Eternal Life

Category: Personal Development for Adults

To live in the present moment is to be truly alive.

Once, whether long ago or more recently, you came into this world. Your life began. At the same time, one could say your dying began too, because from the day you were born, each passing day brings you closer to death.

As long as it seems distant, death remains abstract. Yet when we lose someone dear, or a young person who appeared to live by all the right and healthy rules, we are left stunned.

And again we return to the present moment. If we live for tomorrow or the day after, we are not fully alive now. We let life slip by. Does the length of our days truly matter? Is it not more important to be joyful in as many moments as life grants us? What good is a long life, a youthful appearance, esteem or wealth if we do not know the feeling of a joyful heart? The moment of parting awaits us all, so why do we bear it with such difficulty? Why not devote ourselves to life while it lasts and choose joy? What, exactly, is required for us to be joyful? Perfect shoes, a fine job, a beautiful body, a partner, a lover, children, the chance to create, to work, to move, to be wealthy, to have more time. What are we waiting for? Which conditions must be met for us to simply be happy? To graduate, to land a job, to have children, to wait for them to grow up, to be promoted. What else? When will everything be so perfect that we can finally be content simply to be alive? If we keep waiting for perfect conditions, we may wait our lives away and be met only by death.

For example, we eat healthily and exercise so that we will be well, live longer or preserve our bodies. We work hard to improve every aspect of our lives, yet does that make us happy? If we did not enjoy those very activities, we missed the present moment and we missed life.

Picture someone who chooses to exercise every day to lose weight, to improve health or to shape the body. We would call it commendable. It is a worthy pursuit, and the persistence and resolve deserve respect. Yet I ask again. Does it matter more to get something done, or to take genuine pleasure in doing it?

To work out with the aim that the future will be better. But what about now?

Do you know why I run? Because I love running. I run when I feel the desire to run, not because it is healthy or would supposedly be good for any number of reasons. While I run, I take complete delight in every step, in the forest that surrounds me, in scents and sounds, in watching people, in every inhale and exhale, in the exercises I do by the lake. There is no other reason. I feel wonderful as I run and after I run, and that is why I do it. I run, and I am here. Present and alive. I am living life. I have no other goal.

Imagine a person who hikes solely to conquer the peak. Imagine a person who hikes for the sake of hiking. Who will enjoy it longer? The one set on the summit will be truly joyful only at the top. The one who set out for the joy of hiking will enjoy the entire way up and the entire way down. That person will remain in the present moment throughout.

To live in the present moment is to be truly alive.