Pay attention to life
Stop mulling over the past or projecting into the future and enjoy the present moment, says Shivi Verma
If one is not ruminating over the past, one is thinking, planning, or worrying about the future. For the mind, happiness is just at the next stop, the next corner, the next destination, and no matter how many milestones one covers, that final stop never ever arrives.
The wise, however, have always emphasised the present moment as being the essence of life, and missing out on it means missing out on life itself.
The thing is that people too are looking for the present moment. The feelings of joy, ecstasy, completion, and fulfilment are all highly sought after. We want to be fully present when such a time comes and want it to last forever. Who hasn’t heard of the phrase “I wish time would stop,” especially when lovers are enjoying stolen moments of togetherness, an honour has been conferred, or a group of friends are having a gala time? But since we get to taste them rarely; only when a goal has been achieved, a dream realised, or a wish fulfilled we either dwell in the past or conjure up images of the future.
But the catch is that these coveted events may or may not happen. So will life and happiness pass us by in the absence of these desirable moments? What about the Now? As children, we were the happiest since we were only aware of the
present. Life danced a merry dance as we flowed paper boats, chased dandelions and butterflies, splashed water by jumping in mud puddles, played peek-a-boo and Chinese whispers, and lived life to the hilt.
It has been observed that time expands when we give something our focussed attention. A pot of milk takes longer to boil, and the time on our mobile moves much slower, when we watch them closely. Which means that attention has the power to change the velocity of time. It can magnify or diminish the influence of any experience which we are having. Children unknowingly do it all the time by focussing on things that delight them, whether it’s making sand castles, following the trail of ants, or getting overjoyed on seeing a flying plane or a hurtling train. By paying attention to life, they make it respond to them zealously.
Keeping this in mind, I often zone in to the present moment while doing my daily chores, and life simply burgeons into being. The mundane becomes extraordinary. The sight of a vegetable vendor pushing his cart, a cow whipping the flies away from its body with its tail, the aroma of freshly fried samosas wafting from a nearby shop, the sound of my heels as they hit the road, or seeing two young boys with broad smiles
speeding past me on their bike immerse me in the chalice of unbridled existence. Looked at without attaching meaning and judgement, this is nothing but life living itself.
Attention is the super power we are all blessed with. But it needs to be handled carefully. The quality of our attention must be devoid of greed, lust, covetousness, anger, or jealousy for life to respond to us positively.
We can use this power to amplify our experience of life, to have the world respond to us with love, friendliness, and warmth, but we mostly use it to run away from pain and unpleasant feelings. While it is good to not be excessively focussed on dysfunctionalities, it is not healthy to ignore or suppress nagging pain. At such times, paying attention to it, to get to the root of the problem and eliminate it for good is the best use of the power of attention. Life is right here, happening in this moment, in all its beauty and splendour, but it’s our attention which makes it worthwhile.
Editor of Life Positive, Shivi Verma is a devotee who found all her answers in loving God
passionately.
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