Live the Moment

My philosophy in life : Live the moment.

How often do we read this in interviews, slam books, orkut profiles. Almost every second person seems to have this philosophy in life. But do they really?

I personally feel that any and all disappointments that one faces in life can be traced to expectations we have. Out of ourselves, or out of other people. We let our own expectations down more often than others do. Do we really blame ourselves? If we do, can we prevent it?

Living the moment, potentially, means that you never think about the future. You expect nothing. Is is feasible? I thought I could do it, in fact to a large degree, I think I can, but then I frequently let myself down. I expect myself to have no expectations from myself. I obviously am going wrong somewhere... Can you spot it?

The harder you try, the more likely you are to fail. It obviously depends upon the importance you associate with events/people/success blah.. You expect nothing out of events you don't wish to go to, so they never seem boring. You expect nothing AT ALL out of the Himesh Reshamiya movie, so it turns out to be a hit. You expect nothing out of people you don't care about or people who aren't close to you, so they never seem to hurt you. So does that mean its best to live your life running away from everyone you seem to be getting close to? Forget about if it is best or not, can you even? Unfortunately, the human brain seems to be wired in a way that leads you into disappointment.

The sad part is, that I guess no one will ever expect anything out of Himesh Reshamiya, so expect more hits from him in the future...

I have often wondered, if I could shut out physical pain from my conscious perception. If I can ignore a smell, an irritating sound, and all other things I consciously react to, can I make pain caused by a physical wound subliminal? I've been trying it whenever I could over the years, and its not really matter of trying consciously, its only a matter of distracting your attention. As soon as you are done playing a really interesting game, or lose the grip of a really interesting novel (or the other way around), the pain slowly seeps back into your perception.

So, can I shut out disappointment? Ignorance is bliss*, isn't it? Did anyone ever bother to put a star and subscript the conditions that apply.. Ignorance may be bliss, but the path to achieving it sucks big time.

*Not applicable when you really want it. (Murphy is god)

So, when God Krishna suggested.. Karm kar, phal ki chinta mat kar, was he effectively saying ignorance is bliss? Or was he saying Live the Moment, or was he just saying expect nothing? Or was Krishna just telling Arjun that the Karma theory is gibberish? I wonder..

Let us confine ourselves to the Self then (at the cost of sounding preachy).. Is there really a way out? Can one go on living life in the moment, and not be affected with the outcomes of ones actions, or the outcomes of others actions for that matter, that directly or indirectly have an affect on us?? Is there really a way to consciously shut out all consciousness and be happy?

Comments please... I can do with some help here..

Labels: Life, Thought

About this entry

You’re currently reading “Live the Moment,” an entry on Gedanken

Published:: 4:52 PM; by Vivek

About Me

Name: Vivek Kapoor

Location: Delhi, India

I'm just another face in the crowd. I have the same dreams as every other engineer in the country, the same lifestyle, the same aspirations. Yet, we all feel we are so different. Maybe we are, but we do little to prove it. We do little to live by our convictions, to share our thoughts. I'm trying to do a million things at once. Thinking about my future is more a habit than a hobby, and running an e-commerce website my present biggest obsession. Yet, on paper, I'm just another software professional like so many others.. doing a 11-5 (yeah, lovely timings) job. This blog is testimony to the fact that I may not get very far, like millions of others, but still, I'm different, and hopefully, I'll get around to proving myself.

Azeez Narain Sat Jul 28, 07:18:00 PM

the second last para of the post indicates that you are not convinced about the first line of the post. do all of us want it to be the phiosophy of our lives or is it actually.

hey..how come u removed the comment filter?! now i can directly abuse u without approval? ;-)

Anonymous Wed Aug 01, 06:27:00 PM

hey the post is damn convincing but relating the logics with himesh was quite weird .....but gr8 work n quite convincing too

Icarus Sun Aug 05, 12:16:00 AM

The best answer to your question is not unique but here is my take on it. The only way out is to have no regrets. Enjoy the actions and even if the result is for the worst, you dont feel bad about it, coz you enjoyed it. That is my interpretation of carpe diem. So contrary to what you said the solution is to enjoy everything around you, that pain, that irritating sound and then not only would that pain be subliminal, it would be enjoyable. I do understand that this sounds masochistic but then again, thats the only way to get over it. Life cannot be lived by dodging tough/hurtful situations. It won't be life otherwise. Thus spake, Icarus the wise.

Reema Sat Nov 10, 11:31:00 AM

If you were to complete the sentence " human being is the only animal that......" How would you?

An Author who I agree with wrote "Human Being is the only animal that thinks about the future"

and there is a scientific reasoning behind this. The Human brain has the frontal Lobe which was found when destroyed or dysfunctional makes people have less anxiety and they simply loose their capability to plan. That my dear friend is "Living in the moment" Literally. These people cannot answer any questions that pertain to the future even if it as simple as "what will you have for dinner tonight ?".

Hence, as normal human beings it is only natural for us to anticipate, plan and ofcourse to worry.

But the thing to think about is that our present was our future in the past and we once anticipated about it and now that we are in it we no longer care for it and move on and think about the future again.So, If we are not happy now what good did we do worrying about it in the past so much?

If only we have a little more love and respect for our life and for the ones around us I think we can defy science just a tiny bit and not let everything in life bother us.

As The Beatles rightly said "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. "

Vivek Sun Nov 11, 12:00:00 AM

I read that book too, and it was a nice read, but firstly, I hadn't read it when i wrote this.. and even if i had, let me just rephrase, assuming i am unlikely to harm my frontal lobe even though I might quite enjoy myself.. How do I humanly stop doing something that makes us human??? Coz, apparently, the only way you can be happy and devoid of all expectations is by trying to prevent yourself from doing something that arguably makes you human! (or atleast differentiates u.. i personally dont mind being a hamster..)

Gedanken

Live the Moment

About this entry

6 Comments (Post a Comment)

Links to this post ( Create a Link)

About Me

Recently

Archives

Fellow Bloggers

Links