Momentum
The overwhelming valley of life
This is an experiment.
These are my thoughts.
This is unfiltered.
In my blog post Enlightenment I described how unclear I was, what I actually wanted to express and why I started the first lines.
I actually have this feeling in almost every blog post — yes, I often know that a certain topic or a moment triggered me and I throw myself into writing. However, at the beginning I only know the rough topic and not what I want to write about and let my thoughts flow as I write — As this happens, I always get into the so well-known flow — Very often in these moments I only become aware of how I determine look at past situations, what my opinion I have about certain topics and what I am interested in. In the meantime, I always know the trigger exactly and know where it leads me and the content of my texts. I use writing to become clear about things, to manifest my opinion and to organize and structure thoughts. Fun Fact: The trigger of this post were a couple of headphones and they now lead me to something completely different.
Their name, an extraordinary moment and a bit of unexpected calm led me to these lines and the name of the topic behind the still foggy veil is called: Momentum.
I still have so many “packageable” topics in my head. Books, discussions, podcasts and meditation keep opening up new fields that interest me and look for a place in my thoughts. So much I want to write about. So much that I want to begin. So much that I still want to combine and express with words, and one thing is becoming increasingly clear to me: The writing itself, the transcription of my own thoughts is fascinating me so much and the need to write in me is growing steadily. I am constantly looking for slots to get lost in and it comes to the topic that fits best due to the most random and different conditions. What is it about now?
Now that’s exactly why! In order to be able to do the activity as such, the time period, the freedom to have happiness, whatever I want:
Exactly what evaporates so quickly in the never ending fireworks of our thoughts, plans and worries: The moment!
The moment, the second, the here and now, the present. Our past brought us here, our future is determined from here. That is why every moment is just as important as the other and paves the way for new things and is based on old things that we can be proud of. Then why do we often pay so little attention to this? „Enjoy the moment“, a phrase that you can read all too often. But it couldn’t be truer. Maybe you have to rephrase it — „Live the moment — Live it in your heart and in your consciousness.“
“It is important to simply enjoy the moments when they are there, in the here and now. It was so easy when you were a kid. You went out to play, enjoyed the moment and didn’t think about how it could pay off later in life. There was no thought of money or future success. Children just play to play because they enjoy it, and they open up in every moment.“
– JOHN STRELECKY
We should learn to play again!
We are only too happy to be distracted from other optional moments in so many moments. Can no longer watch films without being distracted by the Internet and smartphone, hardly have any conversations without checking the latest feeds here and there, no walks without reading and answering messages, no phone calls without chatting with other people beside, we strive for perfection, for optimization, we want to do everything at the same time and we don’t waste time.
Our thoughts go in the wrong direction here. Unfortunately, as much as we sometimes believe to master multitasking, a fallacy creeps in here: the human brain is unable to concentrate fully on two things at the same time. No, the concentration drifts back and forth between the situations at very short intervals: This creates the impression that we can do two things at the same time. We only do both in quick succession and with half or even less attention — so we’re not doing as well as we could.
We do not hear every word from the conversation with our partner and we cannot really respond to it, which can cause frustration and annoyance when he notices it. At the same time, we cannot record everything that we checked in the latest feeds, for example, and in the worst case save half-truths that we will later disseminate.
We can’t do everything at once and that’s a good thing.
We have to allow ourselves to focus again, to allow the moment and not to live in the past or the future.
Because that’s exactly what we do when we want to do two or more things at the same time. We often live in the future! We are always keen to interpret all our actions so that they guide us to where we want to be in the future.
Humans have managed to develop an addiction that is currently increasing year by year and is becoming more and more intense — the addiction to knowledge, stories, new things and interesting things — we must not miss anymore, we talk to each other if we are not everywhere are up to date, know every funny video and every important message that we are running after, do not belong, are uninteresting. If you have experienced a brief moment of this addiction satisfaction, e.g. during a phone call with a good friend, at a family dinner or on vacation while you are viewing a breathtaking place, ask yourself: „What have I really learned and absorbed in myself, what I did not know beforehand and which of these have I saved?
Not knowing every news doesn’t make us uninteresting. The opposite is the truth. Engage yourself with the things that interest YOU, that give you goose bumps and that you pursue inquisitively — if you then tell about it in conversations and your partner looks intently into your shining eyes — What do you mean? — Aren’t you a lot more interesting than pawing over the deliberately mixed mash of the mass?
“Make sure that something has a meaning because it means something to you. Not because someone else convinces you.“
– CASEY FROM THE WHY CAFÉ
Where do these thoughts come from? Through mindfulness and meditation you can create moments of calm, moments of emptiness, moments of purity. You learn how it can be just to be and to exist. You just learn to be there and, with a little practice, let the never ending thoughts about all our plans and such important tasks pass us like little fluffy clouds. They walk away in our mind’s eye and that’s okay too. We do not have to chase them right now, since they have long been stored deep within us and will come back soon.
From the small mountain peak from which we look at them, we simply let them go, look after them, through them and let time just be and happen.
At some point we can awaken our attention again and we look at a valley, a mountain peak, an oasis — we want to go there — and then we go there — but only there. We are pursuing this one path to this one goal. We cannot visit all the other beautiful places and spots we see at the same moment, but they are waiting, they are waiting for us and are still there at a different time, even if they have been changed, moved or even lost, they or other new paths and goals are still there.
Take this metaphor and transfer it to your life. Imagine the valleys and oasis of your life — all the wonderful places you can visit, all the tasks and goals you can emulate, all the extraordinary moments that are within your grasp — but you can’t be everywhere at once, at least not yet :)
As long as we cannot duplicate or split our mind and consciousness, we can only be in one place at a time.
Consider the moment when all the valleys open up in your mind’s eye and you are brimming with ideas, possibilities and inspiration as a gift. Just let the PingPong game in your head and let your inner gaze jump from one valley to the next. Let yourself be filled with joy. Let yourself be filled with motivation and not with fear, frustration or excessive demands. At one of your next looks you know — that’s it — that’s where I have to go first, I have to do that first. As soon as you descend into the valleys and hike the paths, focus on this one task, this one goal, then everything else blurs around you and in the deep valleys you can, among the most beautiful hills and mountain ranges, the other paradisiacal places certainly not see anymore. But they are still there — you saw them, you recorded them, you saved them.
Keep the top of the mountain you were sitting on in mind.
Keep in mind the moment when you let your thoughts pass you stress-free and let your eyes wander over the valleys of your possibilities. Remember the look, the moment and save this map in yourself. Know where you started and in which calmness and serenity you started to descend.
Whenever you are on your way to the next for a destination, a place, a task, whatever is at the end of your path, take a few seconds — bring your thoughts back to your vantage point and remember the calm and inner peace at this moment — instead of being overwhelmed by everything you can do next, take this mindfulness, this relaxation, this way and enjoy in to the fullest, with a mindful and calm mind every single step…
P.S .: The idea of this article gives rise to the wish to finally work on a very large project, which probably requires my full concentration. The text becomes particularly intense and the project is based on a story that could probably fill an entire book. Therefore I will pause the blog until further notice and only share a small paragraph here and there if something really special has triggered me. Otherwise, check back regularly — because the next complete post will be all about that.
The project is entitled:
A •••••••••• ••••••• ;)
If you want to read more articles like this or just want to see some of my works go to:
blog.vibell.io
