Chasing Butterflies, or Living in the Moment

I wrote on the topic a while ago, on January 28 (2013), and I posted the page on my blog. The main idea there was that we try to control the outcomes of many of our life's long-term projects, which ends up killing the moment. And by doing that, it saps our soul, which longs for freedom: freedom to enjoy the moment no matter what the outcome.

So now that I’ve got that idea out of the way, let me turn to some other thoughts I found on Pinterest, all related to the topic of Carpe diem, which fascinates me lately, both in times when I do more of it and in times when I only have time for very little of it.

A book that reflects on some of the issues above in a fun, light-hearted but not flippant way, is Sophie Kinsella’s chick lit novel Remember Me?, which I have just finished. Kinsella is a great storyteller, and speaks from a lot of experience. I loved her descriptions of relationships in the book. They were quite evocative.

So, the storyline. Well, it’s about young Lexi who has a car accident and wakes up with amnesia. She remembers herself as a twenty-five-year-old in 2004 who had a low-paying job and a boyfriend she called Loser Dave. When she wakes up, it’s 2007, she has an expensive purse, a high-powered job, a millionaire husband, and a lover on the side.

It’s all easy addictive reading, highly predictable, but it does raise some important issues.

That’s not a quote from Pinterest. It’s just something that spoke to me loudly when I saw on Z. a Love stamp with pebbles on a seashore in the shape of a heart. It’s so important to connect with people in meaningful ways as often as we can, and live the moment with them. That being said, remember that “Only a few people care. The rest are just being curious.”

At first I really liked this Zazzle product for the irony of it all: the message of “Live in the moment” spelled out in Gothic script. (The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan said.) Then I realized that there really is value for the moment, for the present time, as we get to know each other better dwelling on events of the past. It’s not just nostalgia. It’s really building awareness about who we are, getting to know ourselves (and each other, if we're talking about the past in a relationship) better. But then again, some say the ego is just a fiction we cling to and that in fact there is no coherent ego to speak of. Also, as someone said, “Of course I live in the past: it’s cheaper there!”

This idea, in Neale Donald Walsch's version, seems to be an all-time favorite with many people, and of course it has a lot to do with living the moment. The comfort zone is often another name for routine. The moment is the unknown. We should hurl towards it with all our being every now and then. Some people, in fact, do it quite often, and quite successfully, too, in terms of financing the operations. One of them is Lesley Carter, whom you may know from Wordpress.com. (She travels around the world seeking bucket-list-style experiences.)

To me, music is one of the most accessible ways of living in the moment. It’s so wonderful, for instance, how when we’re in love music becomes so very significant in conveying our emotions, and even encapsulating the magic of an experience or another.

Those who can also make music are doubly blessed. 

I think making art is for everyone and is one surefire way to get yourself to be present in the moment. I dabbled in (figuratively abstract) acrylic painting for a while, on paper and on cotton cloth, and found the experience amazing in every way. I would work intensely for 2-3 hours and then wonder how come I had lost the sense of time all the while.

I also love taking walks and photographs. And I make bead necklaces now and then.

And I design on Zazzle, alone or in collaboration with other graphic artists.

Certain writing I do also gets me to live in the moment. I love, for instance, writing poems when I feel the possibility of one shaping up inside. The moments when these poetic moods strike and I can act on them are some of my most treasured precisely because I am thankful for having the freedom at those times to be in the moment.

I'm also thankful for those moments when I can take in a book, movie, environment, conversation, etc. in a state of mind that allows me to come up with quotes for Zazzle.