Life in every breath.
The title of today’s post comes from one of my favorite movies, The Last Samurai. While it’s a beautiful movie with incredible cinematography and amazing action choreography, what really stands out to me is the way that the ordinary daily life of the samurai is a thing of beauty.
Devoid of grand Festival, they found a way to infuse every action with a sense of purpose.
Being present in every moment, they experienced the intensity of life in every breath.
And we have moved so far away from that now.
Speed, novelty, the next thing, faster, better, larger, more expensive, the best. These are the mantra that destroys now in the technological age in which we live.
We have sacrificed the sincere moment for the breathtaking novelty of next, and we never stop to fully appreciate the simple beauty of the everyday moments which populate our lives.
Because really, we live in an amazing age.
Never in the realm of human history have we enjoyed such technology, nor such peace. Despite what the media (both professional and social) would have you believe, we are safer now than ever. We can travel further, faster and in greater comfort.
We can access information in a few seconds that only 50 years ago would have taken us weeks. And we can share that information to anybody across the world in a heartbeat.
And yet we are uneasy; incapable of experiencing now.
Meaning in life doesn’t only have to be reserved for the grand moments that matter. If we so desire we can find meaning in the most mundane task. The preparation of a meal, the cleaning of a room, the repair of a broken car.
All of these can be performed with a heightened sense of purpose and a focus on perfection in the task. It merely requires a focus on this moment, rather than the next.
Rather than wasting time mindlessly, you can mindfully reverence every second of your existence.
In the movie I referenced earlier there is a line where a wise man states “you could spend your entire life looking for the perfect blossom, and it would not be a wasted life.” Later, a moment before his death, he looks into the sky and realizes that every blossom is perfect.
How timeless that wisdom.
How many experiences in your life have you been distracted away from gratitude and experience of the moment by a supposed imperfection that did not matter?
How many moments of your life have been lost chasing the new, the next, the never-ending cascade of continual novelty, when in reality everything you needed to find joy and happiness was right there in front of you.
Waste not your moments, because they are the intimate currency of the time of your life. Focus on now, and find a surprising sense of joy in purpose.
May your soul find peace today, and always.
Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings