Monday, January 5, 2015
Maria Popova's "An Antidote to the Age of Anxiety: Alan Watts on Happiness and How to Live with Presence"
Read the article distributed in class by Maria Popova. It is an interesting reading. You should read it throughly and choose a few specific quotations that you want to expand upon. You can use personal experience and opinion to relate to the quotations you choose; however, be sure to respond to the article itself too. One such quote that stands out to me is "Happiness. . . isn't a matter of improving our experience, or even merely confronting it, but remaining present with it in the fullest possible sense: To stand face to face with insecurity is still not to understand it. To understand it, you must not face it but be it." I remember looking for happiness for quite a few years in my teenage and young adult years. After exhausting most of my attempts at being happier, I realized that I had to embrace happiness within myself - in other words, I had to "be" happy. I would like to elaborate more on this but I am just setting you up for your own blog. Enjoy! Do a great job. This is my last blog for you. Next week, your blog will be sent from Mrs. Messenio.
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Overall, this writing taught me that I am only one person, and in order to find happiness, I must live and struggle as one person. This makes me think a lot, especially the paragraph that was about thinking while reading. It is actually frustrating to a point where I am trying to write this blog while thinking that I am writing it, and I think I did it!
ReplyDeleteA few parts in this piece make me think about my own problems in finding happiness, and it is summed up in one sentence:
"To understand this is to realize that life is entirely momentary, that there is neither permanence nor security, and that there is no 'I' which can be protected."
I am a worrier. I often think about the future, wether it is tomorrow, next week, next year, or thirty years from now. Sometimes this can be a good quality and preparations for the future can be made, but at other times, it is my weakness. I often work myself up about the future until my happiness on the subject is completely shattered. A good example of me doing this to myself comes when I am thinking about going to college. I have always been a "home body", and have a hard time being in a situation where I am not one hundred percent comfortable. I can go away for a week or two with my cousins or go to a summer camp for a few weeks and be perfectly fine, but if I "go to college", I will freak out. The word "college" just makes me upset because negativity and future worrying ruined the good thoughts about it for me. I think even farther ahead sometimes to my graduation from college. I think that once I go to college, I will not belong at house anymore and I will graduate to my own debt, job, house, and life. It will never be the same, and change is something that I will have to get used to wether if I am ready or not. Happiness in this subject is hard to find when the future is uncertain. I do not know what I want to be when I grow up and I do not know if I will ever have a family of my own. It is important to know that worrying will not move me in the right direction, and more worrying will have to be done as life changes. Nothing can set any plans in stone, so it is better to be positive than negative. I cannot be protected from what is uncertain and I need to live in the present to be happy.
I also must learn that "we are certainly not adapted to living in a finite world where, despite the best plans, accidents will happen, and where death comes at the end."
Nobody gets a second chance in life, so why not make the happy and wonderful? Even though life cannot be lived without negative aspects, it is important to try to forget the negative. Happiness cannot be found where life is sad. I always hear that we are supposed to live life to the fullest, but I never really thought about it (maybe because I had to take extra time to think about thinking while I was not actually thinking about the quote) enough to understand. In a video game, we get really scared if we only have one chance left, and we have to be really careful. Why, as humans with one more chance, are we not as careful? We are going to die, so we might as well be happy when we live and when we go. I think that we have to stop overthinking every little detail in life and look at it overall in a sense that nobody has a life to waste. We have to be careful to live life with no regrets and stay away from any toxic people or problems that will ruin our potential.
Happiness can be found right now, and not in the future. It can be found where we are our own person living a good life. Happiness cannot be found where sadness lives, and it is our job to make other people happy when we are happy so that sadness can be found in less places. Most importantly, to be happy, we just have to stop thinking so much and just live.
When one chooses to spend their life worrying, I think that they are inevitably setting themselves up for undesirable outcomes. My reasoning for this goes back to our recent blog regarding negative thinking. If an individual were to go through their life constantly worried about the next moment, there is a good chance that that moment, when it comes, will be less than satisfactory. This will continue on until every waking moment is spent worrying, and likewise, is not enjoyable. And what is the reason for this? What is the purpose of wasting each moment not enveloped in that moment, but fearing the next? In addition, negative thinking, or worrying, often causes one to act impulsively when faced with a decision, due to the fact that they are worried about making the incorrect one. However, if one were to simply sit back and think about the decision, or even simply allow life to play out, there is a much better chance of the individual being satisfied with the outcome. This way, the individual cannot say that they ruined their present with worrisome thoughts, but rather, they allowed their thoughts to be ones of experience, as they happily embrace the world around them.
DeleteGrace, I understand how you say that worrying can be both a good and bad habit. I am a worrier too. I am trying to get better at it. College has been something that I have been thinking about too. I was just talking about it with my mom last night. I was telling her like you, I would like to stay around three hours or less from home. But there is a part of me that thinks I can't be anything unless I go far away. I feel like I can't get experience when I am close to home, and the whole point of college is experience. My mom reminded me that even though I am fine going to a sport's camp at a university for a week, being away from you family for months at a time is so much harder, especially when you know no one. But then I think that everybody is in the same boat. Most kids are far from home and know no one.
DeleteYou're right about no one gets a second chance at life. So why not live it to the fullest? Because of that thought, I try not to think about this college stuff all the time. Enjoy the moment, because you never know when things might change. For now, college is in the future, so we mind as well enjoy junior year.
Grace, your analogy about life and video games was very effective. The last chance one has to do something is always the chance that is taken the most seriously. As human beings, we only have one chance to go through life. This first chance should be taken seriously because we do not have the chances to relive any part of our lives. However, taking like seriously does not mean that one should be serious all the time. Life should be fun and enjoyable. Every event that happens will not be happy, but most of them can be. No matter what happens, you only get one chance, so make it happen in the best way possible. This can easily be applied to life during high school. High school can be a nightmare. The tests, stress, and social pressures can cause a student unbearable anxiety if they focus on them alone. For a student to enjoy high school, they must focus on their friends and hobbies. However, focusing too much on pleasure or schoolwork is detrimental to a student's life. Too much schoolwork causes anxiety and stress, and too much please leads to carelessness and laziness. Life must be a balance between obligations and pleasure. Knowing how much time one can devote to the activities they enjoy gives them the motivation they need to complete their obligatory tasks. Living life in the best way possible helps us ensure we live with no regrets.
DeleteGrace, I am in the same position as you. I act like a mother who worries if her child isn't walking at six months. I ask myself constantly "Am I doing everything right?" and "Is there anything more I can do?" The answer is that I am doing all in my own power to make sure I'm live my life effectively. It normally takes a complete emotional meltdown for me to realize that I am not superwoman and I cannot do the tasks of five people. I realize after these incidents that I also cannot worry about everyone else and sometime I just need to sit down and think of myself rather than everyone else around me and once that is accomplished I can start actually getting my life together. We need to realize that our lives are not just built of the successes, but also the anxiety and tears and hardships. They serve as scars to remind us how far we are coming and that we simply need to step back and breathe sometimes or else we will get hurt. By living everyday one moment at a time, we are able to make ourselves stable and appreciate more in our lives and essentially get the most out of it.
DeleteGrace, I completely agree with you. There are so many scary things in our life and I constantly find myself worrying about them. One of these things I am scared of is ghosts. I hate showering when I'm home alone, driving myself, or ever being by myself. This irrational fear constantly takes over my life. I am always scared to death that someone will be behind me or I'm in danger. A lot of times I even sleep with the lights on in my room. It would be much easier to live my life if I didn't have this irrational fear. One thing I picked up from this article is that so many people waste away their lives worrying, and this is something I do not want to do. Hopefully, I can get over this fear and live my life the way I would like to.
DeleteMaria Popova's article about anxiety was very informative. Many people struggle with anxiety in their daily lives, especially students. As they wonder about the future, people tend to plan for it and worry about it. However, the future never truly arrives, as human beings constantly live in the present. Popova gives advice as to how people can rid themselves of their anxiety and ultimately become more happy.
ReplyDeletePopova explains that the reason human beings are anxious is because of "our tendency to live for the future, which is an abstraction." Humans can calculate odds, hypothesize, and guess as to what the future holds, but in the end it does not matter. As Popova says, "the best predictions are still matters of probability rather than certainty" because the future has not happened yet. One cannot know what the future holds because of its abstract nature. When one thinks deeper on the subject, one realizes that the future does not exist. The only true moment is the moment of now. The future never arrives; every future moment will eventually become a moment of the present. "To pursue [the future] is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead." Anxiety is created by humans as they try to understand an unfathomable concept.
Anxiety also arises from insecurity. The universe and everything in it is in a constant state of change that never seems to stop. Human beings are often afraid of this ever changing state, and desire stability. People reason that if they are unchanging, they will better be able to assure themselves of the stability of their future. However, human beings can never attain the degree of stability they long for without becoming more anxious. This vicious cycle of anxiety rises from the fact that "there is no permanent, static, and immutable "self" which can grant us any degree of security and certainty for the future." People need to accept that they cannot plan for the future with absolute certainty, and live fully in the present moment. The present moment cannot be truly lived if one is "judging it, evaluating it, or measuring it up against some arbitrary or abstract ideal." Becoming free from anxiety simply means letting go of a certain future, and trusting that everything will be okay.
As a student, I seem to always have the future on my mind. Every class has specific expectations that must be met on a daily basis, and teachers often give assignments that are due weeks later. The conglomeration of work that must be done is staggering, and I often find myself wondering how I'll be able to complete it all. I make plans so that my assignments are all completed at appropriate times, and even decide what parts of my schedule to sacrifice if my plans do not work out. However, I am often able to complete my assignments ahead of my schedule, negating the necessity of sleep deprivation or any other sacrifice I planned on having to undergo. However, I had the same amount of anxiety I would have had if I actually had needed to carry out my plans. In order to reduce my anxiety, I need to stop,worrying about the future. The future is never the same as what I plan, and it does no good for me to worry about it.
Reducing anxiety is an easy way to live a happier life. Because humans constantly worry about the future, they often forget that they are living in the present at all. By simply accepting that the future cannot be predicted, one can prepare themself to live fully in the present. It does no good to forget to live due to unnecessary worry. Instead, one should lose themself in the present, living with intensity and joy.
Ashley, I loved the quote you used: "To pursue [the future] is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead." I think that this is an excellent analogy about chasing an idea that is completely uncertain, and will truly never get us anywhere. As the future is not truly capable of arriving, what is the use of pursuing it? At the end of our lives, do we want to look back and say that we spent our days running around chasing an abstraction? When we think about it that way, it is almost silly to consider it. Of course, no one wants to waste their life pursuing something that is unattainable. We often try too hard to predict what the future will bring based on our experience thus far. But the fact of the matter is, we cannot base our futures on the present, because life is simply not that simple. There are so many complexities of the world, so many factors that will influence the final outcomes of our lives. As we are simply incapable of determining these factors, I think it can be agreed that it is useless to spend our days pursuing them.
DeleteThis blog is very in depth and makes me think, Ashley. It took me awhile to read this because I kept thinking that there is no future; it is the present. The abstract look at the future has some parts that a person might believe will happen, but nothing is certain. The uncertainty that we call the future causes many problems, but cannot be ignored because life is too complicated. The schoolwork problems that you have get to me as well. I get so worked up about assignments and keep them all written down. Like many people, I am trying to ensure a smooth future that might never happen. I need to stop thinking so much because it does cause extreme amounts of anxiety. Writing this blog and commenting on other's blogs is making me worried, taking all of my biggest fears, and making me think about them. It is a part of human nature to worry, but if this problem is reduced a little bit at a time, life can be lived in a happier way.
DeleteAshley, I also worry about the future as you do. I always worry about the future, mostly college, how much money I will need, and so forth, but this article has opened my eyes to see the reality of the allusion of time. As you have stated, the future does not exist. It could not possible ever be lived in because the future is something that one could never live in. Tomorrow always becomes today and one is always living now. No one could ever be living in tomorrow or the future because the moment that the clock turns to midnight, tomorrow becomes today and it is no longer the future, it is the present. Even if time travel was possible and someone were to travel into the future, they would not be currently living in the future because it would be happening now, a television show helped me realize that.
Delete"The real reason why human life can be so utterly exasperating and frustrating is not because there are facts called death, pain, fear, or hunger. The madness of the thing is that when such facts are present, we circle, buzz, writhe, and whirl, trying to get the "I" out of the experience."
ReplyDeleteThe world is an imperfect place - that much is evident. But the flaws within this world exist solely due to the fact that human beings have pointed them out and have turned hostile towards them, constantly worrying about how these factors will influence their own beings in the future. But what if human beings were to simply sit back let the world be? Spending one's life fearing for the future is not at all an adequate way of existing. This brings about a deep sense of negativity that will wash over the present and spoil it rotten. Why do we choose to spend our time fearing the unknown, assuming that the uncertainty of tomorrow will be unbearable? Have we ever considered the thought that perhaps the real fear that should envelop out lives is the fear of spoiling the present? By spending one's days worrying about uncertain elements such as death, pain, fear, and hunger, an individual is inevitably setting themselves up for a pain-filled life.
I have had many personal encounters with fear and uncertainty, stress and adversity. Through each of these encounters, however, I have felt the burden of worry strapped to my back, weighing me down everywhere I went. Especially throughout the beginning of this school year, I felt the stress of my endeavors, constantly worrying about all of the work that I needed to get done instead of simply accepting the fact that I would get through it eventually. In doing so, I found myself failing to enjoy the fun-filled moments of my life, constantly worried about what the future would bring. However, I reached a point when I grew tired of wasting my teenage years worrying. I wanted to make something out of my life, but I knew that I could only do so by embracing the world - with all of its burdens - and letting life take its course. I thought that perhaps through feeling the world - really embracing it - I would be led exactly where I was meant to go. Thus far, I have found myself capable of experiencing much more fulfillment in my life, taking each struggle as it comes, and moving on. I know that I will still have plenty of work to do, but I also understand now that by enjoying the beautiful moments in the present, I am making it much more likely that I will enjoy the future as well. Whenever I begin to let worry consume me, I now simply stand back and look at the big picture that is my future. I ask myself, "What are the chances that I will fail out of high school? What are the chances that I will fail to get into college? What are the chances that I will be denied every job out there?" When I really sit back and think about it, the chances are very slim. Things may not work out exactly as I plan them to, but they will work out the way that they are meant to. I know that I can be intelligent, and if I work hard, I am capable of achieving greatness. I begin to trust that my future is indeed bright, and that I need to enjoy the present if I have any hopes for attaining an enjoyable future.
This brings me to the inclusion of another quote mentioned in the reading: "To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking 'I am listening to this music,' you are not listening." I love the profoundness of this statement. I think that this is an excellent way of viewing the world, and a human being's perception of it. I think that this statement also serves as excellent advice for anyone struggling to find meaning in their lives. In order for one to understand something, they must encounter it for themselves. They must not think so frequently about the fact that they are experiencing it, but rather they must simply experience it, and let it carry out the way it intends. Human beings often become so obsessed with changing the elements of life's experiences in hopes that they will be able to fully encounter it for themselves. However, in order to truly experience life the way that it is, one must stop trying to act as the instigator, and simply embrace the life that they are living.
DeleteI found this article to be extremely inspiring and relatable. After reading it, I realize even more that I should not be wasting my life by sweating the little things and trying to make everything in my life perfect. Anxiety and panic are something I deal with on a daily basis, and I think this article will help me handle these things a little better. One of my favorite quotes from this article was "But the future is still not here, and cannot become a part of experienced reality until it is present". I think this quote is able to convey so much meaning without saying a lot. Everyone is constantly preparing for the future. As juniors and seniors, students are worried about their SATs, schoolwork, and what college they are going to choose. They get so caught up in this process that they forget to relax and enjoy the time they have in high school. I catch myself thinking so often that I cannot believe I went through two and a half years of high school already and I'm trying to allow myself to capture and enjoy the little moments that I experience here each day. By constantly going after the future and not grasping the present, so many people wish away their time. This scares me because I know that I am one of those people who constantly are worried about what the future holds in store, when in reality I'm not taking advantage of the time God gave me on this Earth. The future is completely unknown and what we are expecting may be unattainable, therefore the smart thing to do is not worry about the future. There are so many uncertainties in life that the present should not be taken for granted.
ReplyDeleteAnother quote from this piece that really struck me was "Happiness, he argues, isn’t a matter of improving our experience, or even merely confronting it, but remaining present with it in the fullest possible sense". Very often I go on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and I see a myriad of people posting pictures of themselves as they do every day with some cheesy quote about living life to the fullest. This strikes me as ironic because obviously if you are spending all your time taking pictures of yourself and obsessing about how many likes you get on social media that you aren't living your like to the fullest. In this day in age sometimes it's very hard to be thankful and take advantage of the present moment. We should live every moment of our lives to the fullest and try to make ourselves and the people around us as happy as possible. We are not on this Earth to sit around and be miserable. Our lives are too precious to get caught up in the past mistakes that we have made or to worry about only the future. My favorite movie/musical is Rent. It follows the lives of the lower class citizens dealing with AIDS in New York City. My favorite quote that I try to remind myself of often is "There's only this, Forget regret or life is yours to miss, No other road, No other way, No day but today". I think this quote corresponds very well with this article because there are so many people wasting away their lives every single day. This is an extremely depressing thought that these people are so caught up waiting for the perfect moment or dwelling on the past that they are throwing away the time they have now. This time they are experiencing now may be the best years of their life and they might not even now it. This article made me realize how precious our time is and that each day, each second should be taken advantage of and lived to the fullest.
Abbey, I understand what you mean about high school. Sometimes, I feel like I am three years in, and I should be wiser than I was in 8th grade. But am I really? I feel like I don't even understand what I learn, how it is going to help me in life, and why I am doing it. So many times, I hear people say how high school is the best time of your life. How? You have pressure from teachers and parents asking you about college, careers, etc. You have no time to go out with friends and enjoy life. Then, you think, "And people say that is the best time of my life? Really?" I am trying to enjoy the little moments as well, because that is what I want to remember my high school experience by. I don't want to remember the days I struggled and was getting frustrated with my parents and teachers. I want to remember the good times and friends, because I know that when I go to college, my life will be totally devoted to studying. I feel like it can get worse as we get older, we should be able to enjoy high school while we are here. It is only temporary after all, and we should be able to enjoy the time we have here. Last year, I constantly thought about the future and got wrapped up in it. This year, I have tried to be a little less serious and be in the present. Now, I think maybe the key to happiness is only taking things you know for certain seriously. If you take it all seriously, it can really be tiring, and make you unhappy.
DeleteAbbey, I agree that school is a hassle that causes the majority of the anxiety and stress in my life. Everything that a student does to prepare for college puts enormous strain on their mentality. Preparing for college starts freshman year with the classes a student chooses to pursue and the clubs they join. However, many students do not realize that this is when their preparations begin. Students often try to cram their college preparations into junior and senior year, causing undue stress. The testing, applications, and other paperwork in addition to coursework makes students feel as if they have no room in their lives for pleasure. According to popular opinion, high school is supposed to be "the best four years of your life." How can this be the truth when the responsibilities just keep piling up? This article says that one can enjoy life when they cease to worry about the future. In the end, life always works out, and most of the problems that humans struggle with cannot be prevented. As a student, it is important to remember that the time spent in high school is merely a prelude to something bigger and more important. The decisions one makes in high school do affect the future, but they do not affect it in an extreme way. The future changes with every choice one makes, so it's never too late to make it better.
DeleteAbbey, I completely agree with you. People today are wasting their time doing things that they really do not need to be doing. I mean really people, what is the point of posting millions of selfies on Instagram and Facebook? People back in the day did not have the temptation of taking selfies and waiting their whole day away looking at someone's picture on a social media application. Technology today really makes it hard for the people of today's society to live life to the fullest.
DeleteAbbey, I agree that we have to live with the stress of school as well as other activities that we go through on a daily basis and this can lead to the anxiety that is pushed into our daily lives. I also can relate to how we have to stress the idea that we are going to have to worry about our SAT's and schoolwork so much because it is the basis for how we get into our dream school and into out ideal job. This is one of my main concerns that if I do not do well on one paper, I have to worry about failing the class, and essentially not getting into my dream college. I constantly worry about the future and fear the outcome rather than just sitting back and enjoying the little things in life. We must constantly remind ourselves of the outcome of life and we must always try to make ourselves realize that what has stressed us out now, most likely won't even matter ten years from now.
DeleteAbbey, I like how you included different time spans of the future here. People worry about the next few hours, days, years, and lives. It is true that the next few hours are easier to control than a person's whole lifetime, but so many problems and and good surprises can change the future. It is hard for a controlling person to accept this fact that they cannot possibly control every aspect of their lives. I often want to understand more about what will happen and get upset when I do not know every detail. This happens especially when I think about dying. As a Catholic, I believe that there is a heaven and hell, but am thrown off when other people talk to me about it and blow my mind. Some people tell me that there are ghosts and that they see them all of the time. What is a ghost, then? Is it a person in heaven, purgatory, or hell? Is it a part of a person's imagination? I personally have no desire to ever be a ghost and I try not to think about that because it scares me and makes me upset. The people that see ghosts are afraid of them, and I do not want to scare anybody by showing up where I am not wanted. I would much rather be with Jesus because people tell me that he is nice and not scary. Not knowing the answers to the future is frustrating, but I cannot control that. To your point, it is better just to stop thinking so hard about every part of life and to take what comes to you and deal with it then.
ReplyDelete“What keeps us from happiness is our inability to fully in habit the present.” I can relate to this quote. I think that many times we are not in the present moment, but instead thinking about our future and debating on what events might happen. I have found myself just sitting in class, unfocused on what I am doing, simply because my mind is on other things. Many people think about the future, as they may be afraid of it, but they also have events to look forward to, like marriage and graduation.
ReplyDeleteYet, this article argues that even though we think about the future, we cannot really understand it and what it will bring until it is physically here. Other times, we get so caught up in worrying about our futures that we get lost in the present. We forget what we are doing and why we are doing it. More so, there could be wonderful happenings right in front of you, but you don’t notice them because you’re too busy thinking about the future.
“To pursue it is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead.” The article also makes another point that coincides with this quote. It says that society rarely enjoys, or even thinks about what it is doing. In today’s day and age, everything is rushed. And, I think anyone can see that from looking at the present state in America. Relationships that are rushed end up in divorce. People are sad after that, and then they want to be “happy.” So they chase it, and try to find whatever happiness is. They look in all different places to find it: material items, people, success, love, money…etc…. But they come up empty. I don’t think that happiness is a matter of finding it in something, but instead it is a feeling. It is not an item, or a person, but something you feel when everything is going right. Where you find it is up to you.
“The desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing.” This is true! I don’t think that a person is ever truly secure. Many times, they are insecure, but act secure. They try to give the allusion of being secure so people believe that they are. People, who always try to live for being secure, will “hold their breath until they are as purple as a beet.” Everybody has a insecurity about them, or something they do not want others to know about them. They try to keep it a secret, and act like they do not care about anything. In reality, very, very, few people are secure in who they are. I think that it is ok to be insecure, as not everyone can be strong about everything. Some things people truly have a right to be insecure about.
Overall, I think that this reading makes some excellent points. People are always chasing the future, and happiness, and trying to find what makes others secure/insecure. However, not all of this is evident in people. I think that one of the main ideas of this reading is not to force things. They happen when they happen, and when they do happen, it will be wonderful and worth the amount of time you waited for them. So many people in society have an “I want it now” attitude. But in reality, very few things happen when you snap your fingers, and most good things take time. I believe that if society stopped rushing things, we would be happier people. I believe that the divorce rate would be down, and people would be happier overall. Some can even apply this to students have to pick a career at 18. Isn’t that rushing things a little bit when we are not even sure what’s out there yet? Society could take a cue from this reading.
Olivia, I like everything that you had to say there. I feel that people are chasing the future. I know that sometimes I spend more time worrying about the future than I do the present. I really should stop doing this, because it only leads to sadness on my part but it is just human nature to want to think about the future. I imagine myself being moderately successful, or a hobo. It will be one of the two. I will not be super rich. I hope not to be a hobo, but I have pretty much diagramed my life out and that's where it leads me. See, I spend too much time thinking. I need to worry more about the present. Just, it is difficult. I feel the future is coming to get me. Just...that's a bad thing to think about. And I do feel that kids these days are being rushed to make decisions. I feel if people just slowed down, there would be so much less turnover and chaos in the world. Well....that's all.
Delete"But the future is still not here, and cannot become a part of experienced reality until it is present. Since what we know of the future is made up of purely abstract and logical elements — inferences, guesses, deductions — it cannot be eaten, felt, smelled, seen, heard, or otherwise enjoyed. To pursue it is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead."
ReplyDeleteMy life seemed to be semi normal when I was growing up. My parents both worked, we seemed to be very healthy at the times with only few minor set backs. We never really talked much about the future because it was one of those things we were not worried about at the time. We never ran into many issues, until my middle school years.
My mom always worried about me during middle school because girls didn't really want to be friends with me because I was also hanging out with the boys durning clubs, and sitting with them at lunch. I was on of those Tom boy girls I guess you could say. But they were mean to me because of that. I think that's when my mom and I started to look at the future, who I could be friends with, how I could changed myself to happy again. But then we realized that we couldn't tell what the future was going to bring. Just like the quote said this is when we learned that the future was abstract and we were not going to be able to plan for it.
The next experience that got me to really look into the future is when my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. I was also scared to leave my family to go to friends houses because I didn't want something to happen while I was gone. I then realized again, that i couldn't predict what was going to happen in the future. I had to live day by day and take things as they came to me in the present. This is how my family and I basically made it though Cancer treatments. Just took it day by day.
The quote reminds me of something my dad's first nurse Brandi would say. She would also remind us not to chase the fact and be like I can't wait till this is over. She said that "it is only over when it's over and you have to take it as it comes." I remember when my dads surgeon also said something that in one day something can change, than the
Future you had in your brain will change also, then you will become disappointed. He said its better not plan for the future, and take it day by day.
This article as a whole has really made me want to read this book. I too have issues sometimes with being happy with myself or with the way my life is going. I feel if reading this book will help me turn myself into a better happier person, than I will give it a shot.
Personally, I do not think that I have ever read an article that spoke directly to me so much in my life like this one has. When reading a book, I usually somehow start to think of other things whilst reading and I constantly have to remind myself that I need to focus on reading. I am reading the words but I am also thinking about the words, story, and major plot points while I am reading these words, so therefore, I am not really paying attention to the words that I am currently reading. I always knew this factor in the back of my mind, but I never knew how to really say it or put it into context until I read this article. A particular line in this article really got my attention, “Can you at the same time, read this sentence and think about yourself reading it?” This really got me thinking, in fact I actually had to put down the article so that I would not read more while I was thinking about this specific sentence. If anyone out there is like me, they will know that they do this frequently. I know that I constantly think about myself reading books, as I am reading a book. For example, over the Christmas break, when I was reading the Grapes of Wrath, I constantly thought about how I was reading the book. I continued to have to remind myself to focus on actually reading and paying attention to the text and the story. This statement has proven to be useful to me. I am completely inspired by this article. What the author is trying to get across by this point is that no one can actually be reading something if they are thinking at the same time, no matter what they are thinking about. If one is thinking about reading, then one is not really reading. Maria also uses this theory in another form “To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking, ‘I am listening to this music,’ you are not listening.” This statement is also fantastic because it so speaks the real truth. Because of this statement, I now believe that no one could actually be listening to music properly. If one was to listen to music, they would be focusing on one part of the music: the lyrics, they rhythm, the instruments, etc, so I propose that since if one is thinking about listening to music, which one always does, one is never actually listening to the music. So therefore no one could ever fully be listening to music unless one was not thinking about anything at all, which, in my understanding, no one could ever do.
ReplyDeleteMaria also says "the 'primary consciences,' the basic mind which knows reality rather than ideas about it, does not know the future. It lives completely in the present, and perceives nothing more than what is at the moment," which means that ones mind does not live in the future or the past, it can on,y live in the present. If one is dwelling on the past or thinking of the future, then they are not really living in the present because they are not "in" the present. If this statement is true, then the only way that one could live in the present is if they are only in the present, not thinking of past or future events.
This article is truly inspiring and amazing, but I have not even begun to scrape the surface of what it is fully about. I plan to look further into this to try and explain events such as these for future generations, even though doing so would be saying that I am not living in the present.
RaeAnn, I agree with your statement of reading. I often find myself in the same situation when reading. I tend to get lost in the words and events and examine them or think about how they relate to other events. But as I am getting lost in the words I continue to read the words but I do not understand them, so I have to go back and reread. I feel as life flows in this manner. We get lost in the past and the future thinking about events relative to what has already happened and the present which was lost now becomes the past. Time is precious and limited and people should try to live in the present and visit the past and future.
DeleteJust as you get lost in the words of wonderful books, I also do that. I remember the one time my family was going to Erie and I had the book Cinder on my phone. The book is not that big in size, but fairly decent. I got lost in the wonderful book. My mind was going crazy and was full of all the exciting actions in the book. Needless to say.. I finished the book right when we pulled Into the hotel parking lot. I then later was trying to tell me friend how good it was and I forgot almost everything that happened. I then read it again the next day and found out many more things that I did not realize before. My new favorite thing to do with books is to read the chapters 2 time before moving on the the next one. I am currently reading the book theif and I can just say my new idea has worked wonders. The same idea works on time and events that are occurring. Many seem to happen so quickly it's almost like you have to relive them again I order to figure out what exactly happened.
DeleteRaeAnn, I know exactly what you mean. I constantly find myself getting lost in books, movies, or TV shows. Instead of thinking about the actually book I think about myself and how I would handle situations or wha character I relate to or things of that sort. It actually sounds very nerdy but I constantly think, "Well I wish I was this character so that I could do that with that character and be part of this action". I start to actually obsess over it after a while. I think this can realty a lot to life because after a situation is over we think of how it could be handled differently or different scenarios. Also, we all tend to get jealous of other people's lives a lot. I don't like to admit it but I do this a lot myself. We all constantly think: I wish I looked like them, I wish I was as good at sports, or I wish I was as popular as they are. We just need to step back and live our own lives instead of focusing on others.
DeleteIt is not as easy as one would think to live for the moment rather than think about the overall picture of life. I know that I am the person who thinks one essay, or test, or project, will ruin their existence because that will lead to the failing of the class, which will fail to let them into a great college, which will lead them to not get their dream job, which will lead them to become homeless. It is an extreme slippery slope (hahaha see what I did there), but I just live in fear. I live in the idea that one singular action had the potential to ruin me and my ambitions. I have anxiety attacks quite often where I cannot even breathe because of my awful tendency to over analyze every situation in my life, but I simply cannot change myself and how I am no matter how often I tell myself that it will all be fine in the future and every moment of my life does not rely on the grade of one test.
ReplyDeleteThis reading, however, gave me hope of change in my daily routine and gives me faith that I can avoid my weekly mental breakdowns. I learned I am not doing anything wrong by looking at the larger picture that portrays my future life with a rich husband and a Bentley, but I just over analyze that small things that contribute to the big idea. I truly think I found what has made me so unhappy with my life for so long.
By approaching life in a new way and living for the moment, there is more of an opportunity to look at what is great in your life rather than strive for more, like the article said. Watts stated "This is why all the affairs of civilization are rushed, why hardly anyone enjoys what he has, and is forever seeking more and more. Happiness, then, will consist, not of solid and substantial realities, rather such abstract and superficial things as promises, hopes, and assurances." We look for more happiness in items than we do in people and it is truly upsetting. An example of this can be found in the novel we all just finished reading, The Grapes of Wrath. In this novel, as they travel to California during the Great Depression, they do not cherish the trip with their family or even hold dear the fact that this has been the first time in years that they have seen, or even heard from, Tom. Instead they are focused on a job, which is going to screw them over, and money, which they never received. We do not look for happiness in our lives because we are given a superficial idea that our happiness can only be accomplished later in life with the purchasing of extremely expensive items. We are perfectly capable of finding happiness now and not in anything elaborate. We can find happiness in going on long drives or opening a brand new book or even just knowing that someone truly cares about us. It does not taking items and time to figure out how to become happiness. We are able to be happy if we savor every moment of our lives and simply know that there is a plan for us that we do not simply know know yet. It all does work out in the end, so why worry and become anxiety filled messes over something that we cannot control. My dad gave me a magnet, stick with me, once and it said "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Until this day, I remind myself of that prayer and I allow myself to say it every time that I am stressed or having an emotional breakdown, because it helps me put things into perspective and allows me to move about my day full of hope and to live in the moment.
Jenna, I agree with on your comment about how it is hard not to live in the moment. Living for the moment is hard because you are constantly thinking about other events, events which do not have to do with that moment. When reading this article I found myself questioning how often a person truly lives within a present moment of time. When thinking about these moments I find myself thinking of the present and past. The past because I am trying to calculate how often I have lived in the moment and in the future because I am thinking how I should live in the moment a little more than I do already. The test and homework example is perfect and can relate to a majority of people. People fret about one assignment or test and how it can ruin everything. I myself am very guilty of this, but I often forget to realize what other grades and assignments are also included. I believe that a person should strive to live in the moment, a person needs to visit past and future to assist in their happiness
DeleteMaria Popova's article is not only inspiring, but it is grounding. It brings the reader off a cloud of imagination of the future and away from the cloud of worry which consumes many minds. It highlights the importance of living in the present or else the future will never truly arrive, and it also perfectly portrays the necessity to appreciate what is in the present.
ReplyDelete"This [thinking of the future] is why all the affairs of civilization are rushed, why hardly anyone enjoys what he has, and is forever seeking more and more. Happiness, then, will consist, not of solid and substantial realities, but of such abstract and superficial things as promises, hopes, and assurances." It has become near impossible in today's world to stop thinking about the future to live in the present. Most age groups are constantly pressured into worrying about the future. Teenagers are hounded in worrying about colleges and how to get careers, while adults with careers are constantly needing to think how to keep their career in a world becoming more advanced and competitive each day. Not only do we think of our futures in a way to better it, we also use the future to escape the present. Often times, we hear people say, "I'm just going to marry rich," or "when I'm older I'm going to be driving a Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, and a Maserati, and I'm going to wear all Chanel and Christian Louboutin." Yes, people use the future to escape the present and make excuses to not appreciate what they already have. You cannot take the time and appreciate a Kate Spade handbag when you are thinking of a future with a Chanel handbag, and you cannot fully appreciate all the sacrifices your parents make to get you those things when you are too focused on what this future rich husband is going to bring along with the imagined, shiny engagement ring.
But of course this worry for the future can perhaps be the most important escape for some people. How is a child suppose to escape the ghetto and violence there if they do not dream of getting out and worry about finding a way? A child cannot just simply leave the ghetto without any means. Those who get out of the ghetto motivate themselves to get away from the violence and drag problems often associated with ghettos. The children fortunate enough to get out become successful in escaping by worrying about their future career and college plans. When the article talks about experience, it also correlates with this exact topic. Instead of trying to escape reality, these kids take their experience to learn from to motivate themselves to change their futures.
The way this article tries to bring a sense of security and relief to the reader reminds me a lot of my dad always telling me, "Don't get too carried away worrying about the future because ninety- nine percent of our worst fears never come true." The point of life is not to worry about the future, but to appreciate the present. Everyone is going to die sooner or later, but we can never fully appreciate those people in their time here if we are worrying about the future, just like we will never get to know ourselves if we are too busy trying to escape the present. As humans we are given a unique opportunity to use our complex minds to change our lives ourselves off what we experience. Caterpillars may form cocoons to transform into a. Beautiful butterfly, but the only way for humans to transform beautifully is experience.
Lauren I agree with you. I feel that people these days are being rushed into major life decisions. Sometimes, it takes a while to make a decision. Society does not accept this though. In today's world, if you cannot make a decision quick enough, you will be replaced by someone who can. I feel that this mindset is very wrong. People need to have time. Decisions cannot be made on the spot all the time. So, I believe that covers that. I want to move onto something else that you mentioned though. You said that people today just say they'll marry rich and that will solve all their problems. I do not believe in this practice at all. I believe this is a lazy way out of being successful yourself. When guys say this, I want to punch them in the face. Guys today are slacking behind girls education wise, and this just seems to be a way of getting off easy cause their grades may not be the best and they've just decided they'll never be successful. That seems very lazy to me and I want to spit on the ground that they tread upon. When girls say this, I get deep sadness and anger. Girls have all the potential in the world to be successful, but yet they decide to submit into just marrying rich. Newsflash., women did that 200 years ago. In some parts of the world, it still happens. But not here. I heard a nice saying once. It was, "Don't marry for the money, but don't marry if they have no money." So, that's all I have to say.
DeleteI must say, this was a very interesting article. Most of these articles that we have to blog on I will just skim through because I am bored or I have important things to do. I believe this was very evident in most of the blogs I wrote. I saw no reason to change this practice for this article. But as I was skimming two thoughts hit me. One was that this article made no sense. The other thought was that it had some interesting quotations. I decided to stop skimming and just go back to the beginning and actually read it. When I read it, everything seemed to make sense. I feel that all of these blogs will be great. So I am glad this is our last blog with Doctor Diiulio, because it is always better to go out with a bang than with a dud.
ReplyDeleteThe quote I want to talk about can be found on page 2, paragraph 3. It says “Our primary mode of relinquishing presence is by leaving the body and retreating into the mind – that ever-calculating, self-evaluating, seething cauldron of thoughts, predictions, anxieties, judgments, and incessant meta-experiences about experience itself.”
I love this quote so much. I try not to make it obvious, but when I am distressed I go into a sort of meditation state. I like to retreat into my mind when I do not like the real world at that moment. I do not get into this meditation state like Buddhist monks. I think of it like sleeping without actually falling asleep. It just feels very relaxing and if at that moment I have an urge to kill someone (figuratively, not literally), it calms me down enough that I can continue on without these feelings.
So that was about the retreat into my mind. I also like his adjectives he uses to describe the brain. I am pretty sure everyone’s brain acts like that. I would like to tell a story very quickly. When I was little (like 5-6) I played my favorite computer game, Civilization II. If you guys don’t know what the Civilization franchise is, I recommend you check it out. They are very cool. But anyway I have continued to play this computer game franchise since then. I now play Civilization V, which is naturally better then Civilization II. In the game, you take control of a civilization and start in the Stone Age, and build up this civilization to try to take over the world. I always control the Greeks, because I think Spartans are cool. In this game I plot and calculate and do everything possible to get ahead in this fantasy world. It’s a very involved game. But whenever my Greek civilization meets the Aztec civilization, I feel nothing but rage and contempt for them. I look at the picture of Montezuma, and I just want to destroy him. Why do I want to do this? I will try to include a picture of him so you can judge for yourselves. But I look at him and my brain makes assumptions. I judge him. I look at him, and all I can think of is a bloodthirsty, marauder who is out to destroy my computer generated citizens. I calculate what will happen if I let him live. After all, these are people who will not vote for me in the United Nations elections, and they are wasting resources. I predict whether or not he will destroy me. I get anxious because he builds his armies and sends them towards my territory. Then these judgments I described above creep into my head. I always end up in a war with him, and let me just say, I always win. In this stupid game, I experience everything described above. It’s kind of crazy I think. Granted, this is on a very small scale and it is just a computer game. I will end this with a warning of sorts though. If I ever run for President, don’t vote for me, because I’ll just go to war with people that I do not like the appearance of. I’m just kidding. But I hope that my blog story did not bore people to death. So…yup. Oh by the way, I tried and I cannot include a picture of Montezuma in this. Sorry. If you actually cared you can look it up. I doubt you do though, so that's it.
I can actually relate highly to your blog, Nick, But I mean but I do not think you should be so harsh on Montezuma because if he came back to life and you met him, you might really like him. i really enjoy how you related the quote to how we perceive people. You can either admit you judge people, or be one of the liars who says they do not judge people. It is simply human nature to guess how people are. I used to love to play Mario Smash Bros, and for some reason, I would pick Jiggly Puff. I just was always drawn to Jiggly Puff due to her (I do not know if Pokemons even have a gender but my self-calculating mind tends to think Jiggly Puff is a girl, wow, another judgement.) Although Jiggly Puff is adorable, she is TERRIBLE. Seeiously Jiggly Puff will not do anything to injure your opponents. Use someone useful like Pikachu or Zelda. In a more realistic sense, we can see these judgements passed between fellow humans. I can recall times when I went to get piercings and I heard adults saying how only trashy people have piercings. It honestly makes me laugh. The ignorance from their self-calculating minds is funny to me, because I am not trashy yet I love piercings.
Delete"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." People contain millions of emotions and feeling which they will feel throughout their lifespan. It is important to try not to let these obstacles control our outlook on life. In this complex reading we are introduced to information that makes us think about how we live our lives. By looking into the past or future we are wasting time in the present, time we are not enjoying or observing. The human mind in complicated in a sense that we cannot control all of our emotions and thoughts to a pin. I know I will be thinking and randomly thoughts will be occurring which are completely irrelevant to the original thought, and many of the times these irrelevant thoughts are about past and future. Thoughts are in a sense uncontrollable and unpredictable. If thinking in the future limits our experiences why are we to think of our future lives instead of taking them one day at a time. I believe we should not be stuck in the past or hanging in the future, but we should visit each for short periods of time. By looking in to the past we may see regret, happiness, joy, sorrow, and love. Each memory of our past can help us in the present. For example, present situations may present us with difficult obstacles and challenges, but by visiting the past we can learn to deal with the present, which can then help strengthen our future. The same can be said about futuristic thinking. We are called to look into the future at a young age to decided what we want to do for the rest of our life, what colleges we would like to attend, and thoughts about what you will do after college. We look ahead to help us decide in the present. By looking at the future we can learn what we should do to prepare ourselves in the present. Although the future is "abstract" and we cannot base our lives on some idea in the future because obstacles appear and plan begin to change. People need to live for now, and glance at the past and future for advice and guidance.
ReplyDeleteTime never stops and never reverses, "man must eventually become a parasitic appendage to a mass of clockwork." Did you ever watch a video or listen to a song for the first time? Do you remember how long seemed at that moment? Or what the lyrics meant to you? Life is similar to those experiences if we are to live in the moment. When ever we enjoy moments and live in those moments are experiences seem to be remembered and enjoyed. By looking negatively at situations or ignoring the present causes time to be wasted. "[It] isn't a matter of improving our experience, or even merely confronting it, but remaining present with it in the fullest possible sense." By living in the moment I find myself enjoying the events rather than being miserable about what can happen. People who balance both the moments and the future can enjoy life throughout their life because they are able to enjoy and prepare themselves for future events.
I love how you compared life to a song you listen to for the first time. When you hear the lyrics that maybe give you chills, then you know you have your new favorite song. Or when the beat makes you feel like dancing. It also reminds me of reading a book for the first time. You get a part of it that you fall in love with and quote it everywhere and highlight it in the book so when you go back to read it again you see why you love that book so much. I also like to live in the moment myself. Take in my surroundings and really take everything in. I learned the other day that if you look right to left you will see more things rather than you do looking left to right. I now am obsessed with looking hat way to take in more of my surroundings.
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