out of the
water. It’s about an appreciative attitude toward life—and
living!—that can safeguard you from experiencing boredom, frustration,
stress
and aggravation, discouragement . . . or downright embitterment. The
issue is whether you can begin to approach each of your activities as a
challenge—as a fresh opportunity to learn something, to get more closely
in touch with yourself and others, to discover the yet-to-be-recognized
subjective value and vitality in everything you do. Whether it’s
something you
want to do or
have to do.
And
finally, I believe that such an attitudinal shift may be one of the
principle characteristics of enlightenment. Certainly, what I’m
describing is no easy task. It’s hardly a simple thing to align yourself
to all you’re engaged in with such a “winning” frame of mind. As
straightforward and simple as what I’m portraying may sound, it yet
demands marked
self-discipline
to accomplish. After all, focusing on process rather than purpose
probably runs counter to so much of what you’ve probably been taught—or
come to believe. But I’m still convinced that it’s one of the very best
paths to a happy and fulfilling existence.Note: If you know of anyone who might resonate to this piece, please consider sharing it.
© 2012
Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
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