The Zen of daily life

Each moment is valuable

We’re always going through life reaching for some result. It’s rare for us to just take the time to enjoy a single moment. Especially when nothing much is even happening.

Even worse, often when something is happening, and you should be enjoying yourself we still can’t relax and have fun. It’s a weird thing in the human psychology. Rarely do we stop to enjoy instead of striving.

Every single moment brings something new. Every moment may not be perfect, and I don’t think that’s the point either. Each new moment has something to offer. A valuable insight, a funny thought, a deeper rooting of what you already know. There’s always something being offered.

To balance calm and passion

There’s a certain balance needed to succeed. In most areas, but when reaching to live a tranquil daily life, it’s important to be both engaged but relaxed. This helps a lot to get through each day with solid footing. Don’t freak out if some kind of problem shows up, but also don’t just disconnect and go through life thoughtlessly.

Not freaking out over details, is underappreciated. Don’t fret the small stuff. People have a tendency to make their problems much bigger than they already are. Don’t do that.

We always get the most out of something when we can stay “in the zone.” When we are both calm and passionate. Flow states. Any activity can be immensely enjoyable when you just are 100% focused on the activity. Don’t split focus or divide your attention. Keep your attention 100% on what you’re doing.

Try to grip a new perspective

Life is what you make of it. Life can be insanely interesting and rich. But life can also be insanely depressing and void. It kind of depends on your perspective.

Perspectives can be cultivated. Maybe you have someone you admire. A lot of people when they admire someone, to a degree they shut down empathy for that person. Not in the way it’s usually meant, but the opposite extreme. They only see the positive in that person, never acknowledging their flaws and struggles.

If you take the time to really listen to someone you admire, without idealizing or putting them on a pedestal, there’s a lot to be gained from that. Like Tony Robbins says “success leaves clues.” There’s always a logic behind an action, and understand that logic means you can do something that’s similar.

Of course it doesn’t have to be someone you admire. Someone annoying, or even hostile can also have something interesting to offer. I like to think about it like; someone petty, and fault finding can teach you to be petty, and fault finding if you need to be. Most perspectives have some type of value, and you shouldn’t really be shutting down empathy for anyone, at least not outside of situation which come down to being zero-sum-game.

To take in a new perspective only needs you to take the time to listen. Perhaps analyze and contemplate, sometimes just let it hit you in your emotions. To truly listen, with an open mind so you can actually learn something new.

To see value in the ordinary

I think a common thing these days is people desperately trying to escape the ordinary. Even to the point of creating a fake fascade on social media, so even if they can’t actually escape the ordinary in their lives, people will think they have! It’s a problem.

Everything is a matter of perspective. Imagine someone coming out of prison after serving time, for them having an apartment and being able to go outside any time they want will seem amazing. They might have a lot more appreciation of things that you take for granted.

It’s important to have a healthy appreciation of ordinary things. My dad always used to say “life is mostly weekdays.” What he meant is if you can’t find enjoyment in the weekdays, then you won’t have the calm to deal with lifes challenges without taking up daily drinking or just being a maniac. And there’s truth to that.

Life is mostly weekdays, and you can’t always be searching for the exceptional. Sometimes the ordinary is all you get. In fact, that’s most of what you get. So try to enjoy it.

Enjoying the process

I believe the real secret to Zen, is being engaged in what you’re doing. Even if what you’re doing is unpleasant, beyond that even being engaged in not engaging. To go all out. Don’t hold back.

All of life is composed out of different types of processes. You might have a process of being hostile, or a process of being in learning. There’s phases and stages we go through, and if we’re always reaching for the end goal, we won’t have the endurance to make it to that goal.

To enjoy the process, really means just to enjoy the ride. Enjoy the setbacks, and the mishaps. Find some humor in messing up, and view each problem as a potential lesson. If life was all sunshine and rainbows, you would be nauseatingly satisfied, and I don’t think you would find happiness in that life either. Especially if you can’t enjoy the ride.

Calm, cool and collected

If you can make progress each day, you won’t need to get that lucky break. Because you put in the work. View daily life as a part of the work. Get through each day with a bit of dignity, and have faith that you can reach whatever you desire. To take a thousands steps in the journey, will get you further then your longest jump. Even with a running start, because we just can’t jump that far. Requires more effort as well. Just take the relaxing thousand step journey, instead of doing a hundred scattered long jumps. Consistency will get you farther than momentary effort. Or, you can say, discipline is more important than having motivation. There’s a lot of presedence for this, and you’ll hear a lot of people with success talk about that type of thing. For good reason.

Photo credits:

Cheerful woman in car enjoying sunset by Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels.com