Happiness Requires Presence
Happiness Requires Presence
At any given time, when you’re walking down the streets, a very small percentage of your brain is focused on the present. The rest is planning the future or regretting the past. This keeps you from having an incredible experience. It’s keeping you from seeing the beauty in everything and for being grateful for where you are. You can literally destroy your happiness if you spend all of your time living in delusions of the future. [4]
We crave experiences that will make us be present, but the cravings themselves take us from the present moment.
I just don’t believe in anything from my past. Anything. No memories. No regrets. No people. No trips. Nothing. A lot of our unhappiness comes from comparing things from the past to the present. [4]
Anticipation for our vices pulls us into the future. Eliminating vices makes it easier to be present.
There’s a great definition I read: “Enlightenment is the space between your thoughts.” It means enlightenment isn’t something you achieve after thirty years sitting on a mountaintop. It’s something you can achieve moment to moment, and you can be enlightened to a certain percent every single day. [5]
What if this life is the paradise we were promised, and we’re just squandering it?
幸福需要活在当下
在任何时刻，当你走在街上的时候，只有很小一部分的脑力是集中在当下的。其余的部分都在计划未来或悔恨过去。而这恰恰让你无法获得美妙的体验。它让你无法看到周围的一切之美，也让你无法对当下心怀感激。如果你把所有的时间都用来沉迷于未来的幻想之中，你真的会摧毁自己的幸福感。 [4]
我们渴望那些能让我们专注于当下的体验，但这种渴望本身却把我们从当下拉走。
我不再相信过去的任何事情。任何事情。没有回忆，没有遗憾，没有人，没有旅行，什么都没有。很多时候，我们的不幸福来源于将过去和现在进行比较。 [4]
对恶习的期待让我们陷入对未来的执着。消除恶习可以让我们更容易活在当下。
我读到过一个很棒的定义：“开悟是思想之间的空隙。” 这意味着开悟不是你坐在山顶上三十年之后才可以获得的东西，而是你可以在每一个当下的瞬间去实现的状态。你每天都可以在某种程度上达到一定的开悟。 [5]
如果这世间生活本就是我们被承诺的天堂，而我们却在肆意挥霍它呢？