Never Join a Bandwagon

"The more people that believe it's true, the more likely they are to repeat it, and thus the more likely you are to hear it. This is how inaccurate information can create a bandwagon effect, leading quickly to a broad, but mistaken, consensus." - Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice.

Reality

This is the reality of your life:

You are born, and then some time later you die. All you are doing is filling in the intervening period as pleasantly as possible. That's it. There is nothing for you to do, and there is nothing and no-one that you have to be. So stop the struggle.

You entered this world with zero material wealth, and you will depart it with nothing of a material nature. So stop worrying about it.

The only wealth that you can take with you is spiritual wealth. Because spiritual wealth is only ever given to you as a gift, and you cannot earn it, there is nothing to struggle for and/or to worry about.

The past is gone never to return. All your desperate grasping will not return one minute of it. All that remains are memories and some photos and, with the passing of time, they will all gradually fade. Let it go.

The future is not yours to live yet. Who knows what it will bring? Good or bad, there is not much you can do about it. It may never happen. All you can do is a little preparation to put your mind at rest, but truly, that's about it. The only thing that is guaranteed is change, and most of that will be completely out of your control. Life is risky. Accept that.

So, where does all that leave you?

Now.

This moment.

It is all you truly have. Grab it. Hold it tight. Love it. Feel it. Give thanks for it. Share it. Fill it with love and laughter. Do good things. Slow down.

By living fully in this moment all the rest will take very good care of itself.

Automatically.

Enjoy the Moment

"Men spend their lives in anticipations, - in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every other - it is our own. Past opportunities are gone, future have not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both are soured by age."

 - Charles Caleb Colton

Make the best of what you have

To follow is a nice little parable by "Unknown".

A group of alumni, highly established in their respective careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and in life.

Offering his guests some coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned in a while with a large pot of hot coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some quite exquisite.

He told the group to help themselves to the coffee. When all of the students had a cup of coffee in their hands, the professor said:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.

While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that's the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it's just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups . . . . and then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this:

Life is the coffee. The jobs, money, and position in society, are the cups. They're just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of the life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that has been provided us. Enjoy your coffee!"

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they do have.

That is a wonderful parable and carries such a powerful message. This moment . . . right now . . . is your life . . . enjoy the moment.